Neuroscience

Neuronal Network 3-D Models Reveal Organizational Principles Of Sensory Cortex

Researchers have succeeded in reconstructing the neuronal networks that interconnect the elementary units of sensory cortex, called cortical columns. A key challenge in neuroscience research is identifying organizational principles of how the brain integr ...

Article - News Staff - May 9 2015 - 10:30am

Does Gaming Improve Your Brain Power?

There has been excitement among researchers in recent years that playing certain video and computer games may strengthen core components of cognition, helping us to make quicker decisions, think more fluidly, and avoid harmful distractions. ...

Article - The Conversation - May 7 2015 - 2:00pm

SAD Center In The Brain Located?

During the short, dreary days of winter, some people feel tired and oversleep, they are depressed and irritable and have trouble concentrating.  But once spring arrives, they say they feel fine. 4 percent of the American public say they suffer from this s ...

Article - News Staff - May 12 2015 - 12:18pm

Why Virtual Reality Tends To Make Users Feel Sick

Virtual reality (VR) equipment has tended to be cumbersome and expensive, all heavy headsets and awkward gloves. Until recently it’s been beyond the reach of the home consumer, but with the appearance of Oculus Rift (since bought by Facebook), Microsoft’s ...

Article - The Conversation - May 10 2015 - 8:00am

How Your Brain Reacts To Emotional Information Is Influenced By Genetics, In Imaging Analysis

Your genes may influence how sensitive you are to emotional information, according to a new study which found that carriers of a certain genetic variation perceived positive and negative images more vividly, and had heightened activity in certain brain re ...

Article - News Staff - May 14 2015 - 8:14pm

Weekend Science: Binge Drinking Behavior Linked To GIRK Brain Protein

Researchers have discovered that a brain protein plays a key role in controlling binge drinking, defined as drinking to the point of intoxication. They found that deleting the gene for this protein in mice ramped up alcohol consumption and prevented the b ...

Article - News Staff - May 15 2015 - 10:18am

Family Genetics Study Provides New Clues To Autism Risk

A study of 2,377 children with autism, their parents and siblings- data from families with one child with autism and one or more children without the condition- has led to new information on how different types of mutations affect autism risk. The genetic ...

Article - News Staff - May 16 2015 - 9:30am

How Do Neurons And Blood Vessels Communicate?

It's been known since the 16th century that neurons and blood vessels often traverse the body side by side but it was only more recently discovered that the growth of neuronal and vascular networks is controlled by the same molecules.  “Most interesti ...

Article - News Staff - May 12 2015 - 3:30pm

Auditory Processing: What We Hear May Be Shaped By What We Expect

Do we hear sounds as they are, or do our expectations about what we are going to hear shape the way sound is processed?  Through the use of computational neuroscience models, Bournemouth University’s Dr. Emili Balaguer-Ballester and colleagues are trying t ...

Article - News Staff - May 18 2015 - 10:30am

Seeing Is Hearing: Blind Echolocators Use Visual Areas Of The Brain

Some blind individuals use echoes from tongue or finger clicks to recognize objects in the distance, such echolocation can almost be a radar 'replacement' for vision.  Recent research showed that echolocation in blind individuals is a full form o ...

Article - News Staff - May 25 2015 - 10:23am