Researchers have successfully reconstructed 3-D hand motions from brain signals recorded in a non-invasive way, according to a study in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings could help improve existing EEG-based systems designed to allow movement-impaired people to control a computer cursor with just their thoughts.
Previously researchers have used non-portable and invasive methods that place sensors inside the brain to reconstruct hand motions. In this study, neuroscientists placed an array of sensors on the scalps of five participants to record their brains' electrical activity, using a process called electroencephalography, or EEG.
Physical fitness is associated with improved academic performance in young people, according to a study of fifth grade students presented at the American Heart Association's 2010 Conference on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. Many people have suggested that such a relationship exists between academic performance and physical fitness, but until now researchers say there was not enough evidence to define the nature of the relationship.
CA, Inc. , today announced what they say is the first ever neurological study of consumer reactions to a poor online experience. You won't know what that is because you are reading this site instead.
They say results from the study prove that many consumers experience 'Web Stress' when trying to make an online purchase. Brain wave analysis from the experiment was intrerpreted to mean that participants had to concentrate up to 50% more when using badly performing websites, while facial muscle and behavioural analysis of the subjects also revealed greater agitation and stress in these periods.
A 3.5-metre-long snake that lived 67 million years ago made a habit of eating baby sauropods as they first scrambled out of their eggs, say paleontologists writing in PLoS Biology. The conclusion is based on the discovery in India of a nearly complete fossilized skeleton of the primitive snake Sanajeh indicus coiled inside a dinosaur nest.
Modern humans are generally monogamous while exhibiting tendencies toward polygamy over the course of evolutionary history, say scientists who analyzed genomic data from three population samples of African, Asian and European origin. The findings, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, are consistent with studies in evolutionary psychology and anthropology that depict contemporary human populations.
A new study of adult participants in committed relationships suggest that the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) helps people control their emotional reactions to negative facial expressions from their romantic partners. The findings indicate that compromised LPFC function may be a risk-factor for mood and behavioral problems after a stressful interpersonal event.
Research subjects in the Biological Psychiatry study viewed positive, negative, and neutral facial expressions of their partners during a brain scan. In an online daily diary, participants reported conflict occurrence, level of negative mood, rumination, and substance use.
the 47-million-year-old Darwinius masillae fossil that was celebrated last year as a so-called 'missing link' between humans and early primates is actually a forebearer of modern-day lemurs and lorises, according to two papers in the Journal of Human Evolution and PNAS.
Researchers note in one article published in the Journal of Human Evolution that Darwinius masillae is not a haplorhine primate like humans, apes and monkeys, as the 2009 research claimed. They also note that the article on Darwinius published last year ignores two decades of published research showing that similar fossils are actually strepsirrhines, the primate group that includes lemurs and lorises.
In a new study dedicated to the blatantly obvious, a Georgia State political scientist says that residents of states with more government corruption may not only lose trust in political officials but also in the general public. The study will be published in American Politics Research.
The research looked at arrests of government officials in 50 states combined with 2002 through 2004 survey data of the American National Election Studies panel, which produces data on voting, public opinion and political participation.
Archaeologists have integrated textual evidence with archaeological research in order to further understand the impact of China's first emperor Qin Shihauangdi, responsible for initiating construction of the Great Wall. The result of their work, they say, is a more holistic view of China's first emperor and his influence on the eastern province of Shandong.
A report of their research is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Shihuangdi first unified China in 221 BC but scholars have few details of his distant conquests or how they changed the path of local histories. Records show that in 219 BC the emperor visited Langya Mountain on the southeastern Shandong coast.
