Brain And Consciousness Research - October 2008 Archives

Men are better at detecting infidelities (10/31/2008)

Men are better at detecting their partner's infidelities than women. In a US study of heterosexual couples, 80 percent of women's inferences about fidelity or infidelity were correct, while men were accurate 94 percent of the time. ...> Full Article

Our cheatin' brain: The brain's clever way of showing us the world as a whole (10/31/2008)

Boundary extension is a mistake that we often make when recalling a view of a scene -- we will insist that the boundaries of an image stretched out farther than what we actually saw. Results of a new study indicate that boundary extension occurs when a scene is interrupted for as little as 42 milliseconds (quicker than an eye blink!) and even when volunteers know exactly what is being tested. ...> Full Article

Brain's 'hate circuit' identified (10/30/2008)

People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a "hate circuit," ...> Full Article

Ultrasound shown to exert remote control of brain circuits (10/30/2008)

In a twist on nontraditional uses of ultrasound, a group of neuroscientist have developed pulsed ultrasound techniques that can remotely stimulate brain circuit activity. ...> Full Article

In game of tennis, seeing isn't always believing (10/29/2008)

A universal bias in the way people perceive moving objects means that tennis referees are more likely to make mistakes when they call balls "out" than when they call them "in," ...> Full Article

Psychological study reveals that red enhances men's attraction to women (10/29/2008)

A groundbreaking study adds color -- literally and figuratively -- to the age-old question of what attracts men to women. ...> Full Article

When you look at a face, you look nose first (10/29/2008)

Eyes land on nose first when checking out a face, UC San Diego computer scientists say ...> Full Article

Early Achievement in Math May Identify Future Scientists and Engineers (10/28/2008)

New way to identify budding scientists and engineers and thus be able to guide them, from a young age, to careers that will enable them to make the most of their abilities. ...> Full Article

Pain automatically activates facial muscle groups (10/28/2008)

A study has found that people who facially express pain in a more intense way are not exaggerating if their perception of a painful stimulation is controlled. ...> Full Article

Could your initials influence where you choose to work? (10/27/2008)

A systematic test of the 'name-letter effect' ...> Full Article

Seeing a brain as it learns to see (10/27/2008)

A brain isn't born fully organized. It builds its abilities through experience, making physical connections between neurons and organizing circuits to store and retrieve information in milliseconds for years afterwards. ...> Full Article

Streamlining brain signals for speed and efficacy (10/26/2008)

Researchers explain how the vestibular-ocular reflex, which keeps us and the world around us stable, achieves the accuracy it is famous for. ...> Full Article

Study finds physical strength, fighting ability revealed in human faces (10/26/2008)

Researchers have found that a mechanism exists within the human brain that enables people to determine with uncanny accuracy the fighting ability of men around them by honing in on their upper body strength. ...> Full Article

Forget about it: Inducible and selective erasure of memories in mice (10/25/2008)

Targeted memory erasure is no longer limited to the realm of science fiction. A new study describes a method through which a selected set of memories can be rapidly and specifically erased from the mouse brain in a controlled and inducible manner. ...> Full Article

The Effect of Gamma Waves on Cognitive and Language Skills in Children (10/25/2008)

Researcher Uncovers Link Between Gamma Wave Brain Activity and Early Development ...> Full Article

Tuning in to unconscious communication (10/24/2008)

Researchers discover revealing clues in conversations ...> Full Article

Been there, done that: Brain mechanism predicts ability to generalize (10/24/2008)

A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices. The research also explains why some people are good at generalizing from past experience, while others are not. ...> Full Article

Memory function varies after damage to key area of the brain (10/24/2008)

Researchers have discovered dramatic differences in the memory performance of patients with damage to the hippocampus, an area of the human brain key to memory. ...> Full Article

Beyond recognizing odors, a single neuron controls reactions (10/23/2008)

New research shows that some smell preferences are surprisingly flexible at even the most basic level - that of the sensory neuron itself - and that our nervous system may be even more adaptable than we thought. ...> Full Article

The Nose Knows: Two Fixation Points Needed for Face Recognition (10/23/2008)

Research shows that during face recognition, the first two places we look at are around the nose, with the first fixation point being slightly to the left of the nose. ...> Full Article

Physical decline caused by slow decay of brain's myelin (10/22/2008)

It's more than just achy joints and arthritis, researchers say ...> Full Article

This is your brain on adolescence (10/22/2008)

A teen's prefrontal cortex - the piece of brain right behind the forehead that is involved in complex decision making - is not capable of the kind of reasoning that allows most grown-ups to make rational decisions ...> Full Article

Experiment supports alternative theory of information processing in the cortex (10/21/2008)

Scientists discover a role for remarkably precise timing in the brain's 'neural code' ...> Full Article

Gorilla Study Gives Clues To Human Language Development (10/20/2008)

A new study provides evidence that gorilla communication is linked to the left hemisphere of the brain - just as it is in humans. ...> Full Article

Team explains a longtime visual puzzler in new way (10/19/2008)

A team of neuroscientists have suggested an entirely new way to explain a puzzling visual phenomenon called the flash-lag effect. ...> Full Article

Scientists engineer supersensitive receptor, gain better understanding of dopamine system (10/18/2008)

Receptor may be good target for treatment of smoking addiction, ADHD, and more ...> Full Article

Deal or No Deal? The Role of Emotions in Negotiating Offers (10/18/2008)

People who are more confident in following their emotions offer somewhat less money than the others during negotiations. ...> Full Article

Girls who start puberty early are less able to cope with stress (10/17/2008)

Girls who enter puberty early may be less able to cope with being bullied or rejected by other students than their female classmates who mature later ...> Full Article

Blunted activation of brain reward circuitry increases risk for future weight gain (10/17/2008)

New evidence that blunted activation of brain regions when eating is related to current and future weight gain in young females. ...> Full Article

Study finds that searching the Internet increases brain function (10/16/2008)

Scientists have found that for computer-savvy middle-aged and older adults, searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. ...> Full Article

Being altruistic may make you attractive (10/15/2008)

Displays of altruism or selflessness towards others can be sexually attractive in a mate. ...> Full Article

What do you know? Not as much as you think (10/15/2008)

People don't know what they don't know ...> Full Article

Astrocytes and synaptic plasticity (10/14/2008)

By mopping up excess neurotrophic factor from neuronal synapses, astrocytes may finely tune synaptic transmission to affect processes such as learning and memory ...> Full Article

Does it matter if black plus white equals black or multiracial? (10/13/2008)

Findings suggest that the immediate response of non-black study participants is to categorize a racially ambiguous person as black when it was known that one of the person's parents was black and one was white. ...> Full Article

A fine balance (10/13/2008)

Researchers have shown how a class of spinal cord neurons, known as V3 neurons, makes sure that one side of the body doesn't get ahead of the other. ...> Full Article

Circadian clock may be critical for remembering what you learn (10/12/2008)

he circadian rhythm that quietly pulses inside us all, guiding our daily cycle from sleep to wakefulness and back to sleep again, may be doing much more than just that simple metronomic task ...> Full Article

Scientist studies brain activity, facial recognition as a step in autism research (10/12/2008)

Researchers examine how people perceive the emotions of others during social interactions, as one step to better understand differences in the brain activity of people with autism. ...> Full Article

Narcissistic People Most Likely To Emerge As Leaders (10/11/2008)

When a group is without a leader, you can often count on a narcissist to take charge, a new study suggests. ...> Full Article

Risk and reward compete in brain (10/10/2008)

Imaging study reveals battle between lure of reward and fear of failure. ...> Full Article

Girls have harder time than boys adjusting in language-learning environment (10/10/2008)

Girls who don't share a common language may have more difficulty adjusting socially than boys ...> Full Article

Learning how not to be afraid (10/9/2008)

Why do some people have the ability to remain calm and relaxed even in the most stressful situations? New experiments in mice are providing insight into how the brain changes when the animals learn to feel safe and secure in situations that would normally make them anxious. ...> Full Article

Psychologists create fake proof personality test (10/8/2008)

Psychologists have developed a personality inventory that can predict who will excel in academic and creative domains, even when respondents are trying hard to fake their answers. ...> Full Article

Emotion-Regulating Circuit Weakened in Borderline Personality Disorder (10/7/2008)

Grey Matter Changes Linked to Runaway Fear Hub ...> Full Article

Why your boss is white, middle-class and a show off (10/6/2008)

The way male managers power dress, posture and exercise power is due to humans’ evolutionary biology ...> Full Article

Car or pedestrian - How we can follow objects with our eyes (10/5/2008)

Researchers learning why eye movement responds more sensitively to changes in the speed of fast moving objects than slow moving objects. ...> Full Article

Loss of Control Leads People to Seek Order Through Superstition, Ritual (10/5/2008)

Individuals who lack control seek to find and impose order in the world through superstition, rituals and conspiratorial explanations ...> Full Article

Too many calories send the brain off kilter (10/4/2008)

An overload of calories throws critical portions of the brain out of whack ...> Full Article

Learning to shape your brain activity (10/4/2008)

Unique study is the first to successfully use instrumental sensorimotor rhythm conditioning in a healthy human population to enhance sleep spindles, decrease sleep onset latency and increase memory performance ...> Full Article

It's called 'negational identity,' and new study finds it's a powerful political tool (10/3/2008)

Even if individuals cannot agree on who they are, they often agree on who or what they are not ...> Full Article

This is your brain on politics (10/3/2008)

Study correctly predicted people's views on political issues based solely on their emotions ...> Full Article

When a light goes on during thought processes (10/3/2008)

Fluorescent proteins in the brain light up during individual action potentials making it possible to track nerve cell communication ...> Full Article

During exercise, the human brain shifts into high gear on 'alternative energy' (10/2/2008)

Research shows that the brain uses lactate not glucose as fuel ...> Full Article

How distractions facilitate creative problem-solving (10/1/2008)

Unconscious thought results in creative problem-solving via a two-step process ...> Full Article

Direct recording shows brain signal persists even in dreamless sleep (10/1/2008)

Neuroscientists have taken one of the first direct looks at one of the human brain's most fundamental "foundations": a brain signal that never switches off and may support many cognitive functions. ...> Full Article