News tagged with neural function

Why sleep? Scientist delves into one of science's great mysteries

(PhysOrg.com) -- Bats, birds, box turtles, humans and many other animals share at least one thing in common: They sleep. Humans, in fact, spend roughly one-third of their lives asleep, but sleep researchers still don't know ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Aug 20, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (22) | comments 24

Good conversation results in a 'mind meld'

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers studying human conversation have discovered the brains of listeners and speakers become synchronized, and this "neural coupling" makes for effective communication. In essence, ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jul 27, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (22) | comments 3 | with audio podcast report

Researchers document how brain computes language

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports a significant breakthrough in explaining gaps in scientists' understanding of human brain function. The study - ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Oct 15, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (19) | comments 1

Why humans believe that better things come to those who wait

New research reveals a brain circuit that seems to underlie the ability of humans to resist instant gratification and delay reward for months, or even years, in order to earn a better payoff. The study, published by Cell ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Apr 14, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Dreams may have an important physiological function

(PhysOrg.com) -- Dreams have long been assumed to have psychological functions such as consolidating emotional memories and processing experiences or problems, but according to a Harvard psychiatrist and sleep ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 3.9 / 5 (29) | comments 12 weblog

Study reveals how taking an active role in learning enhances memory

Good news for control freaks! New research confirms that having some authority over how one takes in new information significantly enhances one's ability to remember it. The study, in the journal Nature Ne ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Dec 06, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Future angst? Brain scans show uncertainty fuels anxiety

(PhysOrg.com) -- Anyone who has spent a sleepless night anguishing over a possible job loss has experienced the central finding of a new brain scan study: Uncertainty makes a bad event feel even worse.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Aug 17, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 2

Study: Older investors are prone to mental misfires while playing the market (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Brain scans highlight differences between old and young minds focused on investment choices.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Jan 29, 2010 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

How to read brain activity?

(PhysOrg.com) -- For the very first time, scientists show what EEG can really tell us about how the brain functions.

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Dec 04, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 0

Well-known enzyme is unexpected contributor to brain growth

An enzyme researchers have studied for years because of its potential connections to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and stroke, appears to have yet another major role to play: helping create and maintain the ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Mar 12, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Schizophrenia gene's role may be broader, more potent, than thought

(PhysOrg.com) -- UCSF scientists studying nerve cells in fruit flies have uncovered a new function for a gene whose human equivalent may play a critical role in schizophrenia.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

The brain as a 'task machine'

The portion of the brain responsible for visual reading doesn't require vision at all, according to a new study published online on February 17 in Current Biology. Brain imaging studies of blind people as they read words ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 17, 2011 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (12) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Study: Believers' inferences about God's beliefs are uniquely egocentric

Religious people tend to use their own beliefs as a guide in thinking about what God believes, but are less constrained when reasoning about other people's beliefs, according to new study published in the ...

Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry

created Nov 30, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (50) | comments 182

Twins Study Looks at Genetic Influences on Thinking

(PhysOrg.com) -- A groundbreaking study by UT Dallas’ Center for Vital Longevity is focusing on twins in an effort to answer some long-debated questions about the rival influences of nature vs. nurture.

Medicine & Health / Medical research

created Feb 16, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Early life experience modifies gene vital to normal brain function

Early life stress, such as an extreme lack of parental affection, has lasting effects on a gene important to normal brain processes and also tied to mental disorders, according to a new animal study in the Sept. 29 issue ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Sep 28, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast