Neuroscience

Hormones Help Determine Whether A Song Is Amorous Or Awful

If your lover's singing is sometimes sexy and sometimes annoying, a change in hormones may be the reason. A songbird study led by Donna Maney,assistant professor of psychology and a member of the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at Emory University, s ...

Article - News Staff - May 22 2009 - 12:05am

Better Learning From Mistakes- The Inflection Point Happens At Age 12, Says Study

Eight-year-old children have a much different learning strategy compared to twelve-year-olds and adults. Eight-year-olds learn primarily from positive feedback ('Well done!'), whereas negative feedback ('Got it wrong this time') scarce ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 25 2008 - 10:14am

Autism- Toddler Focus On Mouths Rather Than Eyes An Indicator

Scientists at Yale School of Medicine have found that two-year-olds with autism looked significantly more at the mouths of others, and less at their eyes, than typically developing toddlers. This abnormality predicts the level of disability, according to s ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 26 2008 - 11:35am

Myth- Light Cigarettes Deliver Less Nicotine To The Brain Than Regular Cigarettes

For decades now, cigarette makers have marketed light cigarettes, which contain less nicotine than regular smokes, with the implication that they are less harmful to smokers' health. A new UCLA study shows, however, that they deliver nearly as much n ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 26 2008 - 3:53pm

I have faith, therefore, I have less pain:Scientists discover brain area linked to pain resistance during religious experiences

Religious emotions and beliefs have often been linked to a capacity to deal with pain, as those images of Philippine men being willingly crucified during religious festivals so well demonstrates. But although changes in pain sensitivity during a religious ...

Blog Post - Catarina Amorim - Oct 1 2008 - 8:57am

Experience Is The Best Teacher- Even For Infants, Says Study

There's a lot of truth in the old proverb "experience is the best teacher," and apparently it even applies to 10-month-old infants. Researchers have found that infants who had an opportunity to use a plastic cane to get an out-of-reach toy w ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 30 2008 - 3:18pm

Calorie Overload Can Disrupt Hypothalamus And Metabolic Hormones

Eating too many calories throws critical portions of the brain out of whack, reveals a study in the journal Cell. That response in the brain's hypothalamus — the "headquarters" for maintaining energy balance — can happen even in the absence ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 2 2008 - 12:05pm

"Ode To Joy" Or Funeral Dirge- Babies Can Tell Happy Music From Sad

Babies make sense of the world long before they can talk, says Brigham Young University psychology professor and study author Ross Flom. Their new study shows that even babies as young as five months can distinguish an upbeat tune, like Beethoven’s “Ode to ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 9 2008 - 11:18am

Granger Causality- Economics Theory Helps Understand Brain Information Flow

Scientists have used a technique originally developed for economic study, Granger causality, to become the first to overcome a significant challenge in brain research: determining the flow of information from one part of the brain to another. For years, sc ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 9 2008 - 4:17pm

Even When You Sleep, Your Brain Is Awake

Sleep in man is divided in two main phases: non-REM sleep, which occupies most of our early sleep night, and REM sleep, during which our dreams prevail. Non-REM sleep is usually considered as a compensatory ‘resting’ state for the brain, following the inte ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 9 2008 - 11:38pm