ScienceDaily (Dec. 20, 2011)
Being told that a work of art is authentic or fake alters the brain's response to the visual content of artwork, Oxford University academics have found.
Fourteen participants were placed in a brain scanner and shown images of works by 'Rembrandt' -- some were genuine, others were convincing imitations painted by different artists. Neither the participants nor their brain signals could distinguish between genuine and fake paintings. However, advice about whether or not an artwork is authentic alters the brain's response; this advice is equally effective, regardless of whether the artwork is genuine or not.
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Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
The chimpanzee who sees sounds
NATURE NEWS (December 05, 2011)
Chimpanzees meld sounds and colours, associating light objects with high tones and dark objects with deeper tones.
The finding hints that chimps, like humans, experience some form of synaesthesia, an uncommon condition in which the senses become intertwined, says Vera Ludwig, a cognitive neuroscientist at Charité Medical University in Berlin, Germany, who led a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1. Some synaesthetes associate different colours with letters and numbers, for instance, whereas others taste shapes.
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Chimpanzees meld sounds and colours, associating light objects with high tones and dark objects with deeper tones.
The finding hints that chimps, like humans, experience some form of synaesthesia, an uncommon condition in which the senses become intertwined, says Vera Ludwig, a cognitive neuroscientist at Charité Medical University in Berlin, Germany, who led a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1. Some synaesthetes associate different colours with letters and numbers, for instance, whereas others taste shapes.
(繼續閱讀...)
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Evidence for the existence of a hypnotic state? Key may be in the glazed staring eyes, researchers suggest
ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2011)
A multidisciplinary group of researchers from Finland (University of Turku and Aalto University) and Sweden (University of Skövde) has found that the strange stare of patients under hypnosis may be a key that can eventually lead to a solution to a long debate about the existence of a hypnotic state.
One of the most widely known features of a hypnotized person in the popular culture is a glazed, wide-open look in the eyes. Paradoxically, this sign has not been considered to have any major importance among researchers and has never been studied in any detail, probably due to the fact that it can be seen in only some hypnotized people.
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A multidisciplinary group of researchers from Finland (University of Turku and Aalto University) and Sweden (University of Skövde) has found that the strange stare of patients under hypnosis may be a key that can eventually lead to a solution to a long debate about the existence of a hypnotic state.
One of the most widely known features of a hypnotized person in the popular culture is a glazed, wide-open look in the eyes. Paradoxically, this sign has not been considered to have any major importance among researchers and has never been studied in any detail, probably due to the fact that it can be seen in only some hypnotized people.
(繼續閱讀...)
Sunday, September 25, 2011
DBS studies show how brain buys time for tough choices
EurekAlert! (Sep. 25, 2011)
When people must decide between arguably equal choices, they need time to deliberate. In the case of people undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease, that process sometimes doesn't kick in, leading to impulsive behavior. New research into why that happens has led scientists to a detailed explanation of how the brain devotes time to reflect on tough choices.
Michael Frank, professor of cognitive, linguistic, and psychological sciences at Brown University, studied the impulsive behavior of Parkinson's patients when he was at the University of Arizona several years ago. His goal was to model the brain's decision-making mechanics. He had begun working with Parkinson's patients because DBS, a treatment that suppresses their tremor symptoms, delivers pulses of electrical current to the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a part of the brain that Frank hypothesized had an important role in decisions. Could the STN be what slams the brakes on impulses, giving the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) time to think?
(繼續閱讀...)
When people must decide between arguably equal choices, they need time to deliberate. In the case of people undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson's disease, that process sometimes doesn't kick in, leading to impulsive behavior. New research into why that happens has led scientists to a detailed explanation of how the brain devotes time to reflect on tough choices.
Michael Frank, professor of cognitive, linguistic, and psychological sciences at Brown University, studied the impulsive behavior of Parkinson's patients when he was at the University of Arizona several years ago. His goal was to model the brain's decision-making mechanics. He had begun working with Parkinson's patients because DBS, a treatment that suppresses their tremor symptoms, delivers pulses of electrical current to the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a part of the brain that Frank hypothesized had an important role in decisions. Could the STN be what slams the brakes on impulses, giving the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) time to think?
(繼續閱讀...)
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Improvements are needed for accuracy in gene-by-environment interaction studies, experts say
ScienceDaily (Sep. 11, 2011)
A new study from McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School and the University of Colorado concludes that genetic research drawing correlations between specific genes, environmental variables and the combined impact they have on the development of some psychiatric illnesses needs additional scrutiny and replication before being accepted as true.
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A new study from McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School and the University of Colorado concludes that genetic research drawing correlations between specific genes, environmental variables and the combined impact they have on the development of some psychiatric illnesses needs additional scrutiny and replication before being accepted as true.
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Scientists probe connection between sight and touch in the brain
ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2011)
Shakespeare famously referred to "the mind's eye," but scientists at USC now also have identified a "mind's touch."
USC scientists have discovered that as you look at an object, your brain not only processes what the object looks like, but remembers what it feels like to touch it as well. This connection is so strong that a computer examining data coming only from the part of your brain that processes touch can predict which object at which you are actually looking.
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Shakespeare famously referred to "the mind's eye," but scientists at USC now also have identified a "mind's touch."
USC scientists have discovered that as you look at an object, your brain not only processes what the object looks like, but remembers what it feels like to touch it as well. This connection is so strong that a computer examining data coming only from the part of your brain that processes touch can predict which object at which you are actually looking.
(繼續閱讀...)
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Direct ancestor of Homo genus? Fossils show human-like hand, brain and pelvis in early hominin
ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2011)
The Australopithecus sediba discovered in 2008 could be the direct ancestor of the Homo genus. That is the conclusion of a team from the University of Witwatersrand, with participation by anthropologist Peter Schmid of the University of Zurich. The researchers describe in five publications in "Science" why their finding is more likely to come into consideration than earlier discoveries, like Homo habilis.
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The Australopithecus sediba discovered in 2008 could be the direct ancestor of the Homo genus. That is the conclusion of a team from the University of Witwatersrand, with participation by anthropologist Peter Schmid of the University of Zurich. The researchers describe in five publications in "Science" why their finding is more likely to come into consideration than earlier discoveries, like Homo habilis.
(繼續閱讀...)
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