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Top keywords: brain (142), research (67), memories (41), studies (41), participants (35), neuron (31), learn (30), sleep (22), memory (22), neurons (21), human (20), study (20), studied (20), researchers (19), word (19)

#570 read 2021 October 17 11:00 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210709104…

light, sleep, exposure, oled, effect, energy metabolic, researchers, light exposure

Polychromatic white LEDs emit a large amount of blue light, which has been linked with many negative health effects, including metabolic health
In contrast, OLEDs emit polychromatic white light that contains less blue light. However, the impact of LED and OLED exposure at night has not been compared in terms of changes in energy metabolism during sleep
“Although no effect on sleep architecture was observed, energy expenditure and core body temperature during sleep were significantly decreased after OLED exposure. Furthermore, fat oxidation during sleep was significantly lower after exposure to LED compared with OLED.”

#569 read 2021 August 12 09:24 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210331130…

memories, attention, color, monkey, select, buschman, square, neural

“Attention allows you to focus your resources on a particular stimulus, while a similar selection process happens with items in working memory,” said Buschman. “Our results show the prefrontal cortex uses one representation to control both attention and working memory.”
“The brain is holding information in a way that the network can’t see it,” he said. Then, when it came time to respond at the end of the trial, the memory representation rotated

#568 read 2021 May 03 11:49 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-our-brains-alwa…

subtract, away, ideas, adding, addition, might, reminded, brick

we usually try and solve problems by adding more, rather than taking away
this preference for adding was noticeable in three scenarios in particular: when people were under higher cognitive load, when there was less time to consider the other options, and when volunteers didn’t get a specific reminder that subtracting was an option
Additive ideas come to mind quickly and easily, but subtractive ideas require more cognitive effort
Our brains might find additive changes easier to process perhaps
There might also be associations in our minds with the status quo being something that needs to be maintained as much as possible and taking something away is arguably more destructive to the status quo than adding something new

#567 read 2021 April 08 12:08 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/a-diversity-of-everyday-mo…

movement, wellbeing, active, mental health, patient, studies, disorders, health

it seems that just visiting a variety of different locations is associated with a higher sense of wellbeing in people with depression or anxiety
a small study of 67 participants found everyday activities, like walking to the tram stop or climbing a flight of stairs, made people feel more alert and energetic.

#566 read 2021 April 08 12:02 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200629120…

word, brain, memories, memorability, results, studies, patient, dr

they could not find a link between the relative “concreteness” of a word’s definition and its memorability. A word like “moth” was no more memorable than a word that has more abstract meanings, like “chief.”
more memorable words did not simply appear more often in sentences than the less memorable ones
their results suggested that the more memorable words were more semantically similar, or more often linked to the meanings of other words used in the English language
results supported the idea that the more memorable words represented high trafficked hubs in the brain’s memory networks.

#565 read 2021 January 09 11:01 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200818142…

object, infant, name, distinct, infant encode, memory, consistent, encode

the way an object is named guides infants’ encoding, representation and memory for that object
During training, all infants viewed four distinct objects from the same object category, each introduced in conjunction with either the same novel noun (Consistent Name condition), a distinct novel noun for each object (Distinct Names condition), or the same sine-wave tone sequence (Consistent Tone condition)
When the same name is applied consistently to a set of objects, infants encode primarily their commonalties. In contrast, when a unique name is applied to each object, infants encode each object’s unique features.

#564 read 2020 December 14 12:17 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201105113…

praise, agent, robot, task, effects, human, participant, praise delivered

Social rewards such as praise are known to enhance various stages of the learning process.
found that praise delivered by artificial beings such as robots and virtual graphics-based agents can have effects similar to praise delivered by humans
motor task performance in participants was significantly enhanced by praise from either one or two robots or virtual agents
two agents led to significantly greater participant performance than one agent, even when the amount of praise was identical
whether the praise was delivered by physical robots or by virtual agents did not influence the effects

#563 read 2020 November 15 01:12 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200824131…

learn, shock, pain, participants, decision, another person, vmpfc, implicated

Humans are often motivated by self-interest. Participants in one study, for example, learned a game faster when they earned money for themselves as opposed to another person. However, this pattern changes when physical harm enters the equation.
participants played an electric shock game. They chose between two abstract symbols: one had a high chance of delivering a non-painful electrical shock while the other had a low chance of delivering a painful shock
participants were better at making optimal choices – resulting in the least amount of pain – when they chose for another person, rather than themselves. This could be explained by an increased sensitivity to the value of one choice over another

#562 read 2020 November 15 01:09 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200908122…

partner, goal, relationship, avoid, couple, person, study, one partner

Over the long-term, what one partner in a two-person relationship wishes to avoid, so too does the other partner – and what one wants to achieve, so does the other.
It was notable that the daily goals of one partner – which can change – mainly coincided with the medium- and longer-term goal trends of the other partner. It therefore takes several days to months for the long-term relationship goals of one partner to have an impact on the goals of the other. “This could be an adaptive mechanism to maintain the stability of the relationship,” says Nikitin, “by not being influenced by every momentary shift made by the partner.”

#561 read 2020 November 15 01:02 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201001113…

brain, children, activated, learn, write, keyboard, van der meer, studies

choosing handwriting over keyboard use yields the best learning and memory
Handwriting gives the brain more hooks to hang memories on
A lot of senses are activated by pressing the pen on paper, seeing the letters you write and hearing the sound you make while writing. These sense experiences create contact between different parts of the brain and open the brain up for learning
In the debate about handwriting or keyboard use in school, some teachers believe that keyboards create less frustration for children. They point out that children can write longer texts earlier, and are more motivated to write because they experience greater mastery with a keyboard

#560 read 2020 November 15 12:56 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201002091…

choice, babies, choose, thing, feigenson, toy, adults, phenomenon

The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options
People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that’s sometimes backwards: We like things because we choose them. And, we dislike things that we don’t choose.

#559 read 2020 November 15 12:50 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/do-couples-start-looking-m…

couples, face, similar, converge, facial, physical, tea makorn, suggest

the researchers didn’t find anything to suggest that couples start looking more like each other as the years pass
the results did confirm that people do seem to pick long-term partners that look similar to them, at least compared to other faces picked randomly

#558 read 2020 November 15 12:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201016112…

fructose, sugar, johnson, behavior, intake, risk, role, present

conditions such as attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD), bipolar disorder, and even aggressive behaviors may be linked with sugar intake, and that it may have an evolutionary basis
evidence that fructose, by lowering energy in cells, triggers a foraging response similar to what occurs in starvation
a foraging response stimulates risk taking, impulsivity, novelty seeking, rapid decision making, and aggressiveness to aid the securing of food as a survival response. Overactivation of this process from excess sugar intake may cause impulsive behavior that could range from ADHD, to bipolar disorder or even aggression

#557 read 2020 November 07 11:36 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201105113…

human, neuronal, memories, animal, difference, pattern separate, store, argues

It has previously been thought and copiously published that it is ‘pattern separation’ in the hippocampus, an area of the brain critical for memory, that enables memories to be stored by separate groups of neurons, so that memories don’t get mixed up.
when recording the activity of individual neurons we have found that there is an alternative model to pattern separation storing our memories
the lack of pattern separation in memory coding is a key difference compared to other species, which has profound implications that could explain cognitive abilities uniquely developed in humans, such as our power of generalization and of creative thought

#556 read 2020 August 10 01:25 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/invisible-words-shape-the-…

stories, narrative, fiction, structure, language, storytellers, research, across

writers tend to set the stage at the beginning of stories with lots of prepositions and articles, which help to introduce and locate characters and settings
As plots progress, the language changes, with the amount of auxiliary verbs, adverbs, and pronouns starting to increase, while a rise in words reflecting cognitive tension peaks over the course of the story, falling as the narrative proceeds to its conclusion.
“From an evolutionary perspective, the structure of storytelling may provide a crucial way for people (or different groups) to share information… The optimal structure of storytelling, then, may originate from a natural inclination to first define objects/people and then assign action.”

#555 read 2020 July 31 01:08 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200728201…

music, cognition, music trained, studies, skill, children, author, trained

Music training does not have a positive impact on children’s cognitive skills, such as memory, and academic achievement, such as maths, reading or writing
When comparing between the individual studies included in their meta-analysis, the authors found that studies with high-quality study design, such as those which used a group of active controls – children who did not learn music, but instead learned a different skill, such as dance or sports – showed no effect of music education on cognitive or academic performance

#554 read 2020 June 15 03:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200610094…

strategic mindset, strategies, effective, studies, challenges, people, asst prof chen, psychological

people with a strategic mindset are the ones who, in the face of challenges or setbacks, ask themselves: “How else can I do this? Is there a better way of doing this?.” Done in collaboration with Stanford University psychologists, this research shows that, as a result, these people tend to apply more effective strategies when working towards their goals in life – including educational, work, health and fitness goals

#553 read 2019 December 20 04:12 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191211115…

It also generated original new brain scans that are globally shared to inspire further discovery.

auditory, human, brain, studied, pathway, language, evolutionary, fossil

demonstrated that exposing mice to light flickering or sound buzzing at 40Hz, a method dubbed “GENUS” for Gamma ENtrainment Using Sensory stimuli, strengthens the rhythm across the brain and changes the gene expression and activity of multiple brain cell types. Pathological amyloid and tau protein buildups decline, neurons and their circuit connections are protected from degeneration and learning and memory endure significantly better than in disease model mice who do not receive GENUS
That GENUS extends to the hippocampus, which is key for memory, and the prefrontal cortex, which is key for cognition, is likely a factor in how it preserves brain function

#552 read 2020 January 27 09:51 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200121113…

The art can speak for itself,” says Professor Jens Gaab in summary.

aesthetic experience, artwork, information, study, evaluated, art, research, stronger

Information about an artwork has no effect on the aesthetic experience of museum visitors. The characteristics of the artwork itself have a much stronger impact on observers

#551 read 2020 February 10 04:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200205132…

“When mice smell a novel stimulus, they get very excited and start sniffing very rapidly.

learning, novelty, dopamine, activate, associate learning, novel, sebastian haesler, dopamine activate

identified a causal mechanism of how novel stimuli promote learning. Novelty directly activates the dopamine system, which is responsible for associative learning
With the mouse experiments, the team confirmed dopamine neurons were activated by new smells, but not by familiar ones

#550 read 2020 February 18 12:24 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200212150…

“It is important to recognize that incentives alone are insufficient to spark creativity,” they wrote.

categories, innovation, entries, creative, produce, resulted, prize, competition

competition was created to test which of two common compensation models produced more novel ideas. Those who signed up were randomly selected to compete in either the “winner-takes-all” category, in which there was one prize of $15,000 awarded to first place, or the “top 10” category, in which the same amount of prize money was spread out among the top 10 entries
Participants under the winner-takes-all compensation scheme submitted proposals that were significantly more novel than their counterparts in the other scheme

#549 read 2020 April 13 08:53 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151211131…

Cheese with a claim about a reduced salt content, on the other hand, was labeled as equally delicious as regular cheese.

label, cheese, flavour, flavour perception, research, reduced salt, lower, health

#548 read 2016 February 22 10:40 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160222111…

“It’s another piece of evidence that the hyperactive behavior more and more seems to be purposeful for them,” he said.

Fidgeting helps ADHD patients perform in working-memory-demanding situations

test, kofler, adhd, memory, hyperactive, remember, move, children

Squirm with purpose: Fidgeting is helpful for ADHD patients, study shows
this is the first study that shows a cause-and-effect relationship between working memory demands and hyperactivity in ADHD.

#547 read 2016 February 23 11:02 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160212130…

“The brain prioritizes memories that are going to be useful for future decisions.”

Memory replay prioritizes high-reward memories likely to be useful for future decisions

memories, reward, brain, scan, remember, object, ranganath, rest

Memory replay prioritizes high-reward memories
Our brains prioritize rewarding memories over others, and reinforce them by replaying them when we are at rest, according to new research.
The brain prioritizes memories that are going to be useful for future decisions

#546 read 2020 April 16 10:05 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered…

“This marks the first successful application of our chemical method for hydrindane synthesis in the context of natural product synthesis.”

research, natural product, product, natural, synthesise, neurotrophins, nerve, synthesis

#545 read 2020 February 25 01:05 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200219130…

scientist, research, audience, message, person, trust, science, authentic

found that if a scientist shares the story of the development of the origin of his or her interest in the subject through a first-person narrative – without use of institutional affiliations – people are more inclined to perceive him or her as authentic
if a scientist only uses a first-person narrative, people are more inclined to perceive a scientist as authentic based on a feeling of connection

#544 read 2020 April 13 08:57 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160104130…

Our study now shows that the freedom is much less limited than previously thought.

decision, brain, studied, research, computational, process, movement, conscious

#543 read 2020 April 16 04:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200416091…

“Individuals,” they argue, “are best thought of in terms of dynamical processes and not as stationary objects.”

individual, flack, information, measurement, colonial, authors, cell, environment

#542 read 2019 February 06 06:12 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181105160…

Professor Majid said: “What this study shows us is that we can’t always assume that understanding certain human functions within the context of the English language provides us with a universally relevant perspective or solution.

cultural, smell, language, sense, taste and smell, universally, communicate, taste

the accepted hierarchy of human senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell – is not universally true across all cultures.
Previous research has shown that English speakers find it easy to talk about the things that they can see, such as colours and shapes, but struggle to name the things that they smell. It was not known, however, if this was universally true across other languages and cultures
Across all cultures, people found smell the most difficult to talk about, reflecting the widely-held view that smell is the ‘mute sense.’ A traditional hunter-gatherer group from Australia, however, who speak the language Umpila, showed the best performance in talking about smell, outranking all other 19 cultures.
speakers of Farsi and Lao, however, showed almost perfect scores in being able to identify taste

#541 read 2019 February 14 06:12 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190211114…

Thomas Götz: “What we naturally don’t want in our schools is that a high-achieving context undermines emotions.”

emotionally, achievement, student, studied, performance, effect, thomas gtz, environment

The effect on self-concept and consequently on emotions is positive if a person is high-achieving, but the effect on self-concept and emotions is negative if the student is in a class of top performers. Correspondingly, it is good for a person’s self-concept, and thus also for emotions, when the environment is less high-achieving
There is also a reciprocal effect: Achievement influences emotions and emotions influence achievement. If positive emotions are reduced, achievements also diminish.

#540 read 2020 April 14 02:54 PM. Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S…

Such series of numbers are only seemingly random (bias in the randomness quality can be observed).

random, random numbers, numbers, hypotheses, generate, generate random, natural, computer

#539 read 2019 March 09 02:25 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190227081…

Researchers say this is because library noise is a “steady state” environment which is not as disruptive.

music, creative, lyrics, verbal, researchers, performance, background music, impaired

investigated the impact of background music on performance by presenting people with verbal insight problems that are believed to tap creativity
found that background music “significantly impaired” people’s ability to complete tasks testing verbal creativity – but there was no effect for background library noise
a participant was shown three words (e.g., dress, dial, flower), with the requirement being to find a single associated word (in this case “sun”)
Researchers suggest this may be because music disrupts verbal working memory.
exposure to music with familiar lyrics- impaired creativity regardless of whether the music also boosted mood, induced a positive mood, was liked by the participants, or whether participants typically studied in the presence of music
demonstrate that music, regardless of the presence of semantic content (no lyrics, familiar lyrics or unfamiliar lyrics), consistently disrupts creative performance in insight problem solving

#538 read 2019 March 09 02:45 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181025113…

In a twist of the oft-used phrase, ‘think globally, act locally’, developing cortical circuits act locally to achieve global effects.

activity, patterns, connections, network, visual, long range, correlated, spontaneous

One of the outstanding mysteries of the cerebral cortex is how individual neurons develop the proper synaptic connections to form large-scale, distributed networks
gained novel insights from spontaneously generated patterns of activity by local networks in the early developing visual cortex. Apparently these form the basis for long-range neural connections that are established through brain activity over the course of cortical development
the spontaneous activity patterns were highly correlated between distant populations of neurons – and in fact were so highly correlated that the activity of small populations of neurons could reliably predict coincident network activity patterns millimetres away
By looking at the state of spontaneous activity patterns prior to eye opening, they expected to see a striking difference in the patterns of spontaneous activity because the long-range cortical connections that are thought to be the basis for distributed network activity patterns are absent in the immature cortex. To their surprise, they discovered robust long-range patterns of correlated spontaneous activity prior to eye opening, and found that they extended over distances comparable to what was seen in the mature brain.
suggest that long-range order in the early developing cortex originates from neural activity driven by short-range connections

#537 read 2019 March 21 11:49 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190312143…

“We envision our system being a better way to communicate not just this type of information, but much more to a robot-agent.”

arousal, task, performance, studied, neurofeedback, arousal state, bci, level

To keep you in the zone of maximum performance, your arousal needs to be at moderate levels, not so high that it pushes you over the edge.
Simultaneous measurements of pupil dilation and heart rate variability showed that the neurofeedback indeed reduced arousal, causing the subjects to remain calm and fly beyond the point at which they would normally fail

#536 read 2019 May 11 09:12 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190221111…

As soon as we have such a mental image, it is easy to put ourselves in the other person’s place and to predict how they will behave.”

person, study, rotate, letter, mental rotate, mental, participants, eyes

focused on a mental rotation task commonly used in psychology, where participants are asked whether a rotated letter on computer screen is presented in its standard form (e.g. “R”) or mirror-inverted form
Usually, the more a letter is rotated away from the person judging it, the longer it takes to decide its form. The reason for this is that people first have to mentally rotate the object back to its upright orientation before being able to judge its form, and this rotation takes longer the more the letter is oriented away.
the new study reveals that people can bypass this mental rotation when another person is introduced. The study shows that even when items are oriented away from participants, their decision times are surprisingly fast if the item appears upright to the other person and is therefore easily identifiable from their perspective. In contrast, if the letter appears upside down for the other person, even relatively easy judgements become harder for the participants

#535 read 2019 September 21 06:03 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190917100…

Finally, the participants were told to go forth, and to be as talkative, assertive, and spontaneous as they could stand.

extravert, extraversion, participants, week, lyubomirsky, behavior, study, act

For one week, the 123 participants were asked to – in some cases – push the boundaries of their willingness to engage, by acting as extraverts. For another week, the same group was asked to act like introverts.
The findings suggest that changing one’s social behavior is a realizable goal for many people, and that behaving in an extraverted way improves well-being
Researchers next told participants – both the Act Introvert group and the Act Extravert group – that previous research found each set of behaviors are beneficial for college students.

#534 read 2019 October 13 07:25 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191001084…

“But those who stick it out, on average, perform much better in the long term, suggesting that if it doesn’t kill you, it really does make you stronger.”

success, failure, research, group, paper, scientists, near miss group, publish

established a causal relationship between failure and future success
in contrast to their initial expectations, that failure early in one’s career leads to greater success in the long term for those who try again
Researchers analyzed records of scientists who, early in their careers, applied for R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) between 1990 and 2005. They utilized the NIH’s evaluation scores to separate individuals into two groups: (1) the “near-misses” whose scores were just below the threshold that received funding and (2) the “just-made-its” whose scores were just above that threshold
individuals in the near-miss group received less funding, but published just as many papers, and more hit papers, than individuals in the just-made-it group
Further analysis revealed that while the attrition rate after failure was 10 percent higher for the near-miss group, that alone could not account for the greater success later in their careers

#533 read 2019 November 03 05:29 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191029140…

“We decided the best way to address the issue was to examine the words that people use to describe their goals, and we hope our conclusions will help bring about an ultimate consensus.”

goal, research, culture, social, includes, human, wilkowski, categorized

human goals can be broadly categorized in terms of four goals: ‘prominence,’ ‘inclusiveness,’ ‘negativity prevention’ and ‘tradition.’

#532 read 2019 November 06 04:13 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191105113…

When a challenge is too simple, we don’t learn anything new; likewise, we don’t enhance our knowledge when a challenge is so difficult that we fail entirely or give up.

learn, wilson, example, 85, education, 85 rule, tumor, sweet spot

Educators and educational scholars have long recognized that there is something of a “sweet spot” when it comes to learning. That is, we learn best when we are challenged to grasp something just outside the bounds of our existing knowledge. When a challenge is too simple, we don’t learn anything new; likewise, we don’t enhance our knowledge when a challenge is so difficult that we fail entirely or give up.
If you have an error rate of 15% or accuracy of 85%, you are always maximizing your rate of learning in these two-choice tasks

#531 read 2019 November 17 10:42 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191114115…

“If making a game face has the potential to improve performance, we may find this concept can have application outside of the traditional venue of sports,” he said.

game face, research, participants, performance, richesin, impact, demonstrate, face

Game face may not only improve performance in cognitive tasks, but it could also lead to better recovery from stress
participants were tasked with completing as much of a 100-piece black-and-white mandala puzzle as possible within five minutes. In this case, the game face group performed on average 20 percent better, while also demonstrating better stress recovery compared to the control group

#530 read 2019 November 02 06:28 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191028175…

“We are generally motivated to think more favorably about ourselves, so when given a reason to doubt others – even a slight one – we tend to think, maybe this person isn’t actually that good, and that can change how threatened we feel.”

opponent, momentum, threatened, player, kakkar, mental, perform, rank

As players rise, they gather what social scientists call “status momentum,”
Kakkar said an opponent’s momentum is not just hype; a positive trend in an opponent’s ranking can be threatening for athletes, even for seasoned pros
Once you present people with some kind of doubt to the veracity of the rankings, such as a clerical error that affected the rankings, that alleviates some of the adverse effect of the opponent’s momentum

#529 read 2020 April 13 08:56 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-evolution-might…

“If evolution can learn from experience, and thus improve its own ability to evolve over time, this can demystify the awesomeness of the designs that evolution produces,” said Watson.

evolution, learn, watson, theories, selection, evolve, intelligent, learn theories

#528 read 2019 October 16 07:44 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003103…

“It’s probably not wise to apply this strategy for positive emotions because we do not want to minimize these good feelings,” Yang said.

Anthropomorphizing sadness reduces its effect

sad, emotion, participants, anthropomorphic sad, person, feel, anthropomorphic, researchers

“Our study suggests that anthropomorphizing sadness may be a new way to regulate this emotion,” Yang said. “Activating this mindset is a way to help people feel better and resist temptations that may not benefit them in the long-term.”

#527 read 2020 April 13 08:59 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/our-brain-s-memory-capacit…

“This means that every 2 or 20 minutes, your synapses are going up or down to the next size,” said Bartol.

synapses, brain, size, computational, sejnowski, difference, 10, precise

#526 read 2020 April 13 08:58 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160107094…

“People will often hold political values as protected values and protected values are at the root of many political conflicts around the world, which is why they’re interesting to us,” he said.

brain, stories, value, kaplan, activated, studies, protected value, scanned

#525 read 2020 April 13 08:53 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/hunger-makes…

“If hungry consumers have to make purchase decisions, they’d better think twice before swiping their credit card.”

hungry, hunger, binder clip, food, clip, participants, might, shop

#524 read 2020 April 13 08:52 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140916111…

Vacations feel too short, meetings seem too long, and bad dates never seem to end.

experience, vacation, event, categorize, consumer, feel, categories, jazz club

#523 read 2019 September 29 06:07 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190926141…

“You need to control the automatic process that makes you stop when muscles or joints hurt,” Pessiglione says.

fatigue, athletes, training, brain, researchers, pessiglione, control, studies

When researchers imposed an excessive training load on triathletes, they showed a form of mental fatigue. This fatigue included reduced activity in a portion of the brain important for making decisions. The athletes also acted more impulsively, opting for immediate rewards instead of bigger ones that would take longer to achieve.
The lateral prefrontal region that was affected by sport-training overload was exactly the same that had been shown vulnerable to excessive cognitive work
suggest a connection between mental and physical effort: both require cognitive control. The reason such control is essential in demanding athletic training, they suggest, is that to maintain physical effort and reach a distant goal requires cognitive control
You need to control the automatic process that makes you stop when muscles or joints hurt

#522 read 2019 November 27 03:58 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190919142…

“We have discovered that the LS may be aiding you in making some of those decisions.

ls, movement, hippocampus, wirtshafter, behavior, region, reward, memories

observations in the lateral septum indicate that the well-connected region processes movement, and reward information to help direct behavior
directly encodes information about the speed and acceleration of an animal as it navigates and learns how to obtain a reward in an environment

#521 read 2019 November 29 04:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191125121…

“It’s often very difficult to measure psychological quantities because we don’t always have a great idea about what’s going on in our own heads,” said Brick.

love, felt love, research, studies, data, psychological, experience, throughout

researchers found that people who experienced higher “felt love” – brief experiences of love and connection in everyday life – also had significantly higher levels of psychological well-being, which includes feelings of purpose and optimism
Everyday felt love is conceptually much broader than romantic love. It’s those micro-moments in your life when you experience resonance with someone. For example, if you’re talking to a neighbor and they express concern for your well-being, then you might resonate with that and experience it as a feeling of love, and that might improve your well-being
seen in the literature on mindfulness, when people are reminded to focus attention on positive things, their overall awareness of those positive things begins to rise

#520 read 2019 November 30 12:28 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191120131…

A beautiful painting does not make the next one look less attractive but makes it more attractive.

painting, attractive, bias, rate, studies, professor alais, aesthetic, sequence

A beautiful painting does not make the next one look less attractive but makes it more attractive
involved presenting a sequence of 40 paintings to 24 observers who were asked to rate each one using a slider to indicate how aesthetically appealing or attractive it was
paintings were rated higher following an attractive painting, or lower, following unattractive ones

#519 read 2020 April 13 08:38 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200319125…

Neurons in the prefrontal cortex excite each other to keep information “in mind.”

neuron, m1 receptor, circuits, memory, prefrontal cortex, schizophrenia, author, muscarinic m1

The new study shows that these prefrontal cortical circuits depend upon the neurotransmitter acetylcholine stimulating muscarinic M1 receptors aligned on the surface of neurons of the prefrontal cortex.

#518 read 2019 November 22 12:06 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191120141…

And in many cases, it is only years later that it is possible to say which expert made the right call most often.

decision, expert, method, diagnoses, research, radiologists, developed, identified

how can we find out which expert in a group makes the best and most accurate decisions?
It rests on a simple assumption: Those individuals in a group of experts who make decisions that are most similar to the decisions of others also make the best decisions.
It has been shown time and again that experts who are good in their field are good in a similar way, whereas poor performers are bad in very different ways

#517 read 2020 February 18 12:08 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200203104…

“You would assume that a startling ‘beep beep beep’ alarm would improve alertness, but our data revealed that melodic alarms may be the key element.

wake, research, sound, beep, alarm, important, grogginess, rmit

suggests melodic alarms could improve alertness levels, with harsh alarm tones linked to increased levels of morning grogginess

#516 read 2020 March 23 04:08 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200319103…

“This does not mean that learning shouldn’t be fun,” she said.

learned, seductive detail, detail, students, information, sundar, teacher, analysis

When teachers use a funny joke, a cat video or even background music in their lessons, it can keep students from understanding the main content.
The analysis of 58 studies involving more than 7,500 students found that those who learned with seductive details performed lower on learning outcome measures than those who learned without the extraneous information
There may be some trade-offs between the potential emotional benefit and the detrimental effects of seductive details that we’re seeing on learning

#515 read 2020 March 18 02:53 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200313112…

avatar, realistic avatar, compete against, study, self, performance, effect, against their realistic

If you’ve ever played an immersive game using virtual reality (VR) technology, you’ll be familiar with the concept of customising an avatar to represent you. Most people design an aspirational, buffed-up version of themselves, but new research from the University of Bath suggests you should temper your vanity when the game is for fitness, as your performance improves when they compete against an avatar that more closely matches your authentic self

#514 read 2020 February 22 05:02 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2020-01-wisdom-crowd-suboptimal-p…

forecast, future, delay embedding, method, value, predict, research, combined

Delay embedding is a widely used method to make sense of time series data and attempt to predict future values. This approach takes a sequence of observations and “embeds” them in a higher-dimensional space by combining the current value with evenly spaced lagged values from the past.

#513 read 2020 February 05 02:10 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200130104…

human, learning, computational, reinforcement learning, model, task, meta reinforcement learning, complex

The team found that people tended to increase planning-based reinforcement learning (called model-based control), in response to increasing task complexity. However, they resorted to a simpler, more resource efficient strategy called model-free control, when both uncertainty and task complexity were high.
task complexity interacts with neural representations of the reliability of the learning strategies in the inferior prefrontal cortex

#512 read 2019 December 18 11:51 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191216173…

light, bright, colour, changes, clock, body clock, research, blue

Our findings suggest that using dim, cooler, lights in the evening and bright warmer lights in the day may be more beneficial
We show the common view that blue light has the strongest effect on the clock is misguided; in fact, the blue colours that are associated with twilight have a weaker effect than white or yellow light of equivalent brightness

#511 read 2019 December 13 02:53 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191211115…

songwriter, skaggs, artist, collaborate, song, maybe, write, manipulation dance

Country music songwriters must perform a careful dance when they work with famous singers who may be less talented at writing songs but bring the needed star power to attract fans – and, importantly, to get the song recorded in the first place
There are these strategies for when collaborators don’t have the same idea of what they want to happen, particularly if one collaborator is much higher status
And if you’re the songwriter in the room with them, you don’t want to undermine that collaborator. You want to identify that they have something to bring to the table, and maybe it’s their fame, but maybe it’s not creativity. So what are the ways around that? How can you can still create something that is good, but not alienate or belittle your partner?
The songwriters’ responses indicated that most either try to take a backseat to the singer – what Skaggs called “bespoke facilitation” – or they come in with the songs mostly written – “the manipulation dance.”

#510 read 2019 December 08 12:35 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/12/191204145…

attention, alpha, subjects, brain, waves, alpha waves, side, research

people can enhance their attention by controlling their own alpha brain waves based on neurofeedback they receive as they perform a particular task
The study found that when subjects learned to suppress alpha waves in one hemisphere of their parietal cortex, they were able to pay better attention to objects that appeared on the opposite side of their visual field
Alpha waves, which oscillate in the frequency of 8 to 12 hertz, are believed to play a role in filtering out distracting sensory information
In humans and in animal studies, a decrease in alpha waves has been linked to enhanced attention. However, it was unclear if alpha waves control attention or are just a byproduct of some other process that governs attention

#509 read 2019 December 02 04:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191120121…

movement, perception, brain, visual, creatively, research, barbara hndel, jmu

When processing visual stimuli, however, it makes a difference whether the person is sitting or moving: When walking around, the peripheral part of the visual field shows enhanced processing compared to the central part
It is above all the peripheral visual input that provides information about the direction and speed of our movement and thus plays an important role for navigation
some studies show that people learn better when they move
There is also a connection between creativity and eye movements: “It is known that people blink more often the more creatively they solve a task. And we found that people also blink more often when they walk around compared to being at rest.”

#508 read 2019 November 29 04:41 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191127090…

discovered that a population of neurons in the brain’s frontal lobe contain stable short-term memory information within dynamically-changing neural activity
suggesting that a single neural population may contain multiple independent types of information that do not interfere with each other. “This may be an important property of organisms that display cognitive flexibility,”

#507 read 2019 September 21 05:14 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916110…

sleep, brain, zebrafish, brain active, research, increase, finding, active

The intensity of brain activity during the day, notwithstanding how long we’ve been awake, appears to increase our need for sleep
But the homeostatic system, which causes us to feel increasingly tired after a very long day or sleepless night, is not well understood. What we’ve found is that it appears to be driven not just by how long you’ve been awake for, but how intensive your brain activity has been since you last slept

#506 read 2019 October 09 05:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003105…

memory, performance, anticipate, forrin, present, student, read, aloud

Anticipating your own performance at work or school may hinder your ability to remember what happened before your presentation
findings also suggest that the presence of an audience may be an important factor that contributes to this pre-performance memory deficit
Building on what previous research called the next-in-line effect, Forrin and his co-authors explored how different ways of preparing for a presentation impact the pre-performance memory deficit.
the production effect, which is the simple yet powerful idea that we can remember something best if we say it aloud
the production effect has a downside: When people anticipate reading out loud, they may have worse memory for information that they encounter before reading aloud

#505 read 2019 November 13 06:30 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191112142…

noise, brain, sound, hearing, white noise, research, neuronal, auditory

showed that white noise significantly inhibited the activity of the nerve cells in the auditory cortex. Paradoxically, this suppression of the neuronal excitation led to a more precise perception of the pure tones
less overlap occurred between populations of neurons during two separate tone representations

#504 read 2019 November 08 03:13 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/here-s-how-your-brain-deal…

brain, activation, task, patterns, brain activation, shape, thalamus, dimensional manifold

It turns out that many structures in your brain work together in precise ways to coordinate their activity, shaping their actions to the requirements of whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve.
We call these coordinated patterns the “low-dimensional manifold”, which you can think of as analogous to the major roadways that you use to commute to and from work. The majority of the traffic flows along these major highways, which represent an efficient and effective way to get from A to B.
Our prediction was that performing the more difficult versions of the task would lead to a reconfiguration of the low-dimensional manifold. To return to the highway analogy, a tricky task might pull some brain activity off the highway and onto the back streets to help get around the congestion.
More difficult trials showed different patterns of brain activation to easy ones, as if the brain’s traffic was being rerouted along different roads
Overall, these results suggests that our brain activity perhaps isn’t as complicated as we once thought. Most of the time, our brain is directing traffic along pretty well-established routes, and even when it needs to get creative it is still trying to send the traffic to the same ultimate destination.
This leaves us with an important question: how does the brain achieve this level of coordination?
the circuitry of the thalamus is such that it can act as a filter for ongoing activity in the cerebral cortex, the brain’s main information processing centre, and therefore could exert the kind of influence we were looking for
when performing particular tasks, the thalamus helps to shape and constrain the activity in the cortex, a bit like a police officer directing busy traffic

#503 read 2019 November 02 08:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191029144…

word, learn, thing, context, children, remember, learn new word, object

Children may learn new words better when they learn them in the context of other words they are just learning
“It seems counterintuitive, but it is perhaps because the less well-known items don’t compete with the new words as much. If they learn new words in the context of playing with well-known items such as a ball, book or car, they don’t process the new word as much.”

#502 read 2019 November 02 05:58 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190702112…

intention, protagonist, emotion, context, accidental, actors, action, age

People of all ages tend to misjudge the strength of other people’s emotions based on an egocentric bias
Even if the end result is the same, the recipient of an action usually responds with stronger emotions if the actions are intentional rather than accidental
if we accidentally harm someone else, we may wrongly assume that his/her feelings of sadness are weaker even if he/she is ignorant of our intention. Quarrels between children over trivial matters may also occur because of this sort of egocentric bias

#501 read 2019 October 16 07:46 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191003074…

reward, pupil, student, approach, cooperated, competition, abilities, achieve

Pupils do better in spelling tests if teachers reward them for team – rather than individual – performance
They suggest that a common goal of winning and an ‘us versus them’ mindset encourages higher-achieving pupils to help the weakest in their group do better. This team learning approach is preferable to rewarding just the best student in a class at the expense of others – or pupils getting nothing at all. Besides showing improvements in their spelling scores, it was also found that these children became more prosocial.

#500 read 2019 October 13 07:16 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190930114…

conscious, l5p neurons, brain, aru, stimulus, circuit, content, theory

No-one knows what connects awareness – the state of consciousness – with its contents, i.e. thoughts and experiences. Now researchers propose an elegant solution: a literal, structural connection
‘Content circuits’ within the cortex are plugged into ‘switchboard circuits’ that allocate awareness, says the theory, via cortical cells called L5p neurons
Our conscious state is thought to depend on the activity of so-called ‘thalamo-cortical’ circuits. These are connections between neurons in the cortex, and neurons in the thalamus – a thumb-sized relay center in the middle of the brain that controls information inflow from the senses (except smell)
Thalamo-cortical and cortico-cortical circuits intersect via L5p neurons
Functional brain studies suggest these cells may indeed couple the state and contents of consciousness

#499 read 2019 October 13 05:54 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151223165…

post, skill, research, imagery, task, motor, performance, skill acquisition

The research presented suggests that imagery might be effective for enhancing learner’s skill acquisition of tasks that contain greater cognitive elements, such as tasks that require decision making or remembering a sequence or pattern, as opposed to motor elements, or tasks that require correct skill execution, like a soccer kick
with more experienced performers imagery appears to be effective on a range of tasks, including both motor and cognitive

#498 read 2019 October 09 05:16 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190923155…

animal, group, individual, environment, changes, respond, researchers, behaviour

information can be processed, not only by individual animals, but also in the invisible connections between them
animals can encode information about their environment in the architecture of their groups and provides rare insight into how animal collectives are able to behaviourally adapt to a changing world
“Making each individual more sensitive to risk can lead to an excessive number of false alarms propagating through the group,” says Couzin. “On the other hand, strengthening social connections allows individuals to amplify information about risk, but buffers against the system becoming overly sensitive.”

#497 read 2019 October 09 05:08 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191007113…

critical, neuron, hengen, brain, record, active, research, network

Over the past 20 years, evidence mounted in support of a theory that the brain tunes itself to a point where it is as excitable as it can be without tipping into disorder, similar to a phase transition. This criticality hypothesis asserts that the brain is poised on the fine line between quiescence and chaos. At exactly this line, information processing is maximized
When neurons combine, they actively seek out a critical regime
We were surprised to find that, in our models, it was largely accounted for by a population of inhibitory neurons that, in retrospect, are well poised to regulate the organization of the larger network
there’s been quite a bit of argument about the math people use to measure criticality,” Hengen said. “Recently, people moved away from measuring simple power laws, which can pop out of random noise, and have started looking at something called the exponent relation. So far, that’s the only true signature of criticality, and it’s the basis of all of our measurements.”

#496 read 2019 October 09 05:04 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191007100…

brain, circuit, model, memory, inhibitory circuit, studies, neurons, network

The finding matches what is currently known about the hippocampus, a brain region involved in associative memory. It is thought that a balance of excitatory and inhibitory activity is what allows new associations to form. Inhibitory activity could be regulated by a chemical called acetylcholine, which is known to play a role in memory within the hippocampus. This model is a digital representation of these processes

#495 read 2019 September 26 03:00 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190925113…

Statement with words in alphabetical order feel more truthful?

claim, alphabet, sequence, truthful, pattern, follow, true, researchers

Cause-and-effect statements may seem more true if the initial letters in the words are in alphabetical order because the human brain prefers patterns that follow familiar sequences.

#494 read 2019 September 22 01:52 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190610113…

memories, brain, neuron, inform, active, task, networks, complex

Short-term memory is likely composed of many different processes, from very simple ones where you need to recall something you saw a few seconds ago, to more complex processes where you have to manipulate the information you are holding in memory
during certain tasks that required information to be held in memory, their experiments found neural circuits to be unusually quiet. This led them to speculate that these “silent” memories might reside in temporary changes in the strength of connections, or synapses, between neurons
called persistent neuronal activity, was especially evident during more complex, but still short-term, tasks. When a neuron gets an input, it generates a brief electrical spike in activity. Neurons form synapses with other neurons, and as one neuron fires it triggers a chain reaction to make another neuron fire
during the silent periods of memory, the brain can use a short-term form of plasticity in the synaptic connections between neurons to remember information temporarily

#493 read 2019 September 21 06:00 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190916103…

hungry, reward, decision, hunger, people, preference, food, dr vincent

hunger significantly altered people’s decision-making, making them impatient and more likely to settle for a small reward that arrives sooner than a larger one promised at a later date
While it was perhaps unsurprising that hungry people were more likely to settle for smaller food incentives that arrived sooner, the researchers found that being hungry actually changes preferences for rewards entirely unrelated to food

#492 read 2019 September 21 05:11 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190910095…

tics, tourette syndrome, oral splint, studies, sensory trick, patients, brain, improve

developed a custom-made oral splint. These are typically used for unconscious teeth clenching and grinding, and for temporomandibular disorders such as misalignment of the teeth or jaw. The oral splint is applied to the molars to increase the occlusal vertical dimension
Biting down on the device immediately improved both motor and vocal tics in 10 of the 14 children and 6 of the 8 adults that participated in the study
Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder characterized by vocal and motor tics, which can contribute to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem

#491 read 2019 September 21 05:02 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190909123…

deadline, albarracin, inaction, action, sitting, walking, purchase, product

the goals elicited by movement affect decisions that need to be made immediately. So someone walking around a park is more likely to complete a deadline-driven purchase than someone sitting on a park bench contemplating life. But walking or sitting would not affect decisions about future purchases.
What we found is that walking involves activating action representations that in turn promote other actions outside of the context of walking
Likewise, sitting involves activating inaction representations that may promote inaction outside of the context of sitting
when you’re in a hurry and you’re under a close deadline, “both being in a hurry and having the deadline push in the same direction of completing the transaction as quickly as possible,”

#490 read 2019 August 16 02:31 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190815122…

product, consumer, feel, imagination, product design, mehta, focus, idea

connecting with the end user’s heart rather than their head can lead to more original and creative outcomes in product design
adopting an approach that imagines how an end user would feel while using a product leads designers to experience greater empathy, which enhances creativity and, in turn, outcome originality for new product design

#489 read 2019 May 11 11:28 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181120125…

memories, brain, reward, participants, important, study, events, remember

he brain plays back and prioritizes high-reward events for later retrieval and filters out the neutral, inconsequential events, retaining memories that will be useful to future decisions
memory for objects that had no special significance when they were initially seen were later remembered only because they were close to the reward. To the researchers’ surprise, this pattern of memories was not found when they tested memory immediately. The brain needed time to prioritize memory for the events that led to the reward.

#488 read 2019 May 11 11:24 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181210134…

dopamine, brain, reward, aversion, cell, lammel, neuron, addiction

dopamine may also reinforce avoidance of painful experiences. Researchers have now mapped dopamine neurons in the brain with fiber photometry and discovered two parallel dopamine circuits driving attractive and aversive reinforcement learning and motivation
The newly discovered role for dopamine aligns with an increasing recognition that the neurotransmitter has quite different roles in different areas of the brain

#487 read 2019 May 11 11:10 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181210150…

creative, brain, ideas, researcher, process, associated, need, studies

The human brain needs to suppress obvious ideas in order to reach the most creative ones
brainwaves play a crucial role in inhibiting habitual thinking modes to pave the way to access more remote ideas
these brainwaves, or alpha oscillations in the right temporal area of the brain, increase when individuals need to suppress misleading associations in creative tasks
The researchers show that stimulating the right temporal part of the brain in the alpha frequency increases the capability of inhibiting obvious links in both types of creative thinking.

#486 read 2019 May 11 09:28 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190130161…

exercise, studies, thinking skills, improve, participants, age, aerobic exercise, stretched and toned

Regular aerobic exercise such as walking, cycling or climbing stairs may improve thinking skills not only in older people but in young people as well
people who exercised were testing as if they were about 10 years younger at age 40 and about 20 years younger at age 60
researchers did not find a link between exercise and improved memory skills

#485 read 2019 May 11 08:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190305170…

sleep, dna, dna damage, brain, zebrafish, wakefulness, neuron, accumulate

Despite the risk of reduced awareness to the environment, animals – ranging from jellyfish to zebrafish to humans – have to sleep to allow their neurons to perform efficient DNA maintenance, and this is possibly the reason why sleep has evolved and is so conserved in the animal kingdom

#484 read 2019 May 11 08:17 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190312123…

plan, hippocampus, epilepsy, future, hippocampal, alzheimer, disease, damage

evidence that the human hippocampus is necessary for future planning. Its findings, published in the journal Neuron, link its long-established role in memory with our ability to use our knowledge to map out the future effects of our actions.
The hippocampal cognitive map has been long thought to allow us to “mentally simulate” the future outcomes of our actions as we plan into the future
both goal-directed planning and remembering locations in space depend on the human hippocampus

#483 read 2019 May 08 09:14 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190418131…

chatbot, interact, human, sundar, participant, research, humanlike, expectation

found that chatbots that had human features – such as a human avatar – but lacked interactivity, disappointed people who used it. However, people responded better to a less-interactive chatbot that did not have humanlike cues
“People are pleasantly surprised when a chatbot with low anthropomorphism – fewer human cues – has higher interactivity,” said Sundar. “But when there are high anthropomorphic visual cues, it may set up your expectations for high interactivity – and when the chatbot doesn’t deliver that – it may leave you disappointed.”
High interactivity is marked by swift responses that match a user’s queries and feature a threaded exchange that can be followed easily, according to Sundar.
improving interactivity may be more than enough to compensate for a less-humanlike chatbot. Even small changes in the dialogue, like acknowledging what the user said before providing a response, can make the chatbot seem more interactive

#482 read 2019 May 08 09:13 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190412115…

rest, volunteers, learned, practice, brain, brain wave, memories, improved

found that our brains may solidify the memories of new skills we just practiced a few seconds earlier by taking a short rest
Everyone thinks you need to ‘practice, practice, practice’ when learning something new. Instead, we found that resting, early and often, may be just as critical to learning as practice

#481 read 2019 May 08 12:59 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190417111…

coffee, arousal, associate, effect, smelling, cognitive, tea, studies

found that the placebo effect of coffee can heighten arousal, ambition and focus in regular drinkers without them actually consuming the beverage
So walking past your favourite cafe, smelling the odours of coffee grounds, or even witnessing coffee-related cues in the form of advertising can trigger the chemical receptors in our body enough for us to obtain the same arousal sensations without consumption

#480 read 2019 April 25 09:57 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190423114…

scale, simms, option, number, test, research, measure, response option

Likert Scales show up in psychological contexts and other social science research
They’re everywhere, and profoundly elastic, sometimes presenting respondents with as many as 11 defined options or in some applications, infinite choices realized through the use of a click-and-drag slider along a continuum
The number of options does matter, especially for measures of personality constructs like those we assessed in our study
Would doubling the number of response options improve accuracy? What about providing fewer options?
“Six appears to be the magic number,” says Simms. “There is nothing perfect about six, but I’m doubtful that there would be evidence that responses beyond six would be that helpful.”
Part of the utility in six responses rather than five, or more generally, an even number of options rather than an odd number, is the elimination of a middle choice that often sits like an island of apathy

#479 read 2019 April 17 06:43 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190408161…

imst, perform, blood pressure, craighead, breathe, resistance, inspiratory muscle, boost

Developed in the 1980s as a means to wean critically ill people off ventilators, IMST involves breathing in vigorously through a hand-held device – an inspiratory muscle trainer – which provides resistance. Imagine sucking hard through a straw which sucks back
But in 2016, University of Arizona researchers published results from a trial to see if just 30 inhalations per day with greater resistance might help sufferers of obstructive sleep apnea, who tend to have weak breathing muscles
The IMST group is also performing better on certain cognitive and memory tests

#478 read 2019 April 17 03:47 PM. Link: blog.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-pro…

Wolfram suggests organizing information by both content and possible usage

computable, ill, thing, folder, wolfram, notebook, person, email

there are typically two dimensions to where something should be stored. The first is (not surprisingly) the content of what its about. But the second is the type of project in which I might use it

#477 read 2019 April 14 05:53 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190314151…

chat, thank, research, communication, bragged, predict, blame, conversation

introduces a framework, “Responsibility Exchange Theory,” for understanding why thanking and apologizing, as well as bragging and blaming, matter so much, and presents novel experimental studies that reveal the psychology underlying these communications
All four of these communications are tools used to transfer responsibility from one person to another,
They relay information about credit or blame, and they involve image-based trade-offs between appearing competent and appearing warm

#476 read 2019 March 09 03:14 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181024083…

arousal, task, performance, studied, neurofeedback, arousal state, bci, level

If you’re doing something that requires a harder mental transformation, and therefore creates more uncertainty and more variability, you rely on your prior beliefs and bias yourself toward what you know how to do well, in order to compensate for that variability
when reaching for a light switch in a dark, unfamiliar room, we’ll move our hand toward a certain height and close to the doorframe, where past experience suggests a light switch might be located
led the researchers to hypothesize that when people get very good at a task that requires complex computation, the noise will become smaller and less detrimental to overall performance. That is, people will trust their computations more and stop relying on averages

#475 read 2019 March 09 02:52 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181025142…

learn, pvt, chen, mice, odor, details, water, importance

now have a place to look – the PVT – when they want to study how paying attention to different details affects how and what animals learn
A part of the brain called the paraventricular thalamus, or PVT, serves as a kind of gatekeeper, making sure that the brain identifies and tracks the most salient details of a situation

#474 read 2019 March 07 03:33 PM. Link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306…

random, generate, sequence, experiment, subject, 10, digit, number

The idea of checking if human could generate truly random sequences of numbers has been around for decades. Since the 1960s Alan B. Baddeley investigated it vigorously
During the process of random number generation (RNG), the subjects need to remember the base set and relate it with their own concept of randomness, which is stored in the long-term memory [12]. Part of the generated sequence is then stored in the working memory that facilitates pattern suppression [2].
subjects examined in our experiments performed poorly as random number generators

#473 read 2019 February 23 07:01 PM. Link: www.duke-nus.edu.sg/news/split-and-continuous-r…

sleep, hour, studies, night, glucose levels, 6 5 hour, neuroscience, students

these students received either continuous sleep of 6.5 hours at night or split sleep (night sleep of 5 hours plus a 1.5-hour afternoon nap)
found that compared to being able to sleep 9 hours a night, having only 6.5 hours to sleep in 24 hours degrades performance and mood. Interestingly, under conditions of sleep restriction, students in the split sleep group exhibited better alertness, vigilance, working memory and mood than their counterparts who slept 6.5 hours continuously. This finding is remarkable as the measured total sleep duration over 24 hours was actually less in the former group
However, for glucose tolerance, the continuous schedule appeared to be better

#472 read 2019 February 22 11:34 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190214153…

self control, strategies, effective, self control strategies, report, duckworth, science, psychological science

propose a framework that organizes evidence-based self-control strategies along two dimensions based on how the strategies are implemented and who is initiating them.
in some cases the best self-control strategy involves us changing the situation to create incentives or obstacles that help us exercise self-control, such as using apps that restrict our phone usage or keeping junk food out of the house
In other cases it’s more effective to change how we think about the situation – for example, by making an if-then plan to anticipate how we’ll deal with treats in the office – so that exercising self-control becomes more appealing or easier to accomplish.
Other strategies work better when someone else implements them for us. For example, our electricity company might use social norms to prompt a change in our thinking, showing us how our energy usage compares with that of our neighbors
And policymakers often use situational constraints to prompt behavior focused on the long-term. Examples range from incentives (e.g., tax rebates for eco-friendly building materials) to penalties (e.g., raising taxes on cigarettes and alcohol)
Employers are increasingly using another type of situational constraint, defaults, to encourage employees to save for retirement; many are requiring people to opt out of an employer-provided retirement plan

#471 read 2019 February 20 06:53 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190215092…

goal, participants, life goal, importance, attainability, health, person, people

Those who set realistic goals can hope for a higher level of well-being
The findings of the study revealed that perceiving one’s personal goals as attainable is an indicator for later cognitive and affective well-being. This implies that people are most satisfied if they have a feeling of control and attainability. Interestingly, the importance of the goal was less relevant for later well-being than expected.

#470 read 2019 February 14 06:05 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190212104…

neuron, cell, axon, cell bodies, brain, growth cone, macklis, signal

During brain development, a neuron’s projections extend great distances – sometimes many thousands of cell body widths from their nucleus
“It would take several hours for a growth cone to signal back to its nucleus for a ‘next command,’ and it has been clear from observing axon growth in the lab that growth cones can move toward targets even if severed from their cell bodies.”
The greatest surprises came from auditing the neuron’s growth cones – the outermost tips of the axonal tentacles, which develop into the signaling synapses. This portion contained much of the molecular machinery of an independent cell, including proteins involved in growth, metabolism, signaling and more
What our results suggest is that growth cones are capable of taking in information from the outside world, making signaling decisions locally, and functioning semi-autonomously without the cell body

#469 read 2019 February 08 08:48 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180815171…

sleep, social, lonelier, sleep deprivation, walker, person, study, activated

found that sleep-deprived people feel lonelier and less inclined to engage with others, avoiding close contact in much the same way as people with social anxiety.
Worse still, that alienating vibe makes sleep-deprived individuals more socially unattractive to others. Moreover, well-rested people feel lonely after just a brief encounter with a sleep-deprived person, potentially triggering a viral contagion of social isolation

#468 read 2019 February 06 05:46 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181105200…

sentences, listeners, clear, better, keerstock, smiljanic, acoustical, speaker

After hearing each block of a dozen sentences, listeners were asked to recall verbatim the sentences they had heard by writing them down on a sheet of paper, after being given a clue such as “grandfather” or “boy.”
Both groups of listeners, native and nonnative, did better when sentences were presented in the clear speaking style. This is in line with their previous study in which clearly spoken sentences were recognized better than casual sentences as previously heard by both groups of listeners.

#467 read 2019 January 30 06:41 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190129081…

team, researcher, video game, study, video, play, findamine, geocache

found newly-formed work teams experienced a 20 percent increase in productivity on subsequent tasks after playing video games together for just 45 minutes
For their initial experimental task, each team played in a geocaching competition called Findamine, an exercise created by previous IS researchers which gives players short, text-based clues to find landmarks
Following their first round of Findamine, teams were randomly assigned to one of three conditions before being sent out to geocache again: 1) team video gaming, 2) quiet homework time or 3) a “goal training” discussion on improving their geocaching results
Each of these conditions lasted 45 minutes and those in the video gaming treatment chose to play either Rock Band or Halo 4 – games selected because they are both familiar and require coordinated efforts among players.
while the goal-training teams reported a higher increase in team cohesion than the video-gaming teams, the video gamers increased actual performance on their second round of Findamine significantly
If team members are already familiar with each other, then competitive video gaming may possibly reinforce biases and negative relationships developed from previous experiences

#466 read 2019 January 30 02:27 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190124110…

sleep, rock, studied, mice, researchers, night, asleep, explore

add to evidence for the broad benefits of a rocking motion during sleep. In fact, the studies in people show that rocking not only leads to better sleep, but it also boosts memory consolidation during sleep
Our volunteers – even if they were all good sleepers – fell asleep more rapidly when rocked and had longer periods of deeper sleep associated with fewer arousals during the night

#465 read 2019 January 30 02:22 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190122114…

human, efficiency, paz, neural code, brain, amygdala, monkey, research

conducted experiments comparing the efficiency of the neural code in non-human and human primates, and found that as the neural code gets more efficient, the robustness that prevents errors is reduced. Their findings, which recently appeared in Cell, may help to explain why disorders as ADHD, anxiety, depression, PTSD and even autism are common in humans.
defined efficient communication as that which uses the least amount of energy to transmit the maximal information – to pass on as complicated message as possible with the fewest ‘words’
The neural code in the “more evolved” pre-frontal cortex is more efficient than the amygdala, both in humans and monkeys. And the neural code of both areas in the human brain was more efficient than its monkey counterpart

#464 read 2019 January 20 06:51 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190118123…

happiness, substance, recovery, exercise, positive experiences, treatment, participants, challenge

Brief, text-based, self-administered exercises can significantly increase in-the-moment happiness for adults recovering from substance use disorders
greatest gains in happiness after completing an exercise called “Reliving Happy Moments,” in which they selected one of their own photos that captured a happy moment and entered text describing what was happening in the picture
An exercise called “Savoring,” in which participants described two positive experiences they noticed and appreciated during the preceding day, led to the next highest gains in happiness, followed by “Rose, Thorn, Bud,” in which they listed a highlight and a challenge of the preceding day and a pleasure they anticipated the following day
Conversely, “3 Hard Things,” in which participants were asked to write about challenges they had faced during the preceding day, led to a significant decrease in happiness

#463 read 2019 January 16 12:46 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181217101…

When two events occur within a small time window, they become linked in memory

memories, event, stories, participant, healey, research, headline, recall

When two events occur within a brief window of time they become linked in memory, such that calling forth memory of one helps retrieve memory for the other event
This happens even when temporal proximity is the only feature that the two events share

#462 read 2019 January 15 01:31 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181217120…

communicate, brain, rhythm, brain area, network, model, oscillations, neuron

We believe that our work helps to provide a better understanding as to how neuron populations interact, depending on the state of their network activity, and whether messages from a neuron group in brain area A can reach a neuron group in brain area B or no
The possibility of exchanging information depends on many factors, for example whether the oscillations are fast or slow, the frequencies are similar or different, the relationship between the phases and so on
The study combines three prominent explanatory models that have been proposed in recent years: synfire communication, communication through coherence and communication through resonance

#461 read 2019 January 15 01:30 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190109110…

Providing recorded audio feedback to learners is more flexible and less stressful for everyone

raf, learner, academics, feedback, academics experience, studied, university of jyvskyl, relaxed

Academics experience that by using the Recorded Audio Feedback (RAF) in higher education they can give more relaxed and dialogic feedback for their learners and reduce their own workload both mentally and physically.

#460 read 2018 November 25 02:29 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108142…

activated, space, brain, navigate, dimensions, human, grid cell, stored

Place cells in the hippocampus and grid cells in the neighboring entorhinal cortex form a circuit that allows orientation and navigation. The team of scientists suggests that our inner navigation system does much more. They propose that this system is also key to ‘thinking’, explaining why our knowledge seems to be organized in a spatial fashion
The term ‘cognitive spaces’ refers to mental maps in which we arrange our experience.
The very regular activation pattern of grid cells can also be observed in humans – but importantly, not only during navigation through geographical spaces. Grids cells are also active when learning new concepts
we came to the assumption that the brain stores a mental map, regardless of whether we are thinking about a real space or the space between dimensions of our thoughts. Our train of thought can be considered a path though the spaces of our thoughts, along different mental dimensions

#459 read 2018 October 10 03:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181009135…

Some seizures begin with a spike in inhibition

seizure, neuronal, dr weiss, inhibitory neuronal, patients, brain, inhibition, activated

shown that some types of seizure paradoxically begin with a hush: a spike in inhibition. Neurons that dampen neuronal activity may be responsible for starting the large-scale over-activation of a seizure

#458 read 2018 October 09 04:18 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180726162…

neuron, progenitor, electrical, cell, generate, developed, embryo, role

investigated what enables neuronal stem cells to generate successive subtypes of neurons as the embryo grows. By measuring the electrical activity of these progenitors, they found that akin to a battery getting charged, membrane voltage values increase as the embryo develops and new neurons are being created
What we found is that as the embryo grows and the types of neurons generate become more complex, progenitor voltage values increased

#457 read 2018 October 09 03:56 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180806175…

pride, value, human, sznycer, evolved, universal, act, feel

Pride, they argue, was built into human nature by evolution because it served an important function for our foraging ancestors. Our ancestors, they explained, lived in small, highly interdependent bands and faced frequent life-threatening reversals. They needed their fellow band members to value them enough during bad times to pull them through

#456 read 2018 October 09 03:51 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180808134…

memories, spike, neurons, activation, miller, lundqvist, experiments, brain

tackle key questions about working memory such as, how we hold and juggle multiple pieces of information in mind
The central issue of the debate is what happens after you hear or see what you need to remember and must then hold or control it in mind to apply it later. During that interim, or “delay period,” do neurons in your brain’s prefrontal cortex maintain it by persistently firing away, like an idling car engine, or do they spike in brief but coordinated bursts to store and retrieve information via the patterns of their connections, akin to how longer-term memory works?
That neurons fire in short, cohesive bursts in accord with circuit-wide oscillations, makes functional sense, Miller and Lundqvist argue. It uses less energy than keeping neurons firing all the time, for example, and readily explains how multiple items can be held in mind simultaneously (distinct bursts representing different pieces of information can occur at different times).
“Storing information with a mixture of spiking and synapses gives the brain more flexibility,” Lundqvist said. “It can juggle the activation of different memories, allowing the brain to hold multiple memories without them interfering with each other. Plus, synapses can store temporarily store memories while the spiking processes other thoughts.

#455 read 2018 October 09 02:41 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181003090…

question, answer, learn, test, student, correct, butler, effect

Although people often think about multiple-choice tests as tools for assessment, they can also be used to facilitate learning
The act of retrieving information strengthens memory for that information, leading to better long-term retention, and changes the representation of the information, creating deeper understanding
Among key findings, educators should never include trick questions or offer “all of the above” or “none of the above” options among the list of possible answers
While multiple-choice testing, especially repeated testing, has the potential to strengthen our recall, a poorly formatted test question can have the opposite effect
Use three plausible response options. Question difficulty increases with each answer option offered. Students who correctly answer more difficult questions may learn more from rising to the challenge, but questions that offer too many plausible answers can have a negative effect on both learning and assessment
Retrieving information and answering questions correctly reinforces student learning; failing to answer correctly may strengthen memories for misinformation. Challenge students, but allow them to succeed.
Finally, because multiple choice questions expose students to lots of plausibly presented false information, it’s important for students to review answers after grading is completed

#454 read 2018 October 08 10:55 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/researchers-create-new-fon…

font, sans forgetica, research, reader, read, design, rmit, oppenheimer

created a font called Sans Forgetica, which was designed to boost information retention for readers
based on a theory called “desirable difficulty”, which suggests that people remember things better when their brains have to overcome minor obstacles while processing information
Sans Forgetica is sleek and back-slanted with intermittent gaps in each letter, which serve as a “simple puzzle” for the reader

#453 read 2018 October 08 01:47 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/brain-scans-show-too-much-…

brain, choice, reward, research, camerer, 24, 12, striatum

mapped out how choice overload works in the brain, showing how our minds can back off from making a decision if the number of options gets too big.
this new research identifies the areas of the brain that help us make a judgement between making a choice or not specifically the anterior cingulate cortex or ACC (where we weigh benefits) and the striatum (where we determine value).
When 19 volunteers were given a choice of landscape images to print on a t-shirt or a mug, activity in these two brain areas increased as the number of options went up, according to readings from an fMRI machine. However, once the choice of pictures went above 12, activity started trailing off again.
in 2000, scientists ran a famous jam study where shoppers were either faced with 24 samples or just 6 samples. Study participants were more likely to browse the choices with 24, but more likely to make a purchase with 6.

#452 read 2018 September 25 08:58 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180920115…

neuronal, reward, vagal, brain, vagus nerve, nerve, reward neuronal, gut

A novel gut-to-brain neural circuit establishes the vagus nerve as an essential component of the brain system that regulates reward and motivation
study reveals, for the first time, the existence of a neuronal population of ‘reward neurons’ amid the sensory cells of the right branch of the vagus nerve

#451 read 2018 September 02 12:21 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180821114…

Backchanneling: nodding or saying ‘uh-huh’ during conversation

erica, conversation, listener, backchanneling, kawahara, dialog, human, atr

Listening is active. We express agreement by nodding or saying ‘uh-huh’ to maintain the momentum of conversation. This is called ‘backchanneling’

#450 read 2018 September 01 07:14 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180823113…

clock, countdown, impatience, reitter, patience, experience, decision, game

In a series of experiments, the speed of a countdown clock affected the patience and decision-making of video game players, both during and after the game
the players who were exposed to the quick countdown were also more likely to make more deliberate, wiser choices even after the game
A faster countdown with more numbers may make it seem like time is passing faster

#449 read 2018 August 20 12:38 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/einstein-quantum-equivalen…

quantum, mass, superposition, equivalence principle, quantum particle, gravity, equivalence, einstein

The equivalence principle, in simple terms, means that gravity accelerates all objects equally, as can be observed in the famous feather and hammer experiment
It also means that gravitational mass and inertial mass are equivalent
Physicists have been debating whether the principle applies to quantum particles, so to translate it to the quantum world we needed to find out how quantum particles interact with gravity
According to relativity, mass is held together by energy. But in quantum mechanics, that gets a bit complicated. A quantum particle can have two different energy states, with different numerical values, known as a superposition. And because it has a superposition of energy states, it also has a superposition of inertial masses.
found that for quantum particles in quantum superpositions of different masses, the principle implies additional restrictions that are not present for classical particles

#448 read 2018 August 20 12:19 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180820113…

beautiful, brielmann, pleasure, philosopher, experience, author, pelli, research

Certain features, such as symmetry and roundness, make things more beautiful – on average.
also highlight empirical evidence backing a centuries-old claim by philosophers: The experience of beauty is a feeling of pleasure. So, as one increases, so does the other. Brielmann and Pelli point to neuroscience findings that show that such experiences increase activity in one of the brain’s “pleasure centers” in the orbitofrontal cortex

#447 read 2018 August 17 09:35 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180723143…

neurons, tabansky, pfaff, ngc neurons, gene, enos, nitric oxide, brain

generalized arousal, or GA for short. GA is what wakes us up in the morning and keeps us aware and in touch with ourselves and our environment throughout our conscious hours
the nucleus gigantocellularis (NGC), which is part of a structure called the medullary reticular formation.
focused on a subtype of extremely large neurons in the NGC with links to virtually the entire nervous system, including the thalamus, where neurons can activate the entire cerebral cortex.
NGC neurons were found to express the gene for an enzyme, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), which produces nitric oxide, which in turn relaxes blood vessels, increasing the flow of oxygenated blood to tissue.
(No other neurons in the brain are known to produce eNOS.) They also discovered that the eNOS-expressing NGC neurons are located close to blood vessels.
“There is some low level of production when the animal is in a familiar setting,” says Tabansky, “which is what you expect as they maintain arousal. But it is vastly increased when the animal is adapting to a new environment.”

#446 read 2018 July 25 10:52 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180724174…

neuron, piriform cortex, brain, connect, cell, piriform, odor, smell

The standard paradigm is that information in the brain is encoded by which cells are active, but that’s not true for the olfactory system
Any given odor lights up about 10 percent of neurons that seem to be scattered all over the piriform cortex
The mouse piriform cortex, they concluded, has around half a million neurons in it, divided equally between the larger, less dense posterior piriform and the smaller, more dense anterior piriform
each neuron in the olfactory bulb is connected to nearly every single neuron in the piriform cortex

#445 read 2018 July 25 10:49 PM. Link: scinapse.io/papers/1767450531

remember, items, stop, presentation, participants, information, control, maximize

examined whether and how people choose to stop receiving new-possibly overwhelming-information with the intent to maximize memory performance
Participants were presented with a long list of items and were rewarded for the number of correctly remembered words in a following free recall test. Critically, participants in a stop condition were provided with the option to stop the presentation of the remaining words at any time during the list, whereas participants in a control condition were presented with all items
Across 5 experiments, the authors found that participants tended to stop the presentation of the items to maximize the number of recalled items, but this decision ironically led to decreased memory performance relative to the control group

#444 read 2018 July 19 04:00 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180718122…

A single neuron can encode information from two different stimuli by switching between associated signals

neuron, sound, switch, single neuron, brain, groh, respond, monkeys

In an experiment examining how monkeys respond to sound, a team of neuroscientists and statisticians found that a single neuron can encode information from two different sounds by switching between the signal associated with one sound and the signal associated with the other sound

#443 read 2018 July 16 11:58 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180713220…

male, motivated, flies, mated, courtship, neuron, dopamine, fruit flies

New study reveals that a male fruit fly’s decision to court or ignore a female stems from the convergence of motivation, perception and chance. The triad affects the balance of excitatory versus inhibitory signals in the brain to influence decision making.
After the initial decision to court, dopamine is also responsible for maintaining courtship behavior all the way until mating, she explains. Flies with low levels of dopamine might make a half-hearted attempt at courting but quickly give up.

#442 read 2018 July 13 03:17 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180501130…

brain, odor, neuron, scent, smell, piriform cortex, neural activate, model

Because no two whiffs of an odor are identical, the brain must make associations between odors that are similar. This process, called generalization, is what helps the brain to interpret similar smells
have been puzzled by two paradoxes about the piriform cortex. First, the neural activity in the piriform cortex appeared random, with no apparent logic or organization, so researchers could not tie a particular pattern of neural activity to a class of scents
Two brains could indeed agree on a class of scents (i.e. fragrant flowers versus smelly garbage) if the neural activity came from a large enough pool of neurons
two brains must share a common reference point, such as each having previously smelled a rose, in order to identify the same scent. But this model suggests that the reference point can be anything

#441 read 2018 July 12 07:16 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180703105…

stress, memory, participants, cognition, studies, sliwinski, research, hyun

found that when participants woke up feeling like the day ahead would be stressful, their working memory – which helps people learn and retain information even when they’re distracted – was lower later in the day. Anticipating something stressful had a great effect on working memory regardless of actual stressful events.
Stress anticipation from the previous evening was not associated with poorer working memory

#440 read 2018 July 12 10:34 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180711153…

neuron, axon, refraction ratio, signal, network, understand, puppo, silva

Axons are not designed to minimize the use of cell tissue – they wouldn’t be so long and convoluted if that were the case. Conversely, they’re not optimized for speed, as recent studies have shown that axons don’t fire as fast as they physically could, since this would overwhelm the neuron and lead to a loss of network activity
axons are designed and optimized to balance the speed that information flows into the neuron relative to the time it takes the neuron to process that information
refraction ratio: it’s the ratio between the refractory period of a neuron – when the neuron is unable to process incoming signals since its ion channels are resetting after being flooded with sodium – and the signal latency of information traveling down the axon. When that ratio approaches one, there is perfect balance, and the neuron is operating as efficiently as possible

#439 read 2018 July 08 10:01 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180503142…

error, cerebellum, predict, learn, purkinje cell, spike, shadmehr, complex spike

Learning in the cerebellum – a part of the vertebrate brain located at the back of the skull that directs and regulates movements – is guided through a process of trial and error
Purkinje cells communicate through two types of electrical signals: simple spikes, which reflect information regarding the prediction that the cells are making, and complex spikes, which reflect information that is sent back to the Purkinje cells, informing them of the error in their prediction.
You can think of the simple spikes as the ‘student’ that makes a prediction and the complex spikes as the ‘teacher’ that provides feedback
Purkinje cells organize into small groups of about 50 and together make predictions, sending their output of all the members simultaneously. The neurons that make up these groups share a critical feature: They all receive the same error signal
Regardless of how far off the monkeys’ eyes were from the target, the number of complex spikes produced in the cerebellum stayed the same. Instead, they found that the direction of the error affected the probability of generating a complex spike, whereas the magnitude of the error affected the timing of the complex spike.
Purkinje cells appear to be organized based on a preference for error in only a small part of the task space

#438 read 2018 July 08 09:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628151…

As the prevalence of a problem is reduced, humans are inclined to redefine and inflate conception of the problem

problem, studies, prevalence, gilbert, definition, participants, concept, show

as the prevalence of a problem is reduced, humans are naturally inclined to redefine the problem itself. The result is that as a problem becomes smaller, people’s conceptualizations of that problem become larger, which can lead them to miss the fact that they’ve solved it.

#437 read 2018 July 08 09:42 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180628115…

emotional, thinking, change, studies, researchers, language, analyse, cognitive

researchers revealed different emotional and cognitive modalities in our thoughts by identifying variations in language through tracking the use of specific words across the twitter sample which are associated with 73 psychometric indicators, and are used to help interpret information about our thinking style
Although 73 different psychometric quantities were tracked, the team found there were just two independent underlying factors that explained most of the temporal variations across the data
The first factor, with a peak expression time starting at around 5 am to 6 am, linked with measures of analytical thinking through the high use of nouns, articles and prepositions, which has been related, in other studies, to intelligence, improved class performance and education
The second factor had a peak expression time starting at 3 am to 4 am, the aggregated twitter content found this time to be correlated with the language of existential concerns but anticorrelated with expression of positive emotions

#436 read 2018 June 26 06:08 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180416185…

abstract, think, concrete, study, activities, plan, time estimate, subordinate

when we consider unknown future events, such as when we’ll use a gift certificate, our relative and absolute time estimates tend to contradict each other
the frame of mind we bring to the consideration – whether we’re thinking broadly and abstractly, or using more concrete, detail-oriented thinking – influences which direction our relative and absolute time estimates will flow
suggests that frames of mind can affect the urgency we bring to completing tasks and projects. For example, using an abstract attitude by thinking about why we should do something vs. how, may yield a greater sense of urgency to getting it done, even though the actual time when it will occur is further away

#435 read 2018 June 26 02:56 PM. Link: medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-serotonin.html

serotonin, trial, animal, learning, effect, water, choice, mice

When serotonin neurons were activated artificially using light, it made mice quicker to adapt their behavior in a situation that required such flexibility. That is, they gave more weight to new information and therefore changed their minds more rapidly when these neurons were active
Serotonin has previously been implicated in boosting brain plasticity

#434 read 2018 June 24 07:15 PM. Link: www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/sc…

synapse, neuron, arc, brain, strengthen, sur, change, spine

neurons can do new things by forging new or stronger connections with other neurons. But if some connections strengthen, neuroscientists have reasoned, neurons must compensate lest they become overwhelmed with input
when one connection, called a synapse, strengthens, immediately neighboring synapses weaken based on the action of a crucial protein called Arc

#433 read 2018 June 18 08:27 PM. Link: blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/could…

conscious, brain, universal, dissociated, physical, problem, alter, identities

extraordinary case of a woman who suffered from what has traditionally been called multiple personality disorder and today is known as dissociative identity disorder (DID). The woman exhibited a variety of dissociated personalities (alters), some of which claimed to be blind. Using EEGs, the doctors were able to ascertain that the brain activity normally associated with sight wasnt present while a blind alter was in control of the womans body, even though her eyes were open
also compelling clinical data showing that different alters can be concurrently conscious and see themselves as distinct identities

#432 read 2018 June 11 05:47 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180607135…

brain, traveling wave, oscillation, across, jacobs, measure, studied, research

Researchers have long assumed that oscillations in the brain, commonly measured for research purposes, brain-computer interfacing, and clinical tests, were stationary signals that occurred independently at separate brain regions.
they actually move rhythmically across the brain, reflecting patterns of neuronal activity that propagate across the cortex
found that these traveling waves moved more reliably when subjects performed well while performing a working memory task
these oscillations are an important mechanism for large-scale coordination in the human brain

#431 read 2018 June 11 05:35 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180607101…

person, message, chain, warwick, research, increasingly, threat, facts

News stories about terrorism, disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and other potential threats become increasingly negative, inaccurate and hysterical when passed from person to person
finds that even drawing the public’s attention to unbiased, neutral facts does not mitigate this contagion of panic
analysed 154 participants on social media. They were split into 14 chains of 8 people, with the first person in each chain reading balanced, factual news articles, and writing a message to the next person about the story, the recipient writing a new message for the next person, and so on
In every chain, stories about dreaded topics became increasingly more negative, and biased toward panic and fear as it was passed from person to person – and crucially, this effect was not mitigated when the original unbiased facts were reintroduced

#430 read 2018 June 11 05:22 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180606143…

reward, task, bonus, increase, motivate, woolley, immediate reward, immediate

found that giving people an immediate bonus for working on a task, rather than waiting until the end of the task, increased their interest and enjoyment in the task. People who got an earlier bonus were more motivated to pursue the activity for its own sake and even continued with the activity after the reward was removed.

#429 read 2018 June 10 04:15 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180606082…

dementia, sleep, sleep duration, adults, daily sleep duration, risk, 5 0, 10

Age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates of dementia and all-cause mortality were greater in those with daily sleep duration of less than 5.0 hours and 10.0 hours or more, compared with those with daily sleep duration of 5.0 to 6.9 hours
Participants with short sleep duration who had high physical activity did not have a greater risk of dementia and death, however

#428 read 2018 June 10 01:54 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180604131…

The brain adjusts signal-to-noise ratio to balance speed and accuracy depending on decision-making context

decision, brain, balance, speed, neural, accuracy, neural activity, explained

results were best explained by a model in which the brain adjusts the signal-to-noise ratio of neural activity in order to tailor the balance between speed and accuracy to the decision-making context

#427 read 2018 June 09 08:33 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180529132…

test, slide, students, question, studies, 10, knowledge, ubc

shows that teachers don’t have to test everything they want their students to remember – as long as the knowledge they want to convey fits together well, and the test questions are well-chosen
Some students were asked to study the slides for 30 minutes in anticipation of being tested on it two weeks later. Other students were asked to study the slides for 20 minutes, with the remaining 10 minutes devoted to a 10-question quiz about the material.
Two weeks later, both groups took a larger test that included the original 10 questions, plus 30 more: 10 that were about the slides, 10 about other medical conditions not covered by the slides, and 10 more general questions about basic physiology and drug characteristics
the group that took the preliminary quiz a couple of weeks before did better – 22 per cent better – on the questions that were repeated in the larger test. But that group also performed 19 per cent better on other questions based on the slides even though they were not included on the preliminary quiz

#426 read 2018 June 04 09:09 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180515113…

replay, memories, lewis, rem, cortex, hippocampus, sleep, propose

proposes that non-REM sleep helps us organize information into useful categories, whereas REM helps us see beyond those categories to discover unexpected connections
According to previous research, memories captured by the hippocampus are replayed during non-REM sleep, and as we detect similarities between them, that information gets stored in the cortex. Because the hippocampus and cortex are in close communication during this stage, Lewis and her co-authors propose that the hippocampus somehow controls what is replayed. Because it prefers to replay things that are similar or thematically linked, it encourages us to find those links and use them to form schemas, or organizing frameworks
During REM sleep, on the other hand, the hippocampus and cortex don’t appear to be nearly as in sync. So, Lewis’s team suspects that the cortex is now free to replay stored memories in any combination, regardless of whether they are similar
evidence suggests that ponto-geniculo-occipital waves cause areas of the cortex to randomly activate, which could trigger the replay of memories from different schemas

#425 read 2018 June 03 11:55 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180523160…

healthy, non healthy, restaurant, volume, studies, music, items, ambient music

volume is proven to directly impact heart rate and arousal. Softer music has a calming effect, making us more mindful of what we order. This typically results in healthier choices, such as a salad. Louder environments increase stimulation and stress, inspiring diners to crave a greasy cheeseburger and fries instead

#424 read 2018 June 03 03:31 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180517102…

more intelligent ~ more efficient connections ~ fewer dendrites in cerebral cortex

intelligence, brain, neuronal, research, erhan gen, dendrites, cerebral cortex, studies

the more intelligent a person, the fewer dendrites there are in their cerebral cortex
“Intelligent brains possess lean, yet efficient neuronal connections,” concludes Erhan Genc. “Thus, they boast high mental performance at low neuronal activity.”

#423 read 2018 June 03 03:23 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/to-be-more-productive-scie…

tasks, schedule, upcoming appointment, minute, less, consume, participants, window

158 undergraduates were told they had either a strict, five-minute window until their appointment or an implied boundary with “about five minutes to do whatever you want.” In the same five-minute period, the latter group accomplished 2.38 tasks compared to 1.86 tasks by the hard-timeline group
If you have some big tasks, too many scheduled things will affect your productivity

#422 read 2018 May 16 01:37 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180510101…

breath, brain, focus, attention, meditation, practice, mind, study

research shows for the first time that breathing – a key element of meditation and mindfulness practices – directly affects the levels of a natural chemical messenger in the brain called noradrenaline
When we are stressed we produce too much noradrenaline and we can’t focus. When we feel sluggish, we produce too little and again, we can’t focus. There is a sweet spot of noradrenaline in which our emotions, thinking and memory are much clearer
as you breathe in locus coeruleus activity is increasing slightly, and as you breathe out it decreases. Put simply this means that our attention is influenced by our breath and that it rises and falls with the cycle of respiration. It is possible that by focusing on and regulating your breathing you can optimise your attention level and likewise, by focusing on your attention level, your breathing becomes more synchronised

#421 read 2018 May 02 10:12 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180501130…

studied, restaurant, shape, participants, business, liu, satisfaction, scenario

found the shape of physical objects in a service business affected customer satisfaction, depending on how crowded the business was in the experimental scenarios
Angular shapes suggested competence to customers, which increased their level of satisfaction when the business was busy. In contrast, circles suggested friendliness and warmth to customers, which increased their satisfaction when the business was not crowded

#420 read 2018 April 16 02:10 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/here-s-how-you-can-reduce-…

notifications, fitz, phone, study, batch, feel, people, control

found that batching notifications into sets that study participants receive three times a day makes them happier, less stressed, feeling more productive, and more in control.
works better than getting notifications normally, getting them once per hour, or even than blocking them of completely.
analysed the notifications that people got on their phones and found that the average person got between 65 and 80 notifications per day (people may check their phones more frequently, that’s just the number of notifications that show up)
The ideal system might be location aware and give you your first batch of notifications as you arrive at work or hop on the subway, a second batch at the end of a lunchbreak, and a third batch as you head home for the evening

#419 read 2018 April 15 04:34 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180413093…

attention, artwork, picture, dr thomas, person, art, abstract, emotional

the same piece of artwork can attract admiration or rejection from different people
Volunteers were psychologically assessed in relation to their personality and then shown abstract art pictures. They were asked to rate the pictures and say how much they would pay for them. The participants’ eye movements were tracked as they looked at the images
relationship between personality traits and artwork preferences was already well established. Scientists knew, for instance, that neurotic people found abstract and pop art more appealing
people who tended towards neuroticism paid more attention to the left side of a picture, and those with traits related to schizophrenia looked less often at the top of a picture
we tend to look to the left side of images first and the fact that these individuals spent more time looking at the left overall suggests they find it harder to disengage their attention
In contrast to people with these particular personality traits, she said, in general, participants’ eye movements were concentrated in the upper right quadrant of their visual field

#418 read 2018 April 15 04:13 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180413093…

Audio quality has a big impact on the perceived intelligence, interestingness, and thustworthyness of person/subject being presented.

research, scientist, experiment, recordings, audio, less, quality, participants

when people listen to recordings of a scientist presenting their work, the quality of audio had a significant impact on whether people believed what they were hearing, regardless of who the researcher was or what they were talking about
when the sound quality was poor, the participants thought the researcher wasn’t as intelligent, they didn’t like them as much and found their research less important

#417 read 2018 April 15 04:08 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180410110…

visual, brain, twilight, resting activity, perception, signal, studied, stimuli

twilight was a dangerous time for humans since they were at risk of encountering nocturnal predators. Anyone still able to recognise things despite the weak light was at a clear evolutionary advantage
brain prepares for dawn and dusk by shutting down resting activity in the visual cortex at these times so that weak visual stimuli do not disappear in the brain’s background noise
Since resting activity during twilight decreases not only in the visual but also in the auditory and somatosensory regions of the brain, the researchers assume that perception sharpens not only in the visual system

#416 read 2018 April 14 07:41 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180410084…

noun, predict, study, word, brain, replicability, neuroscience, kite

It is assumed that our brain routinely uses clues within a sentence to estimate the probability of upcoming words. Activating information about a word before it appears helps to rapidly integrate its meaning, once it appears, with the meaning of the sentence.
334 participants – 10 times the original amount – read sentences that were presented one word at a time, while electrical brain activity was recorded at the scalp. Each sentence contained an expected or unexpected combination of an article and a noun (e.g., “The day was breezy so the boy went outside to fly a kite/an airplane”)
We saw that unexpected nouns generated an increased brain response compared to expected nouns. Just like the original study
Even though ‘a’ and ‘an’ do not differ in their meaning, the 2005 study showed that unexpected articles also elicited an enhanced N400 response compared to expected articles
Crucially, our findings now show that there is no convincing evidence for this claim

#415 read 2018 April 08 03:08 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/do-students-learn-better-f…

read, students, print, digital, text, comprehension, better, medium

Students said they preferred and performed better when reading on screens. But their actual performance tended to suffer.
students were able to better comprehend information in print for texts that were more than a page in length
This appears to be related to the disruptive effect that scrolling has on comprehension
The medium didn’t matter for general questions (like understanding the main idea of the text). But when it came to specific questions, comprehension was significantly better when participants read printed texts.
we found a select group of undergraduates who actually comprehended better when they moved from print to digital. What distinguished this atypical group was that they actually read slower when the text was on the computer than when it was in a book

#414 read 2018 April 05 08:38 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180405093…

memories, miller, capacities, load, studies, research, regions, memories capacities

Maximum working memory capacity – for instance the total number of images a person can hold in working memory at the same time – varies by individual but averages about four
“At peak memory load, the brain signals that maintain memories and guide actions based on these memories, reach their maximum,” Pinotsis said. “Above this peak, the same signals break down.”
Visual working memory is distinct for each side of the visual field. People have independent capacities on their left and their right, research has confirmed

#413 read 2018 April 04 04:10 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180329141…

brain, wave, actively, ultra slow wave, slow, research, mri, electrical actively

If you keep a close eye on an MRI scan of the brain, you’ll see a wave pass through the entire brain like a heartbeat once every few seconds
like waves in the sea, with everything the brain does taking place in boats upon that sea. Research to date has been focused on the goings-on inside the boats, without much thought for the sea itself. But the new information suggests that the waves play a central role in how the complex brain coordinates itself and that the waves are directly linked to consciousness.
These slowly varying signals in the brain are a way to get a very large-scale coordination of the activities in all the diverse areas of the brain
found that the ultra-slow waves spontaneously started in a deep layer of mice’s brains and spread in a predictable trajectory. As the waves passed through each area of the brain, they enhanced the electrical activity there. Neurons fired more enthusiastically when a wave was in the vicinity
the ultra-slow waves persisted when the mice were put under general anesthesia, but with the direction of the waves reversed.

#412 read 2018 March 28 10:12 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180327132…

fridlund, face, facial expression, expression, facial, smile, mean, emotion

Our facial expressions stem primarily from intentions – not from feelings
For example, the ‘cry’ face is usually considered an expression of sadness, but we use that face to solicit succor,
has shown that when we imagine being in situations that are fun, scary, sad or irritating, we make more expressions when we imagine being with others rather than facing those imaginary situations alone. People who watch funny videos, he said, smile more when they are watching with friends

#411 read 2018 March 28 09:04 PM. Link: k10v.github.io/2018/02/25/Solving-Bongard-probl…

problem, image, 26 x 26 x, learn, bongard problem, neural network, train, 26 x

Bongard problmes are named after their inventor, Soviet computer scientist Mikhail Bongard, who was working on pattern recognition in the 1960s. He designed 100 of this puzzles, to be a good benchmark for pattern recognition abilities, and they seem to be challenging for both people and algorithms
Six images on the left conform to a rule, or a pattern, and the six images on the right conform to a different rule (usually an opposite). To solve the problem, one needs to understand the pattern and to figure out the rule (which is the solution).

#410 read 2018 March 28 08:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180322125…

brain, signal, area, neuron, connection, understand, model, nyu

Brain areas tend to be organized in a hierarchy, ranging from “lower” sensory areas to “higher” cognitive areas
Unexpectedly, our model reveals that only when the signal is strong enough, above a threshold level, the signal reaches a large set of areas of the brain region called the prefrontal cortex, which plays a critical role in high-level cognition

#409 read 2018 March 26 06:13 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ergodicity

ergodic, displaystyle, measurable, displaystyle mu, mu, average, markov chain, probability

In probability theory, an ergodic dynamical system is one that, broadly speaking, has the same behavior averaged over time as averaged over the space of all the system’s states in its phase space
In physics the term implies that a system satisfies the ergodic hypothesis of thermodynamics.

#408 read 2018 March 26 03:00 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161103091…

pain, brain, patient, provide, tune, chronic pain, alpha waves, manchester

found that alpha waves from the front of the brain, the forebrain, are associated with placebo analgesia and may be influencing how other parts of the brain process pain
providing volunteers with goggles that flash light in the alpha range or by sound stimulation in both ears phased to provide the same stimulus frequency. They found that both visual and auditory stimulation significantly reduced the intensity of pain induced by laser-heat repeatedly shone on the back of the arm

#407 read 2018 March 25 09:32 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/nurturing-ge…

student, talent, studied, stanley, abilities, gifted, test, smpy

As the longest-running longitudinal survey of intellectually talented children, SMPY has for 45 years tracked the careers and accomplishments of some 5,000 individuals, many of whom have gone on to become high-achieving scientists
The SMPY data supported the idea of accelerating fast learners by allowing them to skip school grades
Many educators and parents continue to believe that acceleration is bad for children—that it will hurt them socially, push them out of childhood or create knowledge gaps. But education researchers generally agree that acceleration benefits the vast majority of gifted children socially and emotionally, as well as academically and professionally

#406 read 2018 March 25 09:18 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161019082…

memories, learned, remember, run, study, cortisol, information, stress

students should do moderate exercise, like running, rather than taking part in a passive activity such as playing computer games if they want to make sure they remember what they learned
runners performed best, remembering more after the run than before. Those in the control group fared slightly worse, and the memories of people who played the game were significantly impaired

#405 read 2018 March 25 09:06 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170314081…

brain, stimulated, memory, patients, task, activity, current, dr violante

applying a low voltage current can bring different areas of the brain in sync with one another, enabling people to perform better on tasks involving working memory.
used a technique called transcranial alternating current stimulation (TACS) to manipulate the brain’s regular rhythm
used TCAS to target two brain regions – the middle frontal gyrus and the inferior parietal lobule – which are known to be involved in working memory

#404 read 2018 March 25 08:42 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170308081…

memory, sleep, stimulation, studied, deep sleep, northwestern, improve, older

In the study, 13 participants 60 and older received one night of acoustic stimulation and one night of sham stimulation. The sham stimulation procedure was identical to the acoustic one, but participants did not hear any noise during sleep. For both the sham and acoustic stimulation sessions, the individuals took a memory test at night and again the next morning. Recall ability after the sham stimulation generally improved on the morning test by a few percent. However, the average improvement was three times larger after pink-noise stimulation.
Previous research showed acoustic simulation played during deep sleep could improve memory consolidation in young people
The study used a new approach, which reads an individual’s brain waves in real time and locks in the gentle sound stimulation during a precise moment of neuron communication during deep sleep, which varies for each person

#403 read 2018 March 25 08:36 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170209133…

When word and shape pair are presented to slowly fade into conscious awareness, it happens faster when the pair is congruent (kiki-sharp, bubu-round).

shape, sound, participants, word, kiki, research, hung, conscious aware

To participants’ dominant eye, the researchers presented a series of flashing images; to the nondominant eye, they presented a target image that gradually faded in. Initially, participants were unaware of the target image and could only see the competing, flashing images
the target image was always a nonsense word, bubu or kiki, inside of a shape. Sometimes the word (bubu) was congruent with the shape it was in (round) and sometimes it was incongruent with the shape (angular). The participants pressed a key whenever the target image became visible
Timing data showed that the target image broke through to conscious awareness faster when it was congruent than when it was incongruent, indicating that participants perceived and processed the relationship between word and shape before they were consciously aware of the stimuli

#402 read 2018 March 25 08:26 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170330132…

Listening to nature sounds causes increase in neural signature of relaxation (but slight stress increase for those already relaxed).

sound, brain, relax, active, collaborating, stress, effect, listened to natural

an increase in rest-digest nervous system activity (associated with relaxation of the body) when listening to natural compared with artificial sounds, and better performance in an external attentional monitoring task
Individuals who showed evidence of the greatest stress before starting the experiment showed the greatest bodily relaxation when listening to natural sounds, while those who were already relaxed in the brain scanner environment showed a slight increase in stress when listening to natural compared with artificial sounds

#401 read 2018 March 25 08:14 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170424141…

brain, blood, walking, impact, arterial, foot impact, blood flow, pressure

the foot’s impact during walking sends pressure waves through the arteries that significantly modify and can increase the supply of blood to the brain
the foot’s impact during running (4-5 G-forces) caused significant impact-related retrograde (backward-flowing) waves through the arteries that sync with the heart rate and stride rate to dynamically regulate blood circulation to the brain

#400 read 2018 March 25 08:04 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170419131…

learned, environment, brain, metaplasticity, reward, synapses, learned rate, studies

there’s not a single rate of learning for everything we do, as the brain can self-adjust its learning rates using a synaptic mechanism called metaplasticity
One of the most complex problems in learning is how to adjust to uncertainty and the rapid changes that take place in the environment. It is very exciting to find that synapses, the simplest computational elements in the brain, can provide a robust solution for such challenges
When things change frequently, a large learning rate is required but this reduces precision, whereas, a stable environment requires a small learning rate, which improves precision. The study illustrates how metaplasticity can mitigate the tradeoff between adaptability and precision in learning

#399 read 2018 March 25 07:58 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180314145…

bird, research, grassquit, bullfinch, differed, barbados, receptor, innovation

Wild birds that are more clever than others at foraging for food have different levels of a neurotransmitter receptor that has been linked with intelligence in humans
A family of genes stood out: glutamate neurotransmitter receptors, especially in the part of the bird brain that corresponds to humans’ prefrontal cortex. Glutamate receptors are known to be involved in a variety of cognitive traits in humans and other mammals. In particular a receptor known as GRIN2B, when boosted in transgenic mice, makes them better learners

#398 read 2018 March 25 03:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180319120…

read, sacchi, spaces, word, letter spaces, letter, visual, effect

Increased letter spacing helps individuals read faster, but not due to visual processing, according to new research
letter-spacing effect, which is this finding that both kids and adults with or without specific reading impairment read faster and more fluidly when you increase the spaces between letters in words
Everybody seemed pretty certain up until this point that it was about decluttering your visual scene, which may make identifying letters easier,” said Sacchi. “What my results show is that it doesn’t look like the effect is happening early enough to be related to visual processing
Increased spacing was very helpful for the words, and less helpful for the pseudo-words and the consonant strings. The fact that more “word-like” stimuli benefited more than less “word-like” stimuli suggests that the benefit is occurring during a reading-specific process, rather than during a purely visual stage

#397 read 2018 March 25 03:08 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180314125…

As some connections in the brain expand for learning and experiences, some shrink

synapses, brain, memories, store, sejnowski, information, capacity, salk

found that connections in the brain not only expand as needed in response to learning or experiencing new things, but that others will shrink as a result

#396 read 2018 March 18 06:27 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180315122…

learn, object, language, word, adults, correspond, strategies, research

Psychologists found that when we learn the names of unfamiliar objects, brain regions involved in learning actively predict the objects the names correspond to
the hippocampus – a brain region that is affected in Alzheimer’s disease and some developmental language disorders – plays a key role learning the names of objects via a “propose-but-verify” strategy

#395 read 2018 March 18 06:17 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312085…

children, brain, theory of mind, network, scan, develop, studied, mit

Behavioral studies have suggested that children begin succeeding at a key measure of this ability, known as the false-belief task, around age 4. However, a new study from MIT has found that the brain network that controls theory of mind has already formed in children as young as 3
In 2003, Saxe first showed that theory of mind is seated in a brain region known as the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). The TPJ coordinates with other regions, including several parts of the prefrontal cortex, to form a network that is active when people think about the mental states of others

#394 read 2018 March 18 06:07 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312084…

rate, evaluate, successive, study, judges, participants, o connor, grade

people tend to attribute the increasing ease of making ratings to the items themselves rather than to the ratings process, resulting in rating inflation over time
This effect emerged with judges on a dance show, with teachers who give higher grades the longer they teach a course, and in the lab where we have people evaluate photos or short stories over successive days

#393 read 2018 March 18 05:54 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180312132…

learn, brain, task, neuron, activity, research, change, carnegie mellon

the brain has various mechanisms and constraints by which it reorganizes its neural activity when learning over the course of a few hours. The new research finds that, when learning a new task, the brain is less flexible than previously thought
When we’re learning a new task, we can’t instantaneously learn it to proficiency, in part due to the way in which the neurons are wired up in the brain. Learning takes time, and there are mechanisms by which neurons can change the way they communicate with each other to enable learning – some of which can be fast, and some of which can take longer.
When we learn, at first the brain tends to not produce new activity patterns, but to repurpose the activity patterns it already knows how to generate
By repurposing neuron patterns the brain is already capable of generating, the brain applies a “quick and dirty fix” to the new problem it’s facing

#392 read 2018 March 15 03:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180313113…

brain, music, sequence, broca s area, non local dependencies, grammatical, cheung, processed

In language and music, dependencies are conceptual threads that bind two things together. Non-local dependencies bind non-adjacent items. For example, in pop music, the second instance of a verse, following a chorus, would have a non-local dependency with the first instance of the verse
despite Broca’s area being one of the most studied human brain regions, neuroscientists are still not exactly sure what the same region does, on the other side of the brain
Theory suggests the right hemisphere equivalent, or homologue, of Broca’s area plays a similar role but for the processing of music instead of language

#391 read 2018 March 13 12:28 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180306115…

dog, speech, human, adult, babies, interact, speaker, adult dog

Speech interaction experiments between adult dogs and humans showed that so called “dog-speak” improves attention and may help humans to socially bond with their pets
A special speech register, known as infant-directed speech, is thought to aid language acquisition and improve the way a human baby bonds with an adult
found that adult dogs were more likely to want to interact and spend time with the speaker that used dog-directed speech with dog-related content, than they did those that used adult-directed speech with no dog-related content
When we mixed-up the two types of speech and content, the dogs showed no preference for one speaker over the other. This suggests that adult dogs need to hear dog-relevant words spoken in a high-pitched emotional voice in order to find it relevant.

#390 read 2018 March 13 12:21 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180220104…

word, sense, language, mean, emerge, cognitive, human, word sense

words accumulate families of related senses over the course of history. For instance, the word ‘face’ originally meant the front part of a head, but over time it also came to mean the front part of other objects, such as the ‘face’ of the cliff, and an emotional state, such as putting on a brave ‘face.’
identified an algorithm called “nearest-neighbor chaining” as the mechanism that best describes how word senses accumulate over time
findings suggest that word senses emerge in ways that minimize cognitive costs, which are the collective costs of generating, interpreting and learning word senses. In other words, new word senses emerge through an efficient mechanism that expresses new ideas via a compact set of words
Over the past millennium, word senses have largely evolved from literal domains to metaphorical domains – called metaphorical mapping

#389 read 2018 March 12 07:11 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180222125…

There is a specific brain signal present when a listener understands what they have heard (absent when not understood or not paying attention) and reflects how similar or different a word is from those that precede it.

computation, brain, word, understand, mean, signal, speech, differ

identified a specific brain signal associated with the conversion of speech into understanding. The signal is present when the listener has understood what they have heard, but it is absent when they either did not understand, or weren’t paying attention
shows that our brains perform a rapid computation of the similarity in meaning that each word has to the words that have come immediately before it
To test if human brains actually compute the similarity between words as we listen to speech, the researchers recorded electrical brainwave signals recorded from the human scalp – a technique known as electroencephalography or EEG – as participants listened to a number of audiobooks
by analysing their brain activity, they identified a specific brain response that reflected how similar or different a given word was from the words that preceded it in the story

#388 read 2018 March 12 07:01 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180220170…

event, difficult life event, wisdom, life, aldwin, develop, participant, challenge

How a person responds to a difficult life event such as a death or divorce helps shape the development of their wisdom over time
people who had to work to sort things out after a difficult life event are the ones who arrived at new meaning
For one group of respondents, 13 in all, the difficult life event led to little or no questioning of meaning in their life
The majority of the participants – 32 – indicated that the difficult life event disrupted their personal meaning and prompted the person to reflect on themselves, their fundamental beliefs and their understanding of the world

#387 read 2018 March 07 07:39 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180307112…

strategies, trained, memory trained, task, memory, study, participants, effective

results suggest that a significant part of working memory training effects is a result of a fast development of task-specific strategies during training rather than an increase in working memory capacity
This can explain why any substantial effects of typical working memory training are limited to the trained task

#386 read 2018 February 17 04:51 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180214093…

stress, exercise, memory, mice, edwards, ltp, run, stress mice

running mitigates the negative impacts chronic stress has on the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for learning and memory
Chronic or prolonged stress weakens the synapses, which decreases LTP and ultimately impacts memory. Edwards’ study found that when exercise co-occurs with stress, LTP levels are not decreased, but remain normal

#385 read 2018 February 17 04:44 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180213183…

brain, entropy, studies, research, saxe, intelligence, score, active

offers the first solid evidence that functional MRI scans of brain entropy are a new means to understanding human intelligence
an intelligent brain has to be flexible in the number of possible ways its nerve cells, or neurons, may be rearranged
found that higher entropy was significantly related to the brain regions where previous research has shown it matters most

#384 read 2018 February 17 04:31 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180216142…

dopamine, hallucinations, expect, participants, process, perceptual, perceptual distorted, schizophrenia

people with schizophrenia who experience auditory hallucinations tend to hear what they expect, an exaggerated version of a perceptual distortion that is common among other people without hallucinations
found that elevated dopamine could make some patients rely more on expectations, which could then result in hallucinations

#383 read 2018 February 17 04:27 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180215110…

blink, event, participants, related, studies, human, visual, physiological

found that humans unconsciously trade off the loss of information during a blink with the physiological urge to blink
during a single blink, our visual perception is interrupted for about a third of a second. Although our conscious perception suggests a continuous and stable world, about 10 percent of the time we are missing potentially important visual information from our surroundings
Blinking is closely intertwined with cognitive functions connected to dopamine

#382 read 2018 February 01 03:19 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180130094…

language, learn, brain systems, language learn, studied, findings, brain, research

how good we are at remembering the words of a language correlates with how good we are at learning in declarative memory, which we use to memorize shopping lists
The grammar abilities of children acquiring their native language correlated most strongly with learning in procedural memory, which we use to learn tasks such as driving, riding a bicycle, or playing a musical instrument

#381 read 2018 January 30 04:10 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180129131…

learn, communities, word, grammar, language, cultural, simpler, speakers

Languages with lots of speakers, such as English and Mandarin, have large vocabularies with relatively simple grammar. Yet the opposite is also true: Languages with fewer speakers have fewer words but complex grammars
suggests that language, and other aspects of culture, may become simpler as our world becomes more interconnected
The researchers hypothesized that words are easier to learn than aspects of morphology or grammar

#380 read 2018 January 06 01:11 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/study-finds-that-some-stor…

read, book, infant, parent, characters, shared book read, babies, learn

Researchers see clear benefits of shared book reading for child development. Shared book reading with young children is good for language and cognitive development, increasing vocabulary and pre-reading skills and honing conceptual development.
followed infants across the second six months of life. We’ve found that when parents showed babies books with faces or objects that were individually named, they learn more, generalise what they learn to new situations and show more specialised brain responses

#379 read 2018 January 03 12:32 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/sugar-consumption-decrease…

glucose, sugar, test, participants, effect, fructose, cognitive function, sucrose

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study, participants demonstrated a delay in completing cognitive tasks after consuming glucose or table sugar, compared to participants that consumed fructose (fruit sugar) or artificial sweetener sucralose (the placebo). And fasting beforehand heightened this effect.
Much research has gone into the effect glucose has on cognitive function. For people of all ages, the substance seems to have a positive effect on memory function
They were then given a drink which contained either glucose, sucrose, fructose or the placebo sucralose. After a 20-minute interval, they were given cognitive function tests
These were designed to test information processing, executive function, and selective attention, all of which are associated with the prefrontal lobe
participants who consumed glucose and sucrose were slower by a mean of up to 200 milliseconds, or 0.2 seconds, in answering questions

#378 read 2017 December 29 12:53 AM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/puppy-dog-ey…

dog, human, dingo, wolves, eye contact, owners, bond, eye

As the dog stares, the hormone oxytocin floods the owner’s brain, causing him or her to lavish attention on the canine, which experiences a similar spike in the hormone and proceeds to stare even harder
One possibility is that short-term eye contact is used as a social reference in observing the human’s behavior, while maintaining eye contact is related to manipulating the human’s behavior when asking for help
The longer staring bouts of dogs, which lasted an average of 40 seconds (compared with just three seconds for dingoes and less than a second for wolves), may be required to kick-start the oxytocin response in humans

#377 read 2017 December 28 07:08 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171221122…

exercise, brain, studies, showed, 10 minute, heath, research, benefits

A 10-minute, one-time burst of exercise can measurably boost your brain power, at least temporarily
research participants either sat and read a magazine or did 10 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise on a stationary bicycle. Following the reading and exercise session, the researchers used eye-tracking equipment to examine participants’ reaction times to a cognitively demanding eye movement task
responses were more accurate and their reaction times were up to 50 milliseconds shorter than their pre-exercise values. That may seem minuscule but it represented a 14-per-cent gain in cognitive performance in some instances

#376 read 2017 December 28 03:09 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171220121…

neuron, predict, theories, previous, code, framework, encode, signal

One of the main goals of sensory neuroscience is to predict neural responses using mathematical models. Previously, these predictions were based on three main theories, each of which had a different area of applicability, corresponding to varying assumptions about the neurons’ internal constraints, the type of signal, and the purpose of the gathered information
a neural code is essentially a function that predicts when a neuron should “fire,”
Efficient coding assumes that the neurons encode as much information as possible, given their internal constraints (noise, metabolism, etc.).
Predictive coding, on the other hand, assumes that only the information relevant to predicting the future (e.g. which way an insect will fly) is encoded
sparse coding assumes that only a few neurons are active at any one time
In the context of the team’s framework, a neural code can be interpreted as the code that maximizes a certain mathematical function. This function – and thus, the neural code maximizing it – depends on three parameters: the noise in the signal, the goal or task (i.e. if the signal will be used to predict the future), and the complexity of the signal being encoded

#375 read 2017 December 14 11:00 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171211192…

food, begdache, mood, mental distress, adult, young adult, brain, increase

mood in young adults (18-29) seems to be dependent on food that increases availability of neurotransmitter precursors and concentrations in the brain (meat).
However, mood in mature adults (over 30 years) may be more reliant on food that increases availability of antioxidants (fruits) and abstinence of food that inappropriately activates the sympathetic nervous system (coffee, high glycemic index and skipping breakfast)
Regular consumption of meat leads to build-up of two brain chemicals (serotonin and dopamine) known to promote mood. Regular exercise leads to build-up of these and other neurotransmitters as well

#374 read 2017 December 12 12:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171212102…

game, cognition, play, cognition abilities, action, gamer, action video game, studies

2,883 people (men and women) who played for a maximum of one hour a week were first tested for their cognitive abilities and then randomly divided into two groups: one played action games (war or shooter games), the other played control games (SIMS, Puzzle, Tetris)
Both groups played for at least 8 hours over a week and up to 50 hours over 12 weeks
aim was to find out whether the effects of action gaming on the brain are causal
individuals playing action videos increased their cognition more than those playing the control games with the difference in cognitive abilities between these two training groups being of one-third of a standard deviation

#373 read 2017 December 03 01:19 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171201090…

memory, studies, read, active, word, aloud, macleod, waterloo

found that speaking text aloud helps to get words into long-term memory. Dubbed the “production effect,” the study determined that it is the dual action of speaking and hearing oneself that has the most beneficial impact on memory
When we add an active measure or a production element to a word, that word becomes more distinct in long-term memory, and hence more memorable
The study tested four methods for learning written information, including reading silently, hearing someone else read, listening to a recording of oneself reading, and reading aloud in real time

#372 read 2017 November 29 05:36 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171127094…

children, contact, infants, dna, studies, health, development, epigenetic

showed that children who had been more distressed as infants and had received less physical contact had a molecular profile in their cells that was underdeveloped for their age
In children, we think slower epigenetic aging might indicate an inability to thrive
The extent of methylation, and where on the DNA it specifically happens, can be influenced by external conditions, especially in childhood. These epigenetic patterns also change in predictable ways as we age

#371 read 2017 November 25 09:22 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171122093…

brain, memories, stimulation, research, activate, frequencies, function, brain region

found that low-frequency rhythms of brain activity, when brain waves move up and down slowly, primarily drive communication between the frontal, temporal and medial temporal lobes, key brain regions that engage during memory processing
suggests that, for someone to form new memories, two functions must happen simultaneously: brain regions must individually process a stimulus, and then those regions must communicate with each other at low frequencies

#370 read 2017 November 25 02:28 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171124084…

brain, human, gene, primate, region, researcher, found, distinct

all regions of the human brain have molecular signatures very similar to those of our primate relatives, yet some regions contain distinctly human patterns of gene activity that mark the brain’s evolution and may contribute to our cognitive abilities
there are also distinct small differences between the species in how individual cells function and form connections
the one area of the brain with the most human-specific gene expression is the striatum, a region most commonly associated with movement
found one gene, ZP2, was active in only human cerebellum – a surprise, said the researchers, because the same gene had been linked to sperm selection by human ova
also focused on one gene, TH, which is involved in the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter crucial to higher-order function and depleted in people living with Parkinson’s disease. They found that TH was highly expressed in human neocortex and striatum but absent from the neocortex of chimpanzees

#369 read 2017 November 25 02:19 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171124084…

goal, babies, agent, understand, infants, research, studied, mit

Babies as young as 10 months can assess how much someone values a particular goal by observing how hard they are willing to work to achieve it
The question posed in this study was whether babies can combine what they know about a person’s goal and the effort required to obtain it, to calculate the value of that goal
Length of looking time is commonly used to measure surprise in studies of infants

#368 read 2017 November 20 02:45 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170426093…

gestural, research, language, babies, speech, studied, showing, combination

studied how 9 to 13-month-old babies tackle the shift from early babbling to the use of combinations of gestures and speech
discovered that when a baby abandons the characteristic babbling for vocalizations of repeated, long chains of syllables at 9 months and starts the more complex pre-language phase around 11 months, his/her gestures begin to be produced mainly in combination with vocal production rather than as an act of gestures alone
these gesture and vocalization combinations are “mainly deictic”; in other words, they display “a declarative intention and involve implementation gestures, such as pointing, giving, showing, offering and making requests in order to direct the attention of an adult towards the object that the baby is interested in obtaining

#367 read 2017 November 19 04:08 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170710172…

cache, core, chip, jenga, data, latencies, memories, allocated

Today’s chips generally have three or even four different levels of cache, each of which is more capacious but slower than the last. The sizes of the caches represent a compromise between the needs of different kinds of programs, but it’s rare that they’re exactly suited to any one program.
designed a system that reallocates cache access on the fly, to create new “cache hierarchies” tailored to the needs of particular programs.
the system increased processing speed by 20 to 30 percent while reducing energy consumption by 30 to 85 percent

#366 read 2017 November 19 03:44 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/brain-processes-sound-in-o…

brain, research, perception, sounds, strobe, auditory, findings, sensitive

Using a simple noise identification experiment, involving 20 participants and 2,100 tests per participant, the research found that our ears take turns in being the most sensitive to sounds
This happens so fast – about six cycles per second – that we’re not really aware of it. But it also happens to match the time it takes humans to make decisions: one-sixth of a second
Previous studies have suggested our vision works in a similar rhythmic, oscillating pattern, and now there’s evidence that hearing works in the same way – so our whole perception of the world around us is based on a kind of strobe-like effect in the mind

#365 read 2017 November 10 11:56 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171109140…

similar, computation, flies, hash, navlakha, odor, similar search, smell

discovered that the fruit fly brain has an elegant and efficient method of performing similarity searches
it helps them identify odors that are most similar to those they’ve encountered before, so they know how to behave in response to the odor
when fruit flies first sense an odor, 50 neurons fire in a combination that’s unique to that smell. But rather than hashing that information by reducing the number of hashes associated with the odor, as computer programs would, flies do the opposite – they expand the dimension
The 50 initial neurons lead to 2,000 neurons, spreading out the input so that each smell has an even more distinct fingerprint among those 2,000 neurons. The brain then stores only the 5 percent of those 2,000 neurons with the top activity as the “hash” for that odor. The whole paradigm helps the brain notice similarities better than it would compared to reducing the dimension
When they applied the process to three standard datasets computer scientists use to test search algorithms, they found that the fly approach improved performance

#364 read 2017 November 02 06:00 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/a-study-has-shown-that-peo…

dog, human, report, victim, animal, levels, empathy, babies

Some dog owners love their four-legged friends so much that they treat them like they would a child - and sometimes even say they prefer them to some friends and family.
In an experiment, 240 students were presented with fake newspaper clippings of a police report either about an attack on a person, or on a dog.
In fact, empathy levels for the puppy, older dog, and baby human were on similar levels, while the adult person came last
found that dogs raise their eyebrows and even make their eyes bigger when they are looking for attention from a person

#363 read 2017 October 22 03:23 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171017114…

The dual n-back brain-training task appears demonstrably better at improving working memory than alternatives.

brain, train, johns hopkins, cognition, task, memory, test, research

One of the two brain-training methods most scientists use in research is significantly better in improving memory and attention
it greatly improved skills people need to excel at school and at work
the group that practiced what’s known as a “dual n-back” exercise showed a 30 percent improvement in their working memory. That was nearly double the gains made by the group working with the other common task
The biggest lesson here was that – yes – intensive training strengthens cognition and the brain, but we still don’t understand why and how

#362 read 2017 October 10 03:56 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171009154…

brain, reinhart, stimulate, participant, learn, region, somers, task

Two brain regions – the medial frontal and lateral prefrontal cortices – control most executive function. Researchers used high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS) to synchronize oscillations between them, improving brain processing. De-synchronizing did the opposite
medial frontal cortex the “alarm bell of the brain.”
“If you make an error, this brain area fires,” says Reinhart, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University. “If I tell you that you make an error, it also fires. If something surprises you, it fires.”
this region of the brain works hand in hand (or perhaps lobe in lobe) with a nearby region, the lateral prefrontal cortex, an area that stores rules and goals and also plays an important role in changing our decisions and actions
Research has recently suggested that populations of millions of cells in the medial frontal cortex and the lateral prefrontal cortex may communicate with each other through the precise timing of their synchronized oscillations, and these brain rhythms appear to occur at a relatively low frequency (about four to eight cycles per second)

#361 read 2017 October 03 01:05 AM. Link: deepmind.com/blog/hippocampus-predictive-map/

learn, reward, future, hippocampus, model, estimate, algorithm, future reward

Our new theory thinks about navigation as part of the more general problem of computing plans that maximise future reward
The key computational idea we drew on is that to estimate future reward, an agent must first estimate how much immediate reward it expects to receive in each state, and then weight this expected reward by how often it expects to visit that state in the future. By summing up this weighted reward across all possible states, the agent obtains an estimate of future reward
we argue that the hippocampus represents every situation - or state - in terms of the future states which it predicts
By representing each current state in terms of its anticipated successor states, the hippocampus conveys a compact summary of future events, known formally as the “successor representation”

#360 read 2017 October 01 08:44 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170221101…

decision, change, effort, handle, move, behaviour, express, less

new UCL study suggesting we’re biased towards perceiving anything challenging to be less appealing
52 participants took part in a series of tests where they had to judge whether a cloud of dots on a screen was moving to the left or to the right. They expressed their decisions by moving a handle held in the left or right hand respectively
When the researchers gradually added a load to one of the handles, making it more difficult to move, the volunteers’ judgements about what they saw became biased, and they started to avoid the effortful response
the participants did not become aware of the increasing load on the handle: their motor system automatically adapted, triggering a change in their perception

#359 read 2017 October 01 01:11 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170727104…

customer, price, zia, store, competitor, search, advertisement, expedia

Research has shown that there is a lot of price dispersion in online stores. If customers want to save money, they should search on many different platforms, especially with travel products like flights and hotels
When a host store sells its in-store advertising space to a competitor, this allows uninformed customers to become aware of substitute offerings in the marketplace and possibly migrate to the competing store, Zia said. The host store may benefit from a commission for customers it sends to the competitor
it might be optimal for Expedia to increase its average price in order to motivate these customers to click on the link,” Zia said. “Because Priceline knows these customers have already observed high prices, that website also can raise prices. So the average prices will be higher on both stores
works only if the commission rate is relatively high. Only in that case can it mitigate price competition and boost profits of both firms

#358 read 2017 September 30 10:34 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170929093…

brain, hippocampus, activation, functional, cortex, memories, brain wide functional connecting, optogenetic

the role of hippocampus in complex brain networks, particularly its influence on brain-wide functional connectivity, is not well understood by scientists
low-frequency activities in the hippocampus can drive brain-wide functional connectivity in the cerebral cortex and enhance sensory responses
these results also suggest that low-frequency activities in the hippocampus can enhance learning and memory since low-frequency activities usually occur during slow-wave sleep which has been associated with learning and memory

#357 read 2017 September 30 12:47 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/ultraviolet-light-has-the-…

ice, liquid, bubbled, water, research, space, tachibana, planets

Icy materials in space could behave like liquids at low temperatures and under ultraviolet light, suggests new research
To mimic interstellar conditions, Tachibana and his colleagues sprayed a mixture of water, methanol and ammonia onto a substrate, chilling it to between -263°C (-441°F) and -258°C (-432°F), and dousing it in ultraviolet light.
After the ice had formed, the scientists slowly raised the temperature and observed it under a microscope. At temperatures between -210°C (-346°F) and -120C (-184°F), it bubbled like boiling water, with a viscosity similar to honey.
caused by methanol and ammonia being broken up by UV irradiation. As the hydrogen bonds are rearranged, the ice’s viscosity is lowered at the same time

#356 read 2017 September 29 12:01 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161207093…

breath, brain, inhalation, face, emotion, fear, encountered, scientists

In the study, individuals were able to identify a fearful face more quickly if they encountered the face when breathing in compared to breathing out. Individuals also were more likely to remember an object if they encountered it on the inhaled breath than the exhaled one. The effect disappeared if breathing was through the mouth
When you breathe in, we discovered you are stimulating neurons in the olfactory cortex, amygdala and hippocampus, all across the limbic system

#355 read 2017 September 27 05:55 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perplexity

perplexed, model, word, probabilities, test, test sample, bits, tilde p

In information theory, perplexity is a measurement of how well a probability distribution or probability model predicts a sample. It may be used to compare probability models. A low perplexity indicates the probability distribution is good at predicting the sample.
The perplexity is the exponentiation of the entropy

#354 read 2017 September 27 05:37 PM. Link: blog.shakirm.com/2016/02/learning-in-brains-and…

Dopamine may be important in reward-based learning, as the striatum is a major dopamine target.

learn, reward, st, predict, value, dopamine, brain, function

The striatum is special since it is a major target of the neurotransmitter dopamine, and leads to the sneaking suspicion that dopamine plays an important role in reward-based learning

#353 read 2017 September 27 05:22 PM. Link: people.idsia.ch/~juergen/

Art, science, humor are by-products of desire to create/discover more data that is predictable or compressible in new ways

learn, computable, robot, schmidhuber, optimal, neural, machine, evolution

According to Schmidhuber’s formal theory of creativity, art and science and humor are just by-products of the desire to create / discover more data that is predictable or compressible in hitherto unknown ways

#352 read 2017 September 27 05:02 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolmogorov_complexity

string, program, length, kolmogorov complex, theorem, complex, kolmogorov, 2n

the Kolmogorov complexity of an object, such as a piece of text, is the length of the shortest computer program (in a predetermined programming language) that produces the object as output.
It is a measure of the computational resources needed to specify the object, and is also known as descriptive complexity, Kolmogorov–Chaitin complexity, algorithmic entropy, or program-size complexity

#351 read 2017 September 23 03:30 PM. Link: www.nature.com/articles/srep22180

Mice subjected to 20 minutes of anodal tDCS had enhanced BDNF levels, hippocampal LTP, learning, and memory a week after the treatment.

tdcs, mice, p 0, slices, ltp, control, tdcs mice, anodal tdcs

mice subjected to 20-min anodal tDCS exhibited one-week lasting increases in hippocampal LTP, learning and memory
These effects were associated with enhanced: i) acetylation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) promoter I; ii) expression of Bdnf exons I and IX; iii) Bdnf protein levels

#350 read 2017 September 22 03:22 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170823094…

surprise, song, harmonic surprise, professor grzywacz, brain, measurable, chord, preference

Unsuspected chord changes, especially when followed by a predictable harmony, has been linked to a song’s popularity, as judged by its placement in the Billboard Top 100 charts
Surprise is important because it is a measure of new information; something that the reward centers of the brain recognise as being of value, leading to a positive emotional response
We have a theory that chords from past music matter for surprise in new songs. For example, imagine that someone today composes a piece of music like Mozart. They would not be deemed a creative genius, even if the composition was excellent

#349 read 2017 September 21 10:06 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170824094…

word, student, remember, distracted, participant, group, research, set of 20

found that while divided attention does impair memory, people can still selectively focus on what is most important – even while they’re multitasking
researchers showed 192 students 120 words, divided into six groups of 20 words each. Each word was visible on a computer screen for three seconds, and each was paired with a number from 1 to 10. Researchers explained to the students that they would receive scores based on the point value of each word they remembered
groups of students who listened to music while watching their screens remembered the words almost as well as the group of undistracted students
Participants in all four groups were nearly five times as likely to recall a 10-point word as they were to remember a one-point word.
also found that students’ ability to remember information improved as the experiments progressed

#348 read 2017 September 21 09:44 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170822092…

product, face, dominance, research, maeng, marketers, product design, human face

People are typically averse to wider human faces because they elicit fears of being dominated. However, consumers might like wider faces on some products they buy, such as watches or cars, when they want to be seen in a position of power in certain situations
In scenarios where participants did not feel the need to project any dominance, such as a more laid-back time with their children or family, the width-to-height ratio of the products became less important, the researchers found

#347 read 2017 September 21 01:57 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170821122…

cell, chandelier cell, brain, neuronal, information, inhibited, connect, hundred

chandelier cells, a distinctive kind of inhibitory cell type in the mammalian brain. They reveal for the first time how this candelabra-shaped cell interacts with hundreds of excitatory cells in its neighborhood, receiving information from some, imparting information to others
each chandelier cell also can receive inputs from hundreds of excitatory cells, input that influences whether or not it inhibits a circuit in which it is involved

#346 read 2017 September 20 06:32 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2146534-need-a-cre…

think, music, tested, ferguson, creative, silence, happy music, dopamine

The tests were designed to gauge two types of thinking: divergent thinking, which describes the process of generating new ideas, and convergent thinking, which is how we find the best solutions for a problem.
found that people were more creative when listening to music they thought was positive, coming up with more unique ideas than the people who worked in silence

#345 read 2017 September 18 11:33 PM. Link: giorgiopatrini.org/posts/2017/09/06/in-search-o…

Unsupervised learning in a resettable, explorable environment can be achieved with a pair of agents: A, which tries to reach a state specified by B, and B, which tries to specify a state that takes A the longest time while still being possible.

learn, feature, causal, object, train, idea, task, agent

An overview of current trends for feature learning in the unsupervised way
Unsupervised learning by predicting the noise [Bojanowski & Joulin ICML17]
Discovering causal signals in images [Lopez-Paz et al. CVPR17]
Object features and anticausal features are closely related and vice-versa context features and causal features are not necessarily related.
a causal feature would be indeed the Savanna’s visual patterns and an anticausal feature would be the lion’s mane.
Intrinsic motivation and automatic curricula via asymmetric self-play [Sukhbaatar et al. arXiv17]
An initial phase of self-playing is set up by splitting the agent into “two separate minds”, Alice and Bob. The authors propose self-playing under the assumption that the environment has to be (nearly) reversible or resettable to the initial state. In this case, Alice executes a task and asks Bob to do the same, by reaching the same observable state of the world where Alice ended up
Alice and Bob have their distinct rewards functions. Bob has to minimize the time for completion, while Alice is rewarded when Bob takes more time, while being able to achieve the goal. The interplay between these policies allow them to “automatically construct a curriculum of exploration”.
They tested the idea on a few environments and on a version of StarCraft without enemies to fight. “The target task is to build Marine units. To do this, an agent must follow a specific sequence of operations
On a final note, it isn’t just that just unsupervised learning is hard, but measuring its performance is even harder

#344 read 2017 September 18 10:57 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170814134…

event, brain, remember, memory, presented, image, replayed, encoding

when remembering a sequence of events, the brain focuses on the event paid the least attention, rather than replaying the events in the order they occurred
presented adults with a series of three images to remember. After a five-second delay, participants were presented with one of the images and asked whether it was shown from the same perspective (front, left or right views) as in the original sequence and in what position (1, 2 or 3) the image had been presented.
the image that generated the weakest response in the brain during encoding was most strongly replayed during the delay period
may indicate that the brain addresses the limitations of working memory capacity by focusing on the event that requires the most effort to remember

#343 read 2017 September 18 10:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170814134…

object, pathway, processed, distinct, information, dorsal pathway, represent, ventral pathway

distinct roles for two brain pathways in processing information related to an object, with one carrying a largely invariant representation of an object and the other a flexible one depending on what we do with an object
Visual information is thought to be processed in two different routes in the brain: A ventral pathway carries information about “what” an object is while a dorsal pathway represents “where” an object is in space. Recent studies have challenged this distinction by demonstrating robust object “what” information in the dorsal pathway
authors found that the dorsal pathway sees objects according to what they are and what we do with them
The ventral pathway, on the other hand, sees objects as they always are regardless of the task

#342 read 2017 August 26 06:43 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170825124…

In those with chronic tinnitus, the precuneus is more connected to the dorsal attention network (active when something holds your attention) and less connected to default mode network (active when at rest and not focused).

tinnitus, patient, brain, study, precuneus, network, attention, connected

found that chronic tinnitus is associated with changes in certain networks in the brain, and furthermore, those changes cause the brain to stay more at attention and less at rest
The precuneus is connected to two inversely related networks in the brain: the dorsal attention network, which is active when something holds a person’s attention; and the default mode network, which are the “background” functions of the brain when the person is at rest and not thinking of anything in particular.
When the default mode network is on, the dorsal attention network is off, and vice versa. We found that the precuneus in tinnitus patients seems to be playing a role in that relationship
in patients with chronic tinnitus, the precuneus is more connected to the dorsal attention network and less connected to the default mode network

#341 read 2017 August 19 11:49 PM. Link: www.wired.com/story/bacteria-may-rig-their-dna-…

mutate, cell, houseley, gene, mechanism, adapt, copies, yeast

DNA often contains multiple copies of extended sequences of base pairs or even whole genes. The exact number can vary among individuals because, when cells are duplicating their DNA before cell division, certain mistakes can insert or delete copies of gene sequences
CUP1, a gene that helps yeast resist the toxic effects of environmental copper. They found that when yeast was exposed to copper, the variation in the number of copies of CUP1 in the cells increased. On average, most cells had fewer copies of the gene, but the yeast cells that gained more copies—about 10 percent of the total population — became more resistant to copper and flourished
when cells replicate their DNA, the replication mechanism sometimes stalls. Usually the mechanism can restart and pick up where it left off. When it can’t, the cell can go back to the beginning of the replication process, but in doing so, it sometimes accidentally deletes a gene sequence or makes extra copies of it. That is what causes normal copy number variation
Houseley and his team made the case that a combination of factors makes these copying errors especially likely to hit genes that are actively responding to environmental stresses, which means that they are more likely to show copy number variation

#340 read 2017 August 19 02:15 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170816134…

brain, stimulate, activate, cells, pralle, neuronal, magneto thermal stimulate, research

Scientists have used magnetism to activate tiny groups of cells in the brain, inducing bodily movements that include running, rotating and losing control of the extremities
The technique researchers developed is called magneto-thermal stimulation
Magneto-thermal stimulation involves using magnetic nanoparticles to stimulate neurons outfitted with temperature-sensitive ion channels. The brain cells fire when the nanoparticles are heated by an external magnetic field, causing the channels to open.
First, scientists use genetic engineering to introduce a special strand of DNA into targeted neurons, causing these cells to produce a heat-activated ion channel. Then, researchers inject specially crafted magnetic nanoparticles into the same area of the brain. These nanoparticles latch onto the surface of the targeted neurons, forming a thin covering like the skin of an onion.

#339 read 2017 August 18 10:57 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/landmark-vitamin-discovery…

birth defects, research, nad, defects, babies, supplement, women, vitamin b3

Researchers have identified a deficiency in a developmental molecule called NAD that can keep a baby’s organs from forming properly in the womb – but the shortfall could be addressed by pregnant women taking vitamin B3, which may prevent a range of birth defects.
Vitamin B3, also known as niacin, is usually found in meats and green vegetables, along with condiments such as Vegemite and Marmite

#338 read 2017 August 07 09:30 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/hydrogen-fuel-could-become…

hydrogen, alloy, aluminium, fuel, water, reaction, research, hydrogen gas

Researchers at the US Army Aberdeen Proving Ground Research Laboratory were developing a high-strength aluminium alloy when they made a startling discovery. During routine testing of the alloy, water poured over its surface started bubbling and producing hydrogen gas
the hydrogen-producing reaction just kept going, signaling the possibility of a portable, affordable source of hydrogen for fuel cells and other energy applications
The new material is stable and remains ready for use indefinitely. The starting material for the alloy is inexpensive scrap aluminium, which is fairly plentiful and cheap
This and other metals are used to create micron-scale grains, which are then arranged in a specific nanostructure

#337 read 2017 July 22 07:47 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170721095…

grid cells, cells, place cells, model, activated, neuronal, hexagonal, temporal

new theory for the origin of the grid cells required for spatial orientation in the mammalian brain, which assigns a vital role to the timing of trains of signals they receive from neurons called place cells
Individual place cells in the hippocampus respond to only a few spatial locations. The grid cells in the entorhinal complex, on the other hand, fire at multiple positions in the environment, such that specific sets are consecutively activated as an animal traverses its habitat.

#336 read 2017 July 18 09:41 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170613120…

activation, art, kaimal, artists, reward, study, doodled, participants

Your brain’s reward pathways become active during art-making activities like doodling
26 participants wore fNIRS headbands while they completed three different art activities (each with rest periods between). For three minutes each, the participants colored in a mandala, doodled within or around a circle marked on a paper, and had a free-drawing session.
During all three activities, there was a measured increase in bloodflow in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, compared to rest periods where bloodflow decreased to normal rates.
Doodling in or around the circle had the highest average measured bloodflow increase in the reward pathway compared to free-drawing (the next highest) and coloring. However, the difference between each form of art-making was not statistically significant, according to analysis
Doodling seemed to initiate the most brain activity in artists, but free-drawing was observed to be about the same for artists and non-artists. Interestingly, the set coloring activity actually resulted in negative brain activity in artists.

#335 read 2017 July 18 09:31 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170612115…

exercise, brain, effects, acute exercise, changes, behavioral, cognitive, function

the most consistent behavioral effects of acute exercise are improved executive function, enhanced mood, and decreased stress levels
neurophysiological and neurochemical changes that have been reported after acute exercise show that widespread brain areas and brain systems are activated
one of the biggest open questions in this area is the relationship between the central neurochemical changes following acute exercise, that have mainly been described in rodents, and the behavioral changes seen after acute exercise reported in humans

#334 read 2017 July 18 09:19 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170718103…

robot, human, empowerment, concept, harm, laws, salge, asimov

chime_sound.set_volume(0.5) mixer.Sound.play(chime_sound) mixer.music.stop()
Scientists have developed a concept called Empowerment to help robots to protect and serve humans, while keeping themselves safe
Rather than trying to make a machine understand complex ethical questions, the concept is based on robots always seeking to keep their options open, and doing the same for the humans around them.

#333 read 2017 July 03 11:32 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170627105…

mitoflash, long term, synaptic plasticity, synaptic, short term synaptic, ros, memories, signal

revealed the essential role of dendritic mitochondrial flash in transforming short-term synaptic plasticity into long-term plasticity, which is known to be the cellular correlates of long-term memory.
Mitochondrial flash or ‘mitoflash’ was first identified by Dr. CHENG Heping’s team at PKU as a quantized signal at single-mitochondrion level, involving mitochondrial events such as membrane depolarization, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and matrix alkalization that last for tens of seconds.
hypothesized that mitoflash might be involved in signaling transduction of synaptic plasticity
found that synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP) was always accompanied by one or more mitoflashes in nearby dendritic mitochondria after chemical, electrical or glutamate uncaging induced LTP
artificially induced mitoflashes could in turn facilitate transition from short-term synaptic potentiation to long-term potentiation
Further study revealed that synaptic calcium and calcium-calmodulin kinase was important for eliciting mitoflash, which in turn released ROS to signal long-term synaptic plasticity

#332 read 2017 June 25 04:46 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170623133…

smartphone, participants, phone, cognitive, cognitive capacity, person, experiment, reduce

Your cognitive capacity is significantly reduced when your smartphone is within reach – even if it’s off.
participants were randomly instructed to place their smartphones either on the desk face down, in their pocket or personal bag, or in another room.
participants with their phones in another room significantly outperformed those with their phones on the desk, and they also slightly outperformed those participants who had kept their phones in a pocket or bag.
it didn’t matter whether a person’s smartphone was turned on or off, or whether it was lying face up or face down on a desk. Having a smartphone within sight or within easy reach reduces a person’s ability to focus and perform tasks

#331 read 2017 June 22 03:44 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170621125…

Brief reactivation of a learned memory (quickly typing numbers with one hand) in temporal proximity of a very similar task (typing numbers with the other hand) gives that memory long-term immunity to interference with other tasks during multi-tasking.

memories, task, brain, perform, learn, reactivated, research, censor

research identifies a brain mechanism that enables more efficient multitasking. The key to this is “reactivating the learned memory,” a process that allows a person to more efficiently learn or engage in two tasks in close conjunction
When we learn a new task, we have great difficulty performing it and learning something else at the same time
This is due to interference between the two tasks, which compete for the same brain resources
Our research demonstrates that the brief reactivation of a single learned memory, in appropriate conditions, enables the long-term prevention of, or immunity to, future interference in the performance of another task performed in close conjunction
researchers first taught student volunteers to perform a sequence of motor finger movements with one hand, by learning to tap onto a keypad a specific string of digits appearing on a computer screen as quickly and accurately as possible. After acquiring this learned motor memory, the memory was reactivated on a different day, during which the participants were required to briefly engage with the task – this time with an addition of brief exposure to the same motor task performed with their other hand
By utilizing the memory reactivation paradigm, the subjects were able to perform the two tasks without interference
By uniquely pairing the brief reactivation of the original memory with the exposure to a new memory, long-term immunity to future interference was created, demonstrating a prevention of interference even a month after the exposures.

#330 read 2017 June 22 03:27 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170621132…

memories, forget, brain, remember, information, neuron, richards, mechanism

A new review paper proposes that the goal of memory is not to transmit the most accurate information over time, but to guide and optimize intelligent decision making by only holding on to valuable information
It’s important that the brain forgets irrelevant details and instead focuses on the stuff that’s going to help make decisions in the real world
We find plenty of evidence from recent research that there are mechanisms that promote memory loss, and that these are distinct from those involved in storing information
forgetting allows us to adapt to new situations by letting go of outdated and potentially misleading information that can no longer help us maneuver changing environments
The second way forgetting facilitates decision making is by allowing us to generalize past events to new ones. In artificial intelligence this principle is called regularization and it works by creating simple computer models that prioritize core information but eliminate specific details, allowing for wider application
A constantly changing environment may require that we remember less

#329 read 2017 June 22 02:51 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170620140…

brain, short term memories, mean, information, memories, finding, remember, create

When we are learning new information, our brain has two different ways to remember the material for a short period of time, either by mentally rehearsing the sounds of the words or thinking about the meaning of the words
Both strategies create good short-term memory, but focusing on the meaning is more effective for retaining the information later on

#328 read 2017 June 22 02:36 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170621082…

Multitasking while studying impairs memory, but still able to strategically identify and remember the most important information.

studied, word, student, attention, recall, distracted, participants, value

Multitasking while studying may impair overall memory for the study material, but your ability to strategically identify and remember the most important information may stay intact
researchers asked 192 undergraduate student participants to view a series of word lists and remember as many words as possible. Importantly, each word had a numerical value, from 1 to 10, and participants were instructed to maximize the total value of the words they recalled
Students randomly assigned to the divided attention group studied the word lists as digits were also being read aloud – they were instructed to press a key every time they heard three odd digits in a row. Other students studied the lists while lyrical music, with which they were familiar or unfamiliar, played in the background. Another group of students studied with no additional distractions.
As expected, those students who were forced to divide their attention between the word list and the digits recalled fewer words compared with the students in the other groups. The data showed that the background music had no discernible effect on students’ overall recall.
students really did seem to pay attention to the value of the words – their odds of recalling a 10-point word were almost five times greater than their odds of recalling a 1-point word. The link between value and recall held for students in all of the groups, regardless of whether they studied with or without distraction

#327 read 2017 June 20 01:36 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619144…

brain, patients, word, process, ries, activate, neuronal, region

Most adults can quickly and effortlessly recall as many as 100,000 regularly used words when prompted, but how the brain accomplishes this has long boggled scientists. How does the brain nearly always find the needle in the haystack?
Previous work has revealed that the brain organizes ideas and words into semantically related clusters
They measured the separate neuronal processes involved with first activating the item’s conceptual cluster, then selecting the proper word. Surprisingly, they discovered the two processes actually happen at the same time and activate a much wider network of brain regions than previously suspected.
As expected, two regions known to be involved in language processing lit up, the left inferior frontal gyrus and the posterior temporal cortex. But so did several other regions not traditionally linked to language, including the medial and middle frontal gyri

#326 read 2017 June 12 10:48 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170612094…

The fronto-parietal network appears to perform emulation, evidenced by the commonality of its deverse functions (planning and executing, mental rotation, working memory, etc.).

function, motor, cognition, movement, brain, network, motor skills, fronto parietal network

fronto-parietal network is responsible for a range of highly diverse functions, from planning and executing movements to mental rotation, and from spatial attention to working memory. But how can a single network participate in such a wide variety of functions?
recently put forward an original hypothesis – all these cognitive functions rely on one central function: emulation
the fronto-parietal network is activated by very disparate tasks. This is the case for motor activities, such as picking up or pointing to an object, as well as for eye movements – and even when no movement is involved, if we shift our attention or perform a mental calculation
A review of all the data currently available suggests that the tasks share a common process, which the scientists have termed “emulation.” This process, which consists of planning and representing a movement without actually performing it, activates the brain network in the same way as real movements.
“But we hypothesise that the brain goes a step further,” explains Dr Ptak: “It uses such dynamic representations to carry out increasingly complex cognitive functions beyond just planning movements.”
the skier who mentally rehearses his race before starting improves his performance. Such anticipated action prepares him for movements that are more accurate and precise.

#325 read 2017 June 12 03:52 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170612115…

computation, problem, oscillating, solve, color, system, graph, graph color problem

We wanted to find a way to solve a problem without using the normal binary representations that have been the backbone of computing for decades
Their new system employs a network of electronic oscillators to solve graph coloring tasks – a type of problem that tends to choke modern computers
In natural forms of computing, dynamical systems with complex interdependencies evolve rapidly and solve complex sets of equations in a massively parallel fashion.
When a group of oscillators were electrically connected via capacitive links, they automatically synchronized to the same frequency – oscillating at the same rate. Meanwhile, oscillators directly connected to one another would operate at different phases within the same frequency, and oscillators in the same group but not directly connected would sync in both frequency and phase
The next step would be building a larger network of oscillators that could handle graph coloring problems with more objects at play

#324 read 2017 June 12 12:18 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170608133…

brain, pitkow, model, computations, bias, research, neuron, neuroscience

the brain’s ability to perform “approximate probabilistic inference” cannot be truly studied with simple tasks that are “ill-suited to expose the inferential computations that make the brain special.”
“Evolution has given us what we call a good model bias,” Pitkow said. “It’s been known for a couple of decades that very simple neural networks can compute any function, but those universal networks can be enormous
“In contrast, if you have the right kind of model – not a completely general model that could learn anything, but a more limited model that can learn specific things, especially the kind of things that often happen in the real world – then you have a model that’s biased. In this sense, bias can be a positive trait
They suggested that the brain infers solutions based on statistical crosstalk between redundant population codes. Population codes are responses by collections of neurons that are sensitive to certain inputs, like the shape or movement of an object.
to better understand the brain, it can be more useful to describe what these populations compute, rather than precisely how each individual neuron computes it. Pitkow said this means thinking “at the representational level” rather than the “mechanistic level,”

#323 read 2017 June 11 11:24 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170609133…

farmer, plant, pest, optimal, system, decisions, water, reach

Bali’s famous rice terraces, when seen from above, look like colorful mosaics because some farmers plant synchronously, while others plant at different times
Farmers that live upstream have the advantage of always having water; while those downstream have to adapt their planning on the schedules of the upstream farmers
When farmers are planting at different times, pests can move from one field to another, but when farmers plant in synchrony, pests drown and the pest load is reduced. So upstream farmers have an incentive to share water so that synchronous planting can happen. However, water resources are limited and there is not enough water for everybody to plant at the same time
As a result of this constraint, fractal planting patterns emerge, which yield close to maximal harvests
this optimal situation arises without central planners or coordination. Farmers interact locally and take local individual free decisions, which they believe will optimize their own harvest
this is in contrast to the tragedy of the commons, where the global optimum is not reached because everyone is maximizing his individual profit

#322 read 2017 June 10 05:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170608123…

event, neuron, activation, cell, sequence, brain, hippocampus, smell

The hippocampus can generalize, putting not just places but also events into sequence by changing the neural code in the rat brain
These ‘event cells’ discovered by the researchers may be a bridge linking information about the world with subsequent decision-making
The hippocampus is known to have a ‘refresh rate’ of around 8 Hz – the theta cycle – which guides how often neurons update their activity, a phenomenon called theta-cycle phase precession

#321 read 2017 June 10 03:55 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170608123…

The dorsal raphe nucleus (containing dopamine neurons) seems to control wakefulness: its activated causes (and is caused by) interesting stimuli, and its deactivation associated with sleepiness.

neuron, drnda, sleep, active, animal, gradinaru, drnda neuron, wake

identified a neural circuit in the brain that controls wakefulness
dorsal raphe nucleus, where there are an under-studied group of dopamine neurons called dorsal raphe nucleus neurons, or DRNDA neurons,” says Gradinaru. “People who have damage in this part of their brain have been shown to experience excessive daytime sleepiness
The team studied DRNDA neurons in mice, which are a model organism for studying the human brain. First, the team measured DRNDA activity while the animals encountered salient stimuli, such as the arrival of a potential mating partner, or a sudden unpleasant sensation, or food. The DRNDA neurons were highly active during these events
these neurons are least active when the animal is sleeping and increase in activity as the animal is waking up
After stimulating these neurons with light during the time that the animal would normally sleep, Gradinaru and her team found that the mouse woke up from sleep and remained awake. The reverse was true when the activity of DRNDA was chemically silenced – the animal was likely to fall asleep, even in the face of motivationally important stimuli, such as the odor of a predator or a mating partner

#320 read 2017 June 09 09:41 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/plant-seeds-use-mini-brain…

plant, germinate, cell, plant seed, sprout, seed, research, separation

found two small groups of cells inside plant embryos that operate in a similar way to the human brain, and help decide when the plant should start sprouting
When the germination cell group finally wins, the seed sprouts
By tweaking the hormone activity between the cell groups, the scientists were able to control the timing of the germination.

#319 read 2017 June 09 06:01 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170410110…

research, brain, serious, studied, judgement, asts, intention, universal

Researchers studied the areas of the brain involved in processes which prompt us to forgive those who have seriously, but unintentionally, messed up.
specifically examined the role of a part of the brain, called anterior superior temporal sulcus (aSTS), and discovered that the larger the amount of grey matter in this patch of cortex, the more likely we are to forgive those who have made a serious mistake by accident.

#318 read 2017 June 09 05:54 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170410085…

green space, environment, study, urban environment, urban, older, health, older people

Walking between busy urban environments and green spaces triggers changes in levels of excitement, engagement and frustration in the brain, a study of older people has found
We found that older participants experienced beneficial effects of green space whilst walking between busy built urban environments and urban green space environments

#317 read 2017 June 09 05:33 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170410085…

cognitive control, temperature, research, psychological, dr shalev, cool, cold, effect

“Previous research focused on the actual effect of temperature on the psychological phenomenon known as ‘cognitive control,’” says Dr. Shalev. “But this is the first time we were able to measure the effects of perceived temperature.”
Cognitive control is the ability to deliberately inhibit responses or make choices that maximize the long-term best interests of the individual.
87 students performed an “anti-saccade task,” which requires looking in the opposite direction an object is moving and measures cognitive control. In the second experiment, 28 students were shown images of winter scenery, a temperature-neutral concrete street and a sunny landscape, and told to picture themselves in those settings
The result indicated that those viewing the cold landscape did better and that even without a physical trigger, cognitive control can be activated through conceptual processes alone

#316 read 2017 June 09 02:23 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170609091…

Most neurons start out with many more connections that they need, and the ones not used are pruned. Chandelier interneuron cells develop exclusively inhibitory synapses at other cells’ initial axon segments, leading to a greater impact.

cell, develop, chandelier cell, axon, synapse, neurons, cell axon, varicosities

A basic tenet of neural development is that young neurons make far more connections than they will actually use, with very little specificity. They selectively maintain only the ones that they end up needing
Once many of these connections are made, the brain employs a use-it or lose-it strategy; if the organism’s subsequent experiences stimulate the synapse, it will strengthen and survive. If not, the synapse will weaken and eventually disappear
a unique type of inhibitory interneuron called chandelier cells – which are implicated in several diseases affecting the brain such as schizophrenia and epilepsy – seem to develop their connections differently than other types of neurons.
Most cells’ axons reach out and form synapses on other cells’ dendrites or cell bodies, but chandelier cells exclusively inhibitory synapse on other cells’ axon initial segments (AIS), right where the cell begins to send its own signal down the axon. At this location, the chandelier cells have a greater impact on other cell’s behavior.

#315 read 2017 June 09 03:53 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170606201…

studies, brain, associated, alcohol consumption, cognitive, findings, drinking, alcohol

Alcohol consumption, even at moderate levels, is associated with increased risk of adverse brain outcomes and steeper decline in cognitive (mental) skills
Heavy drinking is known to be associated with poor brain health, but few studies have examined the effects of moderate drinking on the brain – and results are inconsistent.
They used data on weekly alcohol intake and cognitive performance measured repeatedly over 30 years (1985-2015) for 550 healthy men and women
After adjusting for these confounders, the researchers found that higher alcohol consumption over the 30 year study period was associated with increased risk of hippocampal atrophy
Our findings support the recent reduction in UK safe limits and call into question the current US guidelines, which suggest that up to 24.5 units a week is safe for men, as we found increased odds of hippocampal atrophy at just 14-21 units a week, and we found no support for a protective effect of light consumption on brain structure

#314 read 2017 June 09 03:29 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170608073…

eat, food, eat alone, mirror, research, social facilitation of eat, ate, appeal

Researchers at Nagoya University reveal that eating in front of a mirror – or even with a picture of yourself eating – makes food more appealing.
People rate food as tasting better, and eat more of it, when they eat with company than when they eat alone. This so-called “social facilitation of eating” is a well-established phenomenon
wanted to find out what the minimum requirement is for the social facilitation of eating
In a further experiment, when the researchers replaced the mirror with photos of the volunteers eating, they discovered that the volunteers still experienced an increase in the appeal of food and ate more.
Studies have shown that for older adults, enjoying food is associated with quality of life, and frequently eating alone is associated with depression and loss of appetite

#313 read 2017 June 09 03:19 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170608145…

brain, computation, vision, visual, object, sharpee, data, process

analyzed how neurons in a critical part of the brain, called V2, respond to natural scenes, providing a better understanding of vision processing.
The team revealed that V2 neurons process visual information according to three principles: first, they combine edges that have similar orientations, increasing robustness of perception to small changes in the position of curves that form object boundaries.
Second, if a neuron is activated by an edge of a particular orientation and position, then the orientation 90 degrees from that will be suppressive at the same location, a combination termed “cross-orientation suppression.” These cross-oriented edge combinations are assembled in various ways to allow us to detect various visual shapes. The team found that cross-orientation was essential for accurate shape detection.
The third principle is that relevant patterns are repeated in space in ways that can help perceive textured surfaces of trees or water and boundaries between them, as in impressionist paintings.
The researchers incorporated the three organizing principles into a model they named the Quadratic Convolutional model

#312 read 2017 June 08 04:01 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170406163…

Hippocampal cells predict memory decisions through prospective coding, and the prefrontal cortex teaches the hippocampus to learn rules to distinguism memory-based predictions in otherwise identical situations (ex. you answer a telephone in your own home but not a stranger’s).

learn, prefrontal cortex, goal, memories, hippocampal, hippocampus, rat, rat learn

Neurons in the prefrontal cortex “teach” neurons in the hippocampus to “learn” rules that distinguish memory-based predictions in otherwise identical situations, suggesting that learning in the present helps guide learning in the future
The hippocampus is a temporal lobe brain structure needed for remembering recent events: for example, where you ate your last meal. The prefrontal cortex is where the brain uses context to switch flexibility between remembered rules, such as knowing to look left before crossing a street in North America but right before crossing in Britain. Without such rules, memories interfere with one another and predictions based on memory are inaccurate.
High-functioning individuals rapidly integrate memories with goals to choose their course of action. This cognitive flexibility requires interaction between the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
We want to understand how our brains learn to think ahead and the mechanisms that use context to recall events, predict outcomes and inform decisions. For example, how does the brain know to answer a ringing telephone at home but not in someone else’s house?
We already knew that hippocampal cells predicted memory decisions through prospective coding, firing at different rates before rats chose different goals. We learned that inactivating the prefrontal cortex reduced prospective coding by the hippocampus. Furthermore, the more the prefrontal cortex altered hippocampal activity as rats learned one rule, the faster they switched to the next rule
We found that neuronal activity was synchronized in the two structures, and that neurons in the prefrontal cortex modulated hippocampal place cell activity during learning

#311 read 2017 June 08 03:52 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170403123…

social capital, school, student, teacher, parental, goddard, levels of social capital, study

Most factors that help make schools successful cost lots of money - think teachers, technology and textbooks
a new study suggests one factor that doesn’t need any cash to implement can play an important role in helping students succeed at even the most disadvantaged schools
That factor is what scientists call social capital: The network of relationships between school officials, teachers, parents and the community that builds trust and norms that promote academic achievement
In a study of 96 public high schools in Ohio, researchers found that schools with higher levels of social capital also had students who performed better on state-mandated math and reading tests. The results held true as much for urban schools in high-poverty areas as they did for wealthy suburban schools.
Wealthy schools do have an advantage in terms of social capital, but it is not overwhelming

#310 read 2017 June 08 03:16 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/physicists-finally-have-pr…

There exist 2D magnets (specifically chromium triiodide sheets), found after years of searching.

magnet, properties, layer, chromium triiodide, material, two dimensional, 2d, even

After years of searching, many suspected that true two-dimensional magnets might not actually exist. But now we finally have proof - physicists have created the first ever 2D magnet
They decided to focus on a compound called chromium triiodide (or CrI3), because it’s ferromagnetic in its three-dimensional form
Chromium triiodide is also easily reduced to two dimensions via the ‘Scotch tape method’ - using adhesive tape to peel off layer after layer until it’s just one atom thick
the researchers tested its magnetic properties by shining a beam of polarised light at its surface.
If it was still magnetic, the aligned spin of its electrons could be detected in the reflection of the beam, and sure enough, that’s what the team found
They also discovered that a two-layered sheet of this material isn’t magnetic, but when a third is added the substance becomes a ferromagnet again. The material remains magnetic if a fourth layer is added, but gains other properties

#309 read 2017 June 08 03:05 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170607123…

test, studies, eyes test, cognitive empathy, genetic, eyes, genetic variants, autism

people can rapidly interpret what another person is thinking or feeling from looking at their eyes alone. It also showed that some of us are better at this than others, and that women on average score better on this test than men
the team confirmed that our genes influence performance on the Eyes Test, and went further to identify genetic variants on chromosome 3 in women that are associated with their ability to “read the mind in the eyes.”

#308 read 2017 June 08 12:07 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170607085…

dlpfc, participants, problem, stimulated, solve, mental, creative, tdcs

Scientists have found a way to improve creativity through brain stimulation
achieved this by temporarily suppressing a key part of the frontal brain called the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is involved in most of our thinking and reasoning
participants who received the intervention showed an enhanced ability to ‘think outside the box’
We solve problems by applying rules we learn from experience, and the DLPFC plays a key role in automating this process
It works fine most of the time, but fails spectacularly when we encounter new problems which require a new style of thinking – our past experience can indeed block our creativity
But the researchers also observed that these participants got worse at solving problems with a higher working memory demand (where many items are needed to be held in mind at once). These problems require the participants to try a number of different moves until finding the solution, which means they have to keep track of their mental operations.

#307 read 2017 June 07 04:14 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170606135…

neuron, decision, collect, monkey, data, information, single neuron, neuroscience

When many individual neurons collect data, how do they reach a unanimous decision?
as the monkey initially processes the data, polling many neurons is required to get a good prediction of the monkey’s decision. Then, as the time for committing to a decision approaches, this pattern shifts. The neurons start to agree and eventually each one on its own is maximally predictive
at first the “neural voice” is heterogeneous and collective, but as the neurons get close to the decision point, the “neural voice” becomes homogenous and, in a sense, individualistic, as any neuron on its own is sufficient to read the monkey’s mind
a possible explanation for this odd behavior is that the system has two tasks to solve. It must gather good information from noisy data and it must use this information to produce a coherent decision
an information accumulation phase that uses crowdsourcing to collect reliable information and a consensus phase that allows the system to act

#306 read 2017 May 30 02:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170410161…

listened, speaker, studies, pupil dilate, findings, conscious, narrative, eye

Listeners are most likely to tune in when a speaker delivers the most emotional peaks of his/her narrative, as revealed by synchronous pupil dilation patterns of speakers and listeners due to shared attention.
Most people know that pupils dilate to adjust the amount of light that enters the eye, but pupils also dilate rapidly in response to information that is being processed moment by moment.

#305 read 2017 May 30 02:40 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170410155…

Foreign language learning is improved with less exposure to native language between lesson and sleep

myers, understand, language, sound, phonemes, distinct, speech, ability

people retain what they’ve learned in a language class better if they go to bed before they get the chance hear a lot of their own language during the rest of the day. Evening classes are better.

#304 read 2017 May 30 04:26 AM. Link: people.idsia.ch/~juergen/goedelmachine.html

optimal, proof, self, self rewrite, self referential, machine, initial code, proof searcher

Goedel machines are self-referential universal problem solvers making provably optimal self- improvements.
a Gödel machine (or ‘Goedel machine’ but not ‘Godel machine’) rewrites any part of its own code as soon as it has found a proof that the rewrite is useful, where the problem-dependent utility function and the hardware and the entire initial code are described by axioms encoded in an initial proof searcher which is also part of the initial code.

#303 read 2017 May 30 04:15 AM. Link: people.idsia.ch/~juergen/compressednetworksearc…

program, weight, encode, gp, learn, network, 20, visual input

Many traditional methods of Evolutionary Computation [15-19] can evolve problem solvers with hundreds of parameters, but not millions. Ours can [1,2], by greatly reducing the search space through evolving compact, compressed descriptions [3-8] of huge solvers.
Back in 1994, our universal [22-25] language for encoding NN was assembler-like [9,10]. In recent work, we replaced it by more practical languages [1-8] based on coefficients of popular transforms (Fourier, wavelet, discrete cosine, etc).
Look at the weight matrix as if it were an image. We may compress it by encoding it through the coefficients of a Fourier-type transform (here: the discrete cosine transform DCT) [1-8]. While a successful RNN controller may need hundreds of thousands of parameters (weights) to solve its task, its compressed description may need just a few hundred.

#302 read 2017 May 30 03:50 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170502084…

word, neural, kimppa, exposure, learned, finnish, participants, brain

A new study has focused on language acquisition in the brain. Even short repetitive exposure to novel words induced a rapid neural response increase that is suggested to manifest memory-trace formation.
Unlike to existing words, new words showed a neural response enhancement between the early and late stages of exposure on the left frontal and temporal cortices, which was interpreted as the build-up of neural memory circuits. The magnitude of this neural enhancement also correlated with how well the participants remembered the new words afterwards
To examine the effect of attention, the words were presented for ~30 minutes in two conditions: participants were either passively exposed to the spoken words on the background, or they attended to the speech. Similar neural enhancement to novel words was observed in both listening conditions

#301 read 2017 May 30 03:22 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170502112…

language, bilinguals, duration, container, swedish, spanish, time, passage of time

Linguists have discovered that people who speak two languages fluently think about time differently depending on the language context in which they are estimating the duration of events.
Bilinguals go back and forth between their languages rapidly and, often, unconsciously – a phenomenon called code-switching.
But different languages also embody different worldviews, different ways of organizing the world around us. And time is a case in point. For example, Swedish and English speakers prefer to mark the duration of events by referring to physical distances, e.g. a short break, a long wedding, etc. The passage of time is perceived as distance travelled.
But Greek and Spanish speakers tend to mark time by referring to physical quantities, e.g. a small break, a big wedding. The passage of time is perceived as growing volume.

#300 read 2017 May 30 03:17 AM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-s…

cell, brain, mutation, somatic mutation, research, genetic, neuron, genome

Accepted dogma holds that—although every cell in the body contains its own DNA—the genetic instructions in each cell nucleus are identical. But new research has now proved this assumption wrong.
There are actually several sources of spontaneous mutation in somatic (nonsex) cells, resulting in every individual containing a multitude of genomes—a situation researchers term somatic mosaicism.
There are reasons to think somatic mosaicism may be particularly important in the brain, not least because neural genes are very active.

#299 read 2017 May 30 03:13 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170502204…

children, aroma, memory, room, effect, test, dr mark, academic performance

Exposure to the aroma of rosemary essential oil can significantly enhance working memory in children.
previous study demonstrated the aroma of rosemary essential oil could enhance cognition in healthy adults
A total of 40 children aged 10 to 11 took part in a class based test on different mental tasks. Children were randomly assigned to a room that had either rosemary oil diffused in it for ten minutes or a room with no scent.

#298 read 2017 May 30 12:08 AM. Link: phys.org/news/2017-05-predators-faster-prey-dro…

predator, prey, model, group, behavior, research, resulted, chasing

Since a gazelle can run faster than a lion, how do lions ever catch gazelles? A new model of predator-prey interaction shows how groups of predators use collective chasing strategies, such as cornering and circling, to pursue and capture faster prey. Without this tactical collaboration, the predators would have no chance of catching these prey.

#297 read 2017 May 29 10:59 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170529090…

Purkinje cells in cerebellum can learn not only single responses, but series of precisely timed reactions

learn, neuron, signal, cell, response, associate, brain, research

Individual neurons can learn not only single responses to a particular signal, but also a series of reactions at precisely timed intervals
The cells studied by the researchers are called Purkinje cells and are located in the cerebellum.

#296 read 2017 May 27 06:14 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170525123…

brain, network, executive function, modular, structural, researchers, brain network, global integrated

As children age into adolescence and on into young adulthood, they show dramatic improvements in their ability to control impulses, stay organized, and make decisions. Those “executive functions” of the brain are key factors in determining outcomes, including educational success, drug use, and psychiatric illness.
study reveals that the maturing brain becomes increasingly segregated into distinct network modules for greater efficiency. Indeed, the new evidence shows that the degree to which executive function improves in a person with age depends on the degree to which that well-defined modular network structure emerges.
This increasingly modular yet globally integrated network topology may maximize communication efficiency while minimizing wiring costs in the brain.

#295 read 2017 May 27 01:06 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/the-brain-literally-starts…

sleep, brain, synapses, activates, astrocyte, chronic sleep deprived, cell, process

persistently poor sleep causes the brain to clear a significant amount of neurons and synaptic connections, and recovering sleep might not be able to reverse the damage
The microglial cells are responsible for clearing out old and worn out cells via a process called phagocytosis - meaning “to devour” in Greek.
The astrocytes’ job is to prune unnecessary synapses (connections) in the brain to refresh and reshape its wiring.
We’ve known that this process occurs when we sleep to clear away the neurological wear and tear of the day, but now it appears that the same thing happens when we start to lose sleep.
ost of the synapses that were getting eaten in the two groups of sleep-deprived mice were the largest ones, which tend to be the oldest and most heavily used

#294 read 2017 May 27 12:47 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-found-a-ne…

brain, monkey, social interacting, video, human, activated, object, process

a network in the monkey brain that’s exclusively devoted to analysing social interactions.
Most primates, including humans, are highly social animals, and are able to effortlessly analyse social interactions. But we don’t know much about the neural networks that allow monkeys to do this kind of sophisticated processing

#293 read 2017 May 26 06:04 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/for-the-first-time-ever-wo…

birth rate, per 1 000, pregnancies, babies, birth, mother, better, women age

For the first time in human history, American women in their 30s are having more babies than women in their 20s, with the average age of first-time mothers sitting at about 28 - a massive two-year leap from 2014.
A study of 1.5 million men and women in Sweden last year found that when mothers decided to delay having kids until they were older - even into their 40s - they were more likely to have children who were taller, more physically fit, got better grades in high school, and were more likely to go to university.

#292 read 2017 May 20 08:17 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-discovere…

gene, metabolism, rna, function, caetano anolls, organic, develop, molecules

A new study on how genes function across the living world has added weight to the hypothesis that life on Earth was capturing energy from chemical reactions before it was copying its codes.
If replicating genes need energy, and our metabolism is regulated by enzymes made by genes, how could we have genes without a metabolism, and a metabolism without genes?
we can imagine life emerged as short sections of RNA integrated with energy-releasing reactions that already existed, developing primitive genes that helped bind together other molecules before building into more complex forms.

#291 read 2017 May 08 02:04 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2130205-inquisitiv…

question, sentence, learn, read, ask, mazidi, ask question, du

The machine-learning algorithm can read a passage of text and come up with the kind of questions you might ask to check someone’s understanding of a topic.
trained it on more than 500 Wikipedia articles and 100,000 questions about those articles sourced from crowdworkers. For example, a sentence about different types of crop grown in Africa might be paired with the question “What is grown in the fertile highlands?”
The current version of the system produces a question for every sentence it reads but Du wants it to asks questions only about sentences that contain statements. “Not all sentences are question-worthy,” he says.

#290 read 2017 April 29 09:43 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170427120…

worried, sweeny, motivate, prevent, emotional, report, feeling of worried, pleasurable

Despite its negative reputation, not all worry is destructive or even futile
worry is associated with recovery from traumatic events, adaptive preparation and planning, recovery from depression, and partaking in activities that promote health, and prevent illness. Furthermore, people who report greater worry may perform better – in school or at the workplace – seek more information in response to stressful events, and engage in more successful problem solving
1. Worry serves as a cue that the situation is serious and requires action. People use their emotions as a source of information when making judgements and decisions.
  1. Worrying about a stressor keeps the stressor at the front of one’s mind and prompts people toward action.
  2. The unpleasant feeling of worry motivates people to find ways to reduce their worry.

#289 read 2017 April 27 01:13 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170407103…

dbi, neurons, brain, monyer, hippocampus, process, gaba, peptide

until now it has been unknown which molecular processes translate environmental changes into the production of new neurons
a small peptide called DBI (short for: diazepam binding inhibitor) is the crucial mediator in this process. The peptide was first identified because it binds to the receptor for a chemical messenger in the brain called GABA, where it replaces a drug called Diazepam (Valium).
When DBI was absent, the numbers of neural stem cells in the hippocampus declined. An oversupply of the peptide caused the opposite to happen
DBI exerts its effect by binding to the receptor for the chemical messenger GABA in the neural stem cells, thus acting as a molecular antagonist of this neurotransmitter.
GABA is responsible for keeping the stem cells dormant in their niche without dividing

#288 read 2017 April 26 05:46 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/put-a-bird-o…

identities, coaster, decorated, custom, studies, flip game, custom coaster, cleats

In several studies in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Marketing Research, students worked and played better when using items they had decorated to portray aspects of themselves.
Even though participants did not expect any benefit, they threw customized darts more accurately, they came up with more anagrams using a customized pen, and they played a beer-coaster flipping game better with customized coasters. Across the studies, customization boosted performance by 25 percent.
The trick worked best when people cared about doing well and when the decoration embodied a task-relevant part of their identities

#287 read 2017 April 25 08:58 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2128695-hungry-sto…

ghrelin, brain cell, memories, parkinsons disease, hormone, levels, effect, people

Animals that have reduced-calorie diets have better mental abilities, and ghrelin might be part of the reason why. Injecting the hormone into mice improves their performance in learning and memory tests, and seems to boost the number of neuron connections in their brains.
found further evidence that ghrelin can stimulate brain cells to divide and multiply, a process called neurogenesis. When they added the hormone to mouse brain cells grown in a dish, it switched on a gene known to trigger neurogenesis, called fibroblast growth factor.
new brain cells take a few days to weeks to start working, so people shouldn’t expect fasting to produce immediate effects on their brainpower in this way.

#286 read 2017 April 24 02:07 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170420090…

students, course, ramirez, forget, studies, psychological, stress, material

University students who identify as strong in mathematics quickly forgot much of the material from a mathematics course. The explanation: We tend to forget unpleasant experiences and memories that threaten our self-image as a way to preserve our psychological well-being.
the researchers found that the students who forgot the most content from the class were those who reported a high level of stress during the course. But, paradoxically, the study also found that the strong relationship between stress level and the tendency to forget course material was most prevalent among the students who are most confident in their own mathematical abilities.
The phenomenon, which the authors call “motivated forgetting,” may occur because students are subconsciously protecting their own self-image as excellent mathematicians

#285 read 2017 April 24 12:40 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170403123…

The interplay between evolution and epigenetic changes (development) over a lifetime is called evo-devo.

robot, evolution, develop, evolvability, epigenetic factor, evolutionary, create, physical embodied

For the first time, researchers in the field of evolutionary robotics have used physically embodied robots to study epigenetic effects on robot evolution
In evolutionary robotics, an artificial “gene pool” is created, which produces genomes each of which encodes the control system of a robot. Each robot is then allowed to act and perform tasks according to its “genetically” specified controller, and the robot’s fitness is ranked according to how well it performs a certain task. The robots are then allowed to reproduce by swapping genetic material with each other, comparable to biological sexual reproduction
the genomes of living organisms are also affected by development – events during their lifetime that lead to epigenetic changes. In biology, this interplay between evolution and development is known as evo-devo, which has emphasized the importance of non-genetic factors on an organism’s phenotype
The results show that robot populations with an epigenetic factor evolved differently than populations where development was not taken into account. Despite the robots not evolving greater light capturing skills, the team are enthusiastic about the results, since the aim of this preliminary study was above all to demonstrate the importance of including epigenetic factors in robot evolution, and to develop a conceptual and physical methodology that makes this possible

#284 read 2017 April 17 12:57 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2127804-creative-p…

antinori, open, mixed percept, creative, experience, open people, person, brain

There’s some evidence that people with a greater degree of openness also have better visual awareness. For example, when focusing on letters moving on a screen, they are more likely to notice a grey square appearing elsewhere on the display.
Antinori and her colleagues asked 123 university students to complete a binocular rivalry test, in which they simultaneously saw a red image with one eye and a green image with the other eye for 2 minutes.
Usually, the brain can only perceive one image at a time, and most participants reported seeing the image flip between red and green. But some subjects saw the two images fused into a patchwork of red and green – a phenomenon known as “mixed percept”.
The higher the participants scored for openness on a personality questionnaire, the more they experienced this mixed perception.

#283 read 2017 April 15 06:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170203103…

granule cell, dentate gyrus, neurogenesis, synapse, neuron, connections, brain, cell

Does the brain create additional synapses from the cortical neurons to the new granule cells, or do some cortical neurons transfer connections from mature granule cells to the new granule cells? Researchers have found that the connections are transferred, without adding to the number of synapses.
The dentate gyrus is one of just two areas in the brain where new neurons are continuously formed in adults. When a new granule cell neuron is made in the dentate gyrus, it needs to get ‘wired in,’ by forming synapses, or connections, in order to contribute to circuit function

#282 read 2017 April 15 06:26 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170202141…

synapse, sleep, size, brain, shy, wake, cirelli, tononi

Striking electron microscope pictures from inside the brains of mice suggest what happens in our own brain every day: Our synapses – the junctions between nerve cells – grow strong and large during the stimulation of daytime, then shrink by nearly 20 percent while we sleep, creating room for more growth and learning the next day.
The scaling occurred in about 80 percent of the synapses but spared the largest ones, which may be associated with the most stable memory traces.

#281 read 2017 April 15 05:10 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170406143…

memories, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, store, engram cells, trace, research, studies

A study of neural circuits that underlie memory consolidation reveals memories are formed simultaneously in the hippocampus and long-term storage location of brain’s cortex, with long-term memories remaining ‘silent’ for two weeks before maturing, which upends dominant theories of memory consolidation.
Just one day after the fear-conditioning event, the researchers found that memories of the event were being stored in engram cells in both the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex. However, the engram cells in the prefrontal cortex were “silent” – they could stimulate freezing behavior when artificially activated by light, but they did not fire during natural memory recall.
This study already showed that communication between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus is critical, because blocking the circuit connecting those two regions prevented the cortical memory cells from maturing properly.

#280 read 2017 April 15 04:40 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170413141…

random, human, abilities, studies, abilities to behave random, age, coin flips, hypothetical results

People’s ability to make random choices or mimic a random process, such as coming up with hypothetical results for a series of coin flips, peaks around age 25, according to a study.
Previous studies have shown that aging diminishes a person’s ability to behave randomly. However, it had been unclear how this ability evolves over a person’s lifetime, nor had it been possible to assess the ways in which humans may behave randomly beyond simple statistical tests.
The five tasks included listing the hypothetical results of a series of 12 coin flips so that they would “look random to somebody else,”
The study also demonstrated that a relatively short list of choices, say 10 hypothetical coin flips, can be used to reliably gauge randomness of human behavior.

#279 read 2017 March 28 06:13 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170327083…

chocolate, understand, maxi, child, research, four year, thoughts, brain

At around the age of four we suddenly do what three-year-olds are unable to do: put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.
If you tell a 3-year-old child the following story of little Maxi, they will most probably not understand: Maxi puts his chocolate on the kitchen table, then goes to play outside. While he is gone, his mother puts the chocolate in the cupboard. Where will Maxi look for his chocolate whenhe comes back?
A 3-year-old child will not understand why Maxi would be surprised not to find the chocolate on the table where he left it. It is only by the age of 4 years that a child will correctly predict that Maxi will look for his chocolate where he left it and not in the cupboard where it is now.
The maturation of fibres of a brain structure called the arcuate fascicle between the ages of three and four years establishes a connection between two critical brain regions: a region at the back of the temporal lobe that supports adult thinking about others and their thoughts, and a region in the frontal lobe that is involved in keeping things at different levels of abstraction

#278 read 2017 March 20 02:21 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170217012…

infant, mother, de l etoile, infant direct sing, song, interact, tempo, behavior

Unlike other forms of caregiving, the act of mothers singing to infants is a universal behavior that seemingly withstands the test of time.
Findings revealed that when infants were engaged during song, their mother’s instincts are also on high alert
Intuitively, when infant engagement declined, the mother adjusted her pitch, tempo or key to stimulate and regulate infant response

#277 read 2017 March 18 03:14 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170312130…

memprize, learn, radboud university, effective, words, find, project, team

Language learning app Memrise has announced the winner of its first Memprize: a competition to find the world’s most efficient vocabulary learning technique.
The task of the international competition was simple: find a way in which participants can learn the meaning of 80 words as effectively as possible, within one hour.
Overall, the winning method more than doubled memory performance compared to the standard technique of repeated study. The method combined adaptive retrieval practice, where the hardest words to remember were presented more often, and an introduction to mental imagery.
volunteers were asked to imagine the words in certain rooms so that they could later practice recalling the words by room. Besides being the most effective, participants also found the winning method to be the most enjoyable of all submissions

#276 read 2017 March 10 12:36 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170309150…

dendrite, spike, neuron, computation, soma, brain, activate, scientists

Neurons are large, tree-like structures made up of a body, the soma, with numerous branches called dendrites extending outward. Somas generate brief electrical pulses called “spikes” in order to connect and communicate with each other. Scientists had generally believed that the somatic spikes activate the dendrites, which passively send currents to other neurons’ somas
the UCLA team discovered that dendrites are not just passive conduits. Their research showed that dendrites are electrically active in animals that are moving around freely, generating nearly 10 times more spikes than somas.
These results show that the dendrites do not behave purely like a digital device. Dendrites do generate digital, all-or-none spikes, but they also show large analog fluctuations that are not all or none.

#275 read 2017 March 08 12:40 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170306091…

touch, huisman, hey bracelet, bracelet, university of twente, squeeze, shown, technology

A new study has shown that virtual characters that can touch you are seen as being warmer and friendlier. Previous research had already shown that this applies to human interaction.
According to Huisman, personal assistant applications for smartphones, such as Siri, will tend to become even more human as time goes on. Not only will these assistants be able to understand what you are saying, they will also register the underlying emotions and respond accordingly.

#274 read 2017 March 07 10:33 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170306114…

memories, object, move, flombaum, recognize, researchers, expect, brain

Schurgin and Flombaum wondered if people’s vast ability for recall, a skill machines and computers cannot come close to matching, had something to do with our “core knowledge” of the world, the innate understanding of basic physics that all humans, and many animals, are born with.
tested the theory in a series of experiments where people were shown very short video clips of moving objects, then given memory tests. Sometimes the objects appeared to move across the screen as a single object would. Other times they moved in ways we wouldn’t expect a single object to move, such as popping out from one side of the screen and then the other.
In every experiment, subjects had significantly better memories – as much as nearly 20 percent better – of trackable objects that moved according to our expectations, the researchers found.

#273 read 2017 March 05 11:39 PM. Link: www.bbc.com/earth/story/20170301-life-may-actua…

watson, evolvability, organism, adapt, gene network, gene, evolution, might

The networks of genes in each animal is a bit like the network of neurons in our brains, which suggests they might be “learning” as they go
genes often work together. They form “gene networks”, and those gene networks can also sometimes be passed intact down the generations
the idea that the connections between genes can be strengthened or weakened as a species evolves and changes – and it is the strength of those connections in gene networks that allow organisms to adapt
A mini-network of genes defining a particular adaptation – like one of the modules mentioned above – can sometimes be turned on or off by just one other activator gene

#272 read 2017 March 05 03:01 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170303091…

motivated, lecture, studied, effort, dietrich, individual, brbel kracke, julia dietrich

Psychologist at University of Jena uncovers strong variability in motivation in learning situations
In order to determine this, during one semester 155 student teachers recorded their motivation three times within 90-minute lectures.
Among other things, we wanted to know how competent they felt at that particular moment, whether they understood the material or found it a strain to follow the lecture. They were also asked whether they enjoyed the content of the lecture and whether they found it useful
During a lecture, every single participant experienced phases of high motivation and of strong demotivation – completely independently of the other students in relation to the timing of those phases
The more effort one makes, the more motivated one feels. The reverse is also true: “A person who is motivated also makes more effort,”

#271 read 2017 February 28 10:34 AM. Link: www.nature.com/news/a-giant-neuron-found-wrappe…

brain, neuron, claustrum, koch, mice, trace, connect, organ

A giant neuron found wrapped around entire mouse brain
A new digital reconstruction method shows three neurons that branch extensively throughout the brain, including one that wraps around its entire outer layer
the team traced three neurons from a small, thin sheet of cells called the claustrum — an area that Koch believes acts as the seat of consciousness in mice and humans

#270 read 2017 February 21 05:27 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/we-just-found-evidence-neu…

receptors, researchers, controlled, unsuspected, kainate, ltp, postsynaptic, nmda

Researchers have discovered a brand new mechanism that controls the way nerve cells in our brain communicate with each other to regulate learning and long-term memory.
As far as researchers were aware, LTP is usually controlled by the activation of special proteins called NMDA receptors.
“These data reveal a new and, to our knowledge, previously unsuspected role for postsynaptic kainate receptors in the induction of functional and structural plasticity in the hippocampus

#269 read 2017 February 06 05:20 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170203135…

foragers, optimal, strategy, search, prospectors, berries, trajectory, equals

Researchers reveal an optimal strategy for foragers – animals searching for berries in the woods or prospectors seeking oil in the desert. The statistical model builds on previous foraging theories by accounting for trajectory and resources consumed
The optimal foraging strategy? Search the current foraging ground for a time that equals the time it would take to pull up stakes and move to a new territory.

#268 read 2017 January 25 04:49 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124140…

brain, release, fluctuates, acetylcholine, mental, arousing, spikes, coordinated

the release of the chemical ‘acetylcholine’ fluctuates during the day but found that the release is at its highest when the brain is engaged with more challenging mental tasks. The fluctuations are coordinated across the brain indicating a brain-wide signal to increase mental capacity with specific spikes in acetylcholine release occurring at particularly arousing times such as gaining reward.

#267 read 2017 January 25 04:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124111…

stimuli, faster, reading, sound, dyslexics, neural, implicit memory, responses

Humans have a type of long-term memory (called ‘implicit memory’) that means we respond less to stimuli as they are repeated over time, in a process called neural adaptation. But the new research suggests that dyslexics recover faster than non-dyslexics from their responses to stimuli such as sounds and written words, leading to their perceptual and reading difficulties.
We decided to test this hypothesis by increasing the length of time between consecutive stimuli and measuring how it affects behavioral biases and neural responses from the auditory cortex, a section of the brain that processes sound.
Participants with dyslexia showed a faster decay of implicit memory on both measures. This also affected their oral reading rate, which decreased faster as a result of the time interval between reading the same nonword – a group of letters that looks or sounds like a word – numerous times

#266 read 2017 January 23 07:42 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161003131…

brain, pupil size, researchers, integrated, task, greater, locus coeruleus, mute

Rather than having strictly defined routes of communication between different areas, the level of coordination between different parts of the brain seems to ebb and flow. Now, by analyzing the brains of a large number of people at rest or carrying out complex tasks, researchers at have learned that the integration between those brain regions also fluctuates. When the brain is more integrated, people do better on complex tasks.
the researchers measured pupil size to try and tease out how the brain coordinates this change in connectivity. Pupil size is an indirect measure of the activity of a small region in the brainstem called the locus coeruleus that is thought to amplify or mute signals across the entire brain.
Up to a certain point, increases in pupil size likely indicate greater amplification of strong signals and greater muting of weak signals across the brain.
The researchers found that pupil size roughly tracked with changes in brain connectivity during rest, in that larger pupils were associated with greater connectedness. This suggests that the noradrenaline coming from the locus coeruleus might be what drives the brain to become more integrated during highly complicated cognitive tasks, allowing a person to perform well on that task.

#265 read 2017 January 23 02:34 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170120193…

kqtg, processing speed, play, pstg, participants, play pstg, 4 week, depressive moods

A new Processing Speed Training Game (PSTG) has been developed for a Tablet PC, which they say can significantly improve processing speed and inhibition among healthy older adults, while also reducing their depressive moods when played regularly.
In the number connection challenge shown in Fig1A, participants are asked to connect numbers in an assigned order
In the Knowledge Quiz Training Game (KQTG, shown in Fig1D), participants select the correct pronunciation of Kanji characters
Seventy-two older adults between the age of 60-75 were randomly assigned to either a PSTG or a KQTG group. They were asked to play PSTG (12 processing speed games) or KQTG (4 knowledge quizzes) for 4 weeks. They played for 15 minutes a day, for at least 5 days a week.
Cognitive functions and emotional states were measured before and after the 4-week intervention period. And results showed that participants who played PSTG had improved processing speed and inhibitions, as well as reduced depressive moods compared to those who played KQTG.

#264 read 2017 January 22 07:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170112141…

metamemory, memories, brain, recall, researchers, higher, test, region

Researchers have pinpointed a brain region monkeys use to evaluate their ability to recall memories. To date, this metamemory process, which requires a higher level of self-reflection about our own cognition, was thought by some to be unique to humans
Kentaro Miyamoto and colleagues devised a metamemory test in which macaques judged their own confidence in remembering past experiences; the animals opted for higher bets on the outcome of a memory recall test when they were surer their memory judgments were correct
Using this setup, as well as whole-brain searches by functional neuroimaging, the researchers identified a specific region in the prefrontal brain essential for metamemory decision making. Its inactivation caused selective impairment of metamemor

#263 read 2017 January 22 07:20 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170117083…

Telling someone about what you learned soon after learning it, or being given a small cue at test time, improves recall.

detail, film, students, recall, researchers, memory, better, central

Students who are given information and tell someone about it immediately recall the details better and longer
students were shown 24-second clips from 40 films over a period of about half an hour. The study focused on their retention of both the general plot of the films as well as such details as sounds, colors, gestures, background details and other peripheral information that allow a person to re-experience an event in rich and vivid detail
Researchers also found that giving students a brief visual cue from the movie later – even a simple glimpse of the title and a little sliver of a screenshot taken from the film – seemed to jog the memory
After viewing the film clips, researchers asked what they remembered about the films after delays ranging from several minutes after the showings up to seven days later.
Researchers found that: (1) all participants recalled less about both the details and the substance of the films over a longer gap of time. But they forgot the perceptual or ‘peripheral’ details from the films more quickly than the films’ central themes. (2) the second group of students, who were given cues before being asked to recall the films, did better at retrieving the faded memory of the peripheral details. However, their retention of central information was not much different from the first group (3) the third group – who retrieved the memory of the films by telling someone about them soon after viewing – remembered both central and peripheral information better over time.

#262 read 2017 January 22 07:15 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170117140…

word, convey, information, tend, women, conversational, rarer, syntax

Fast talkers tend to convey less information with each word and syntactic structure than slower-paced speakers, meaning that no matter our pace, we all say just about as much in a given time, a new study finds.
In information theory, rarer word choices convey greater “lexical information,” while more complicated syntax, such as the passive voice, conveys greater “structural information.” To stay within the channel, those who talk quickly speak with more common words and simpler syntax, while those with a slower pace tend to use rarer, more unexpected words and more complicated wordings
analyzed two independent troves of conversational data: the Switchboard Corpus, which contains 2,400 annotated telephone conversations, and the Buckeye Corpus, which consists of 40 lengthy interviews. In total, the data included the speech of 398 people.
On average, while both men and women exhibited the main trend, men conveyed more information than women at the same speech rate. There is no reason to believe that the ability to convey information at a given rate differs by gender, Cohen Priva said. Instead, he hypothesizes, women may tend to be more concerned with making sure their listeners understand what they are saying.

#261 read 2017 January 21 04:51 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109162…

According to simulations, inhibitory neurons (stimuated by first activated neuron to suppress others in a group) useful for efficient “winner-take-all” dynamics

neuron, output neuron, inhibitory neuron, signal, circuit, model, converge neuron, researchers

Researchers have developed a new computational model of a neural circuit in the brain, which could shed light on the biological role of inhibitory neurons
The model describes a neural circuit consisting of an array of input neurons and an equivalent number of output neurons. The circuit performs what neuroscientists call a “winner-take-all” operation, in which signals from multiple input neurons induce a signal in just one output neuron.
the researchers prove that, within the context of their model, a certain configuration of inhibitory neurons provides the most efficient means of enacting a winner-take-all operation
Signals from the output neurons pass to the inhibitory neurons, whose output in turn passes back to the output neurons. The signaling of the output neurons also feeds back on itself, which proves essential to enacting the winner-take-all strategy.
in the brain, increasing the strength of the signal traveling over an input neuron only increases the chances that an output neuron will fire. The same is true of the nodes in the researchers’ model. Again, this modification is crucial to enacting the winner-take-all strategy.
with only one inhibitory neuron, it’s impossible, in the context of their model, to enact the winner-take-all strategy. But two inhibitory neurons are sufficient. The trick is that one of the inhibitory neurons – which the researchers call a convergence neuron – sends a strong inhibitory signal if more than one output neuron is firing. The other inhibitory neuron – the stability neuron – sends a much weaker signal as long as any output neurons are firing.
The convergence neuron drives the circuit to select a single output neuron, at which point it stops firing; the stability neuron prevents a second output neuron from becoming active once the convergence neuron has been turned off. The self-feedback circuits from the output neurons enhance this effect.
Without randomness, however, the circuit won’t converge to a single output neuron: Any setting of the inhibitory neurons’ weights will affect all the output neurons equally. “You need randomness to break the symmetry,”
Do real inhibitory neurons exhibit the same division between convergence neurons and stability neurons?

#260 read 2017 January 21 04:41 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170102143…

Babies should be challenged and engaged instead of letting them develop at their own pace – self-produced experiences (as opposided to passive ones) are especially important.

babies, develop, stimulated, neurons, challenged, brain, skills, must

Many new parents still think that babies should develop at their own pace, and that they shouldn’t be challenged to do things that they’re not yet ready for.
this mindset can be traced back to the early 1900s, when professionals were convinced that our genes determine who we are, and that child development occurred independently of the stimulation that a baby is exposed to.
neurons in the brains of young children quickly increase in both number and specialization as the baby learns new skills and becomes more mobile. Neurons in very young children form up to a thousand new connections per second.
Van der Meer’s research also shows that the development of our brain, sensory perception and motor skills happen in sync. She believes that even the smallest babies must be challenged and stimulated at their level from birth onward. They need to engage their entire body and senses by exploring their world and different materials, both indoors and out and in all types of weather.
the experiences must be self-produced; it is not enough for children merely to be carried or pushed in a stroller.
Babies actually manage to distinguish between the sounds of any language in the world when they are four months old, but by the time they are eight months old they have lost this ability

#259 read 2017 January 21 04:34 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150921133…

A coupling of slow oscillations (~0.75 Hz), spindles (12-16 Hz), and ripples (80-100Hz) occurs during relocation of short-term memories from hippocampus to cortex during NREM sleep stage.

oscillation, sos, spindles, hippocampus, hz, memory trace, happen, brain

Short-term memory traces in the hippocampus, an area deep in the brain, are then relocated to more outer parts of the brain. An international team of neuroscientists now shows how a three-step brain oscillation plays an important part in that process.
‘Non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep is responsible for the memory consolidation during our sleep’, Bonnefond explains. ‘NREM is known for its very slow oscillations (SOs). Other types of oscillations are hidden inside these SOs.
We discovered that three types of oscillations are nested inside each other in the hippocampus and have a joint function.’
Slow oscillations only happen about once per second (~0.75 Hz).
In a specific time frame within these SOs, Bergmann, Bonnefond and their colleagues found clusters of oscillations of an intermediate speed: the so called spindles which happen about 15 times per second (12 – 16 Hz). And within these spindles, they found clusters of superfast oscillations called ripples, which happen about 90 times per second (80 – 100 Hz), and which reflect the local reactivation of the memory trace to be shuttled to the cortex.
we see that SOs, spindles and ripples are functionally coupled in the hippocampus. And we hypothesize that they provide fine-tuned temporal frames for the transfer of memory traces to the neocortex

#258 read 2017 January 19 10:15 PM. Link: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4394608/

neurons, hippocampal, adult humans, et al, 700, 75, subpopulation, hieber

There is evidence for hippocampal neurogenesis in adult humans, although whether its extent is sufficient to have functional significance has been questioned
We found that a large subpopulation of hippocampal neurons, constituting one third of the neurons, is subject to exchange. In adult humans, 700 new neurons are added per day, corresponding to an annual turnover of 1.75% of the neurons within the renewing fraction, with a modest decline during aging.
New neurons integrate throughout life in the hippocampus and olfactory bulb of most mammals. The newborn neurons have enhanced synaptic plasticity for a limited time after their differentiation (Ge et al., 2007; Schmidt-Hieber et al., 2004), which is critical for their role in mediating pattern separation in memory formation and cognition in rodents

#257 read 2017 January 17 04:55 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170109124…

instinctive, prefrontal cortex, connection, brainstem, region, mice, behavior, found

The driver of our instincts is the brainstem – the region at the very base of your brain, just above the spinal chord. Scientists have known for some time that another brain region, the prefrontal cortex, plays a role in keeping those instincts in check
Gross and colleagues have literally found the connection between prefrontal cortex and brainstem.
went on to confirm that this physical connection was the brake that inhibits instinctive behavior. They found that in mice that have been repeatedly defeated by another mouse – the murine equivalent to being bullied – this connection weakens, and the mice act more scared. The scientists found that they could elicit those same fearful behaviors in mice that had never been bullied, simply by using drugs to block the connection between prefrontal cortex and brainstem
found that the connection from the prefrontal cortex is to a very specific region of the brainstem, called the PAG, which is responsible for the acting out of our instincts. However, it doesn’t affect the hypothalamus, the region that controls feelings and emotions
So the prefrontal cortex keeps behavior in check, but doesn’t affect the underlying instinctive feeling: it stops you from running off-stage, but doesn’t abate the butterflies in your stomach

#256 read 2017 January 16 01:32 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170111093…

cortisol, tactile, discriminated, placebo, touch, improved, sense, studies

investigated how the sense of touch of 30 study participants could be changed after a training phase. Half of them received a medium dose of the stress hormone cortisol, while the other half received a placebo drug.
Tactile performance was assessed using the so-called “two-point discrimination threshold.” This marker indicates how far apart two stimuli need to be, to be discriminated as two separate sensations – the closer they are, the better the sense of touch.
The placebo group improved their tactile acuity, as expected, by about 15 percent. In contrast, the cortisol given to the other group blocked almost all the stimulation-induced improvement.
In previous studies on a cellular level, neuroscientists have demonstrated that cortisol suppresses the strengthening of synaptic connections, and therefore the plasticity of the brain – its ability to learn.

#255 read 2017 January 13 01:07 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170112141…

hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, medial entorhinal, replay, recall, cells, animal, memory formation

Until now, the entorhinal cortex has been considered subservient to the hippocampus in both memory formation and recall. But we show that the medial entorhinal cortex can replay the firing pattern associated with moving in a maze independent of the hippocampus
The entorhinal cortex could be a new system for memory formation that works in parallel to the hippocampus
When a spatial memory is formed, cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC), especially grid cells, act like a navigational system. They provide the hippocampus with information on where an animal is and give cues as to how far and in what direction the animal has moved
During both sleep and waking periods, the sMEC triggers its own replay and initiates recall and consolidation independent of the hippocampus

#254 read 2017 January 10 05:01 AM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2117458-why-mums-a…

Perhaps due to brain hemisphere specialization, mammal infants like to position themselves on the left of their mothers, so as to better keep track of her. However, if a threat emerges, the positions reverse so the mother can better keep track of child.

mother, left, infant, mammal, babies, situations, prefer, keep

it seems many mammal babies prefer to approach their mother from one side too – and the explanation may lie in the contrasting talents of each half of the brain
Some researchers think this explains why human and ape mothers tend to cradle their babies on the left: it is so they can better monitor their facial expressions with their left eye.
Infants of all species were more likely to position themselves so that their mother was on their left. This happened about three-quarters of the time.
found that mammal infants who keep their mother on their left are better able to keep track of her and hence increase their chance of survival
However, if a threat emerges, the roles often reverse, Ingram says. “Infants keep their mother on their left in normal situations such as moving forward or suckling,” she says. “But when faced with stressful situations such as when fleeing, mothers prefer their infant on their left side so they can better monitor them.”

#253 read 2017 January 07 04:25 AM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/mg23331074-300-fal…

asked, word, less, memorise list, rested, slept, sleep deprived, recall

False memory was discovered in an experiment that asked volunteers to memorise lists of related words and then recall them. When they learned “bed”, “drowsy” and “dream”, about half later also remembered the word “sleep”.
well-rested brains normally use “associative memory” to link related concepts together. “There’s a lot of evidence that the brain cares less about individual data and more about the gist of it or what it means,”
They asked 44 people to memorise lists of words when they were well rested, had slept for only four hours on each of the previous four nights, or hadn’t slept at all for the past 30 hours.
Unsurprisingly, when they were immediately asked to recall these words, the volunteers did less well when partially or completely sleep-deprived. But when shown a new list and asked which ones had been on the original list, sleep-deprived people were less likely to misremember
This shows that not only were they less able to learn individual items, they were also less able to extract their meaning.

#252 read 2017 January 07 03:35 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170106150…

brain, eye, move, neuron, visual, visual motion, command, second

“Every time you move your eye, the whole world moves on your retina,” says Gaby Maimon, head of the Laboratory of Integrative Brain Function. “But you don’t perceive an earthquake happening several times a second.”
the brain can tell if visual motion is self-generated, canceling out information that would otherwise make us feel – and act – as if the world was whirling around us.
Each time you shift your gaze (and you do so several times a second), the brain sends a command to the eyes to move. But a copy of that command is issued internally to the brain’s own visual system, as well.
the common fruit fly performs the same kinds of rapid eye movements. The mere 100,000 neurons in its poppy-seed sized brain must therefore handle the same problems of prediction and perception
During intentional turns, each neuron received a signal that was carefully calibrated to suppress sensitivity to visual motion along the yaw axis alone

#251 read 2017 January 07 03:29 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170106163…

personality, model, evaluating, trait, job, performance, seen, connelly

A new model for identifying personality traits may help organizations save money by improving the hiring process and with evaluating employee performance.
The model, developed by Brian Connelly, an associate professor in U of T Scarborough’s Department of Management, is called Trait-Reputation-Identity (TRI). The model is unique in that it contrasts personality as seen by an individual versus how their personality is seen by others.
The current system for evaluating job applications, which relies heavily on reference checks, is not an effective means of predicting job performance

#250 read 2016 December 27 03:21 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/eye-contact-…

eye contact, mental, eye, resources, someone, averting, disengaging, deducing

eye contact is one of the most important forms of nonverbal communication
Human eyes, with their large unpigmented areas, turn out to be great for deducing where someone is looking. This likely makes it all the easier to track someone’s attention
A recent experiment conducted in Japan suggests that eye contact draws on the same mental resources used for complex tasks, so trying to maintain eye contact can impede your reasoning. In this case, the break in eye contact comes not from emotion, but from the need to preserve cognitive resources. Eye contact can deplete your mental bandwidth.
Eye contact is something we prefer from birth, but it is not advantageous in every situation. Back in 1998, researchers theorized that averting the gaze from surroundings aids thinking by disengaging from potential distractions around us.

#249 read 2016 December 26 09:25 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161221125…

Neurons in brain store gene copies to increase protein production rate to react to stimuli faster – allowing them to adapt faster during learning

neurons, brain, accelerates, stimuli, adapt, react, rna, dramatically

Neurons in the brain store RNA molecules – DNA gene copies – in order to rapidly react to stimuli. This storage dramatically accelerates the production of proteins. This is one of the reasons why neurons in the brain can adapt quickly during learning processes.

#248 read 2016 December 26 09:21 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161219133…

motivated, express disgust, moral, express, person, act, disgust, anger

A decision to express disgust or anger depends on the motives a person seeks to communicate
a person who expresses disgust is judged to be motivated more by impartial, moral, concerns while a person who expresses anger towards the same immoral act is more likely to be motivated by self-interest.
participants themselves were more likely to choose to express disgust when their goal was to show that their condemnation of an act was morally motivated, while they chose to express anger when they sought to protest that the act harmed their own interests.
The findings suggest that disgust is not just an expression of an inner feeling, like nausea or contamination, but a signal that advertises a moral position.

#247 read 2016 December 21 06:30 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161221090…

word, brain, studies, grasp, process, comprehension, cognitive, object

In an experiment, cognitive psychologists have shown how word comprehension can be sped up – namely by having study participants grasp objects while reading at the same time
Latest theories in cognitive science research hypothesize that our memory also records physical sensations as part of the words stored
When the study participants had to grasp an object while reading, their brain processed parts of the meaning of the words earlier than in previous studies in which words were evaluated without something being gripped
As demonstrated in previous studies, it takes the brain a third of a second to process a word. “In our study, however, we were able to show that comprehension can already begin much earlier, after just a tenth of a second – if a grasping action is required,”
This study not only provides evidence that the brain has a common control center for language and movement, but “it also shows that our brain’s processing steps shift very quickly and adjust to current tasks

#246 read 2016 December 11 05:54 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161207133…

beta amyloid, stimulating, researchers, brain, 40, hertz, plaques, alzheimer

Using LED lights flickering at a specific frequency, researchers have shown that they can significantly reduce the beta amyloid plaques seen in Alzheimer’s disease in the visual cortex of mice. This treatment appears to work by stimulating brain waves known as gamma oscillations, which the researchers discovered help the brain suppress beta amyloid production and invigorate cells responsible for destroying the plaques.
It’s a big ‘if,’ because so many things have been shown to work in mice, only to fail in humans
Previous studies have hinted that Alzheimer’s patients also have impaired gamma oscillations. These brain waves, which range from 25 to 80 hertz (cycles per second), are believed to contribute to normal brain functions such as attention, perception, and memory.
After an hour of stimulation at 40 hertz, the researchers found a 40 to 50 percent reduction in the levels of beta amyloid proteins in the hippocampus
after gamma stimulation, the process for beta amyloid generation is less active

#245 read 2016 December 11 05:32 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161206111…

Children (with low to moderate reading skills) learn to read more effectively when read to by adult rather than eBook with voiceover.

ebook, learn, caregivers, voiceover, olds, relying, vocabulary, highlight

Four-year-olds with average and lower vocabulary skills learn more effectively with an adult reading an eBook to them versus relying solely on the eBook’s voiceover, research shows.
the results highlight that young children are best supported in their learning when they are in interaction with others, especially parents or other caregivers

#244 read 2016 December 11 05:16 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161206111…

hippocampus, scene, constructing, observe, future imaging, compared, activity, role

Researchers have determined the role of the hippocampus in future imaging lies in the process of constructing a scene in one’s mind.
We observed no differences in hippocampal activity when we compared present versus future imaging, but we did observe stronger activity in the hippocampus when participants imagined a scene compared to when they did not, suggesting a role for the hippocampus in scene construction but not mental time travel

#243 read 2016 December 06 04:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161130131…

bad, students, gpas, moods, negative moods, occasional, feeling, experienced

the occasional bout of bad feelings can actually improve students’ academic success
students who were mostly happy during their four years of university but who also experienced occasional negative moods had the highest GPAs at the time of graduation
students who experienced high levels of negative moods and low levels of positive moods often ended up with the lowest GPAs
We often think that feeling bad is bad for us. But if you’re generally a happy person, negative emotions can be motivating. They can signal to you that there is a challenge that you need to face.

#242 read 2016 December 06 04:00 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161206110…

consolidated, memories, brain, stimuli, experience, slugs, inhibits, awakening

During consolidation, the brain produces new proteins that strengthen fragile memory traces. However, if a new experience occurs while an existing memory trace is being consolidated, the new stimuli could disrupt the consolidation process
How does the brain prevent events that occur just after awakening from interrupting the consolidation process?
The brain partially solves this problem by postponing some of the memory consolidation to a period in which new experiences are minimalized, that is, while we are asleep.
exposing sea slugs to new stimuli immediately after they wake up does not trigger the formation of new memories
On awakening, interactions between new experiences and consolidation are prevented because the brain blocks long-term memory arising from the new stimuli. However, when the researchers treated the slugs just prior to the training with a drug that inhibits protein production, they found that the new stimuli could generate long-term memory.
The major insight from this research is that there is an active process in the brain which inhibits the ability to learn new things and protects the consolidation of memories.

#241 read 2016 December 06 12:35 PM. Link: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181780/

night, depressed, mood, sd, sleep, patients, improved, despite

Despite the fact that mood and cognitive functions are lowered by prolonged sleep loss and despite convincing data that insomnia is a strong risk factor for subsequent depression,1 acute SD for one night or even partial SD in the second half of the night improves mood in about 60% of depressed patients the day after.
The main limitation is the transient nature of the effect, since the majority - but not all - of the improved patients experience a relapse after the next night of sleep.

#240 read 2016 December 05 12:52 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2115093-sherlock-h…

When describing the same scenes (or when having it described to you), brain activity patterns across people are similar

brain, activity, implant, patterns, describe, tells, exactly, scene

When people describe the episode, their brain activity patterns are almost exactly the same as each other’s, for each scene. And there’s also evidence that, when a person tells someone else about it, they implant that same activity into their brain as well.

#239 read 2016 November 27 06:39 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160921091…

Emotions like fear and anger can be extracted with fMRI scans.

scanning, emotional, studies, 21, decoded, questionnaire, wander, mri

Earlier studies have shown that functional MRI can identify whether a person is thinking about a face or a house. Our study is the first to show that specific emotions like fear and anger can be decoded from these scans as well.
scanning 21 subjects who were not offered stimuli, but were encouraged to let their minds wander. Every thirty seconds, they responded to a questionnaire about their current emotional state

#238 read 2016 November 27 06:20 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-words-…

meaning, words, related, respond, brain, location, studies, areas

Previous studies have revealed several brain regions, collectively called the semantic system, that process meaning. Yet such studies have typically focused on specific distinctions, such as abstract versus concrete words, or found discrete areas responsive to groups of related words, such as tools or food
generated a comprehensive “atlas” of where different meanings are represented in the human brain
Every meaning appears in multiple locations, and every location contains a cluster of related meanings. Some areas selectively respond to words related to people, for instance, whereas others respond to places or numbers
The maps were remarkably similar from one participant to the next, though not identical

#237 read 2016 November 22 02:09 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161115145…

Sleep spindle oscillations, associated with memory consolidation, move around each side of the brain in Princess Leia waves – resembling twin hair buns.

brain, sleep spindle, wave, peaked, sleep, pattern, memory, around

Every night while you sleep, electrical waves of brain activity circle around each side of your brain, tracing a pattern that, were it on the surface of your head, might look like the twin hair buns of Star Wars’ Princess Leia.
The scale and speed of Princess Leia waves in the cortex is unprecedented, a discovery that advances the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative
Sleep spindles – a type of brain wave pattern known to occur in the earliest stages of non-REM sleep – are associated with memory consolidation. Previous studies showed that the more sleep spindles a human brain exhibits overnight, the more numbers one would remember the next day
Scientists had long believed that each sleep spindle oscillation peaked at the same time everywhere in the neocortex of the brain
the sleep spindles weren’t peaking simultaneously everywhere in the cortex. Instead, the oscillations were sweeping in circular patterns around and around the neocortex, peaking in one area, and then – a few milliseconds later – an adjacent area
The time scale that these waves travel at is the same speed it takes for neurons to communicate with each other.
As a memory is being consolidated, Muller and Sejnowski hypothesize, circular sleep spindle waves help form the links between these different aspects of a single memory.

#236 read 2016 November 19 07:41 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2112921-electric-f…

stimulated, 10, hertz, frequencies, head, field, tissue, brain

Such “deep brain stimulation” (DBS) works miracles on people with otherwise untreatable epilepsy or Parkinson’s disease – but drilling into someone’s head is an extreme step. In future, we may be able to get the same effects by using stimulators placed outside the head
The technique, unveiled at the Society for Neuroscience conference in San Diego, California, this week, places two electrical fields of different frequencies outside the head. The brain tissue where the fields overlap is stimulated, while the tissue under just one field is unaffected because the frequencies are too high
one field at 10,000 hertz and another at 10,010 hertz. The affected nerve cells are stimulated at 10 hertz – the difference between the two frequencies

#235 read 2016 November 19 02:52 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161117104…

response, music, music anhedonia, pleasurable, pleasant, subcortical, accumbens, anhedonic

A new study explains the brain mechanisms associated with the lack of sensitivity to music
about 3-5% of the healthy population does not experience pleasurable feelings in response to any type of music. This condition is known by the specific name of musical anhedonia
Anhedonic people do not have problems correctly perceiving and processing the information contained in a melody (such as intervals or rhythms) and present a normal pleasure response to other pleasant stimuli
the decrease of pleasant response to music shown by participants with musical anhedonia is related to a reduction in the activity of the nucleus accumbens, a key subcortical structure of the reward system

#234 read 2016 November 14 08:53 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161018194…

preschoolers, adults, speech, aloud, listener, errors, differences, heads

One of the differences between adults and preschoolers when it comes to private speech is that adults typically talk to themselves in their heads, while preschoolers talk to themselves aloud, particularly while playing or working on a task
A recent study found that children do, in fact, monitor their speech for errors, even without a listener

#233 read 2016 November 14 12:51 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-11-motion-genes-human-genome…

elements, transposons, sine, genome, population, oscillate, interspersed nuclear, line

dynamic elements within the human genome interact with each other in a way that strongly resembles the patterns seen in populations of predators and prey
transposons, small regions of DNA that can move themselves from one part of the genome to another during the lifetime of a cell
When they move around, they may create mutations in or alter the activity of a functional gene; transposons can therefore create new genetic profiles in a population for natural selection to act on, in either a positive or negative way.
two types of transposons, long interspersed nuclear elements (LINEs) and short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs), have a competitive relationship with one another. In order to replicate, SINEs steal the molecular machinery that LINEs use to copy themselves
predicted that populations of LINE and SINE elements in the genome are expected to oscillate the way those of, for example, wolves and rabbits might
these oscillations occur over a timescale that is longer than the human lifespan—waves of Alu elements and L1 elements pushing and pulling at each other in slow motion across generations of the human genomes that carry them

#232 read 2016 November 14 12:40 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-11-mathematical-algorithms-s…

agents, group, herd, animal, behavior, direction, individual, social

Mathematical algorithms calculate social behavior
Analogous to the force of attraction between molecules in a gas, we can describe generalized behavioral patterns as resulting from interacting social forces between individual agents
the researchers assigned two groups of 40 students each the task of finding a specific location in a building. The scientists planted two incognito informed agents into one of the groups. By merely moving very determinedly in a predefined direction, the agents were able to steer the group toward the target spot
two to three agents per 100 individuals are sufficient
To drive a herd of sheep in a desired direction, a good herding dog will always concentrate on the animal that is the farthest removed from the group. They achieve their goal by reining in the most stubborn animal.

#231 read 2016 November 12 01:27 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161110085…

memories, protein synthesis, prelimbic, cortex, sub region, inhibited, prefrontal cortex, rodents

For the first time, scientists have identified a sub-region in the brain that works to form a particular kind of memory: fear-associated with a specific environmental cue or “contextual fear memory.”
the study showed new protein synthesis in a specific sub-region of the prefrontal cortex known in rodents as the prelimbic. In humans, this area corresponds to the anterior cortex
when they closely examined the effects on the brain of conditioning rodents with a mild foot shock, the scientists found several messenger RNAs recruited to polyribosomes in the medial prefrontal cortex – a clear indication of new protein synthesis there
if they inhibited new protein synthesis in the prelimbic region right after fear conditioning took place, those memories did not form. But if the researchers waited just a few hours, inhibiting protein synthesis in prelimbic cortex had no impact and the memories took hold
It may be that the first wave of protein synthesis is critical for encoding contextual fear memory, while second wave in other sub-regions is important for memory storage

#230 read 2016 November 11 09:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161110120…

There is a machine-learning system which formulates search queries and gathers evidence on a question until it reaches a high level of confidence.

extract, confidence score, system, data, text, pull, classification, web

Artificial-intelligence system surfs web to improve its performance
A machine-learning system will generally assign each of its classifications a confidence score, which is a measure of the statistical likelihood that the classification is correct, given the patterns discerned in the training data. With the researchers’ new system, if the confidence score is too low, the system automatically generates a web search query designed to pull up texts likely to contain the data it’s trying to extract.
It then attempts to extract the relevant data from one of the new texts and reconciles the results with those of its initial extraction. If the confidence score remains too low, it moves on to the next text pulled up by the search string, and so on.

#229 read 2016 November 10 01:18 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/electrons-cooled-almost-to…

electrons, studied, trickle, hourglass, grains, cooled, revealing, individually

electrons cooled close to absolute zero slow down so much that they can be studied individually
At those temperatures, electric current stops flowing. Instead, electrons trickle through a conductor like grains of sand in an hourglass, finally revealing their quantum state and allowing us to study them one at a time.

#228 read 2016 November 08 05:18 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161102075…

reprimand, retaliation, norm, norm violation, fear, social, reluctant, enforce

Fear of retaliation: Why we tend not to enforce social norms
The more severe the norm violation, the more reluctant people will be to reprimand the person who committed it. Their fear of retaliation is too great.
Up to a certain point, we reprimand each other for bad behavior. But in cases of more extreme norm violations, social self-regulation no longer works and we need authorities, police and security personnel.

#227 read 2016 November 06 10:23 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161104190…

brainstem, coma, region, arousal, cortex, anterior, awareness, coma specific

For the first time, we have found a connection between the brainstem region involved in arousal and regions involved in awareness, two prerequisites for consciousness
The researchers analyzed 36 patients with brainstem lesions, of which 12 led to coma and 24 did not. Mapping the injuries revealed that a small “coma-specific” area of the brainstem – the rostral dorsolateral pontine tegmentum – was significantly associated with coma
Their analysis revealed two areas in the cortex of the brain that were significantly connected to the coma-specific region of the brainstem. One sat in the left, ventral, anterior insula (AI), the other in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC). Both regions have been implicated previously in arousal and awareness.

#226 read 2016 November 04 04:27 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161101103…

self esteem, death, subconscious, immortality, sack, buffer, boost, protective

A study’s participants who were asked to think about their own death before taking to the basketball court scored more points than those in a control group
the improved performance is the result of a subconscious effort to boost self-esteem, which is a protective buffer against fear of death, according to psychology’s terror management theory.
Self-esteem gives you a feeling that you’re part of something bigger, that you have a chance for immortality, that you have meaning, that you’re not just a sack of meat

#225 read 2016 October 31 04:24 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161014214…

placebo, percent, relationship, 30, 29, empathic, knowingly, carvalho

Patients who knowingly took placebos reported 30 percent less pain and 29 percent reduction in disability compared to control group
“Taking placebo pills to relieve symptoms without a warm and empathic relationship with a health-care provider relationship probably would not work,” noted Carvalho

#224 read 2016 October 19 02:02 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/consciousness-could-be-a-r…

Can consciousness be a side effect of self-criticality? (skeptical)

consciousness, brain, maximising, entropy, arises, naturally, moving, effect

what if consciousness arises naturally as a result of our brains maximising their information content? In other words, what if consciousness is a side effect of our brain moving towards a state of entropy?

#223 read 2016 October 08 04:22 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-show-how-the-br…

dials, variables, synapse, memories, fast, model, 2005, fusi

figured out a model that could explain how we’re able to make new memories while keeping old ones intact
This system used to be characterised as being like a series of dials, which could be turned up or down to determine the signal strength of the synapse
Another model published in 2005 suggested that each synapse could hold several of these dials
Now, Fusi and his fellow researchers are proposing that these dials are not only operating at different times – but they’re also constantly communicating with each other too
initially store memories in fast variables and then progressively transfer them to slower variables. Notably, the interactions between fast and slow variables are bidirectional

#222 read 2016 October 07 01:55 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160909111…

The hippocampal CA3 region, critical for learning and memory, retrieves memories using pattern completion, enabled by a sparse (1%), small-world type architecture.

network, connection, ca3, pattern completion, cell, synaptic connection, ca3 region, hippocampal ca3

The hippocampal CA3 region plays a key role in learning and memory. One of the most remarkable properties of the network is its ability to retrieve previously stored memories from incomplete or degraded versions, a phenomenon that is widely known as pattern completion.
It is generally accepted that the synapses between CA3 pyramidal cells, the recurrent CA3-CA3 synapses, play a key role in pattern completion, but how this exactly works has remained enigmatic.
Previous theories of the hippocampal formation often depicted the CA3 region as a network of highly interconnected cells.
they found that connectivity was sparse, with an average connection probability of approximately 1%
Even more surprisingly, they discovered that connectivity in the network is not random, but exhibits connectivity motifs that occur much more frequently than expected for a random network. Thus, the structure of the hippocampal CA3 network may be somewhat reminiscent of a “small world” architecture as found in social networks.
synaptic connections between two cells are mediated by only one or two synaptic contacts. This is also remarkable because much higher numbers have been found for excitatory synaptic connections in the neocortex
the design of synaptic connections based on one or two synaptic contacts also seems useful for pattern completion, apparently because it minimizes redundancy in the flow of information in the network. Thus, both macro- (e.g. motifs) and microconnectivity (e.g. properties of connection) facilitate pattern completion in the CA3 cell network.

#221 read 2016 October 07 01:53 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160912101…

fosters, motivations, efficiently, collaborative, maintaining, essential, behaviour, psychology

Maintaining a positive social image is an essential feature of human psychology, as it fosters collaborative group behaviour more efficiently than other motivations

#220 read 2016 October 05 12:24 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161004125…

Dopamine production connected to frequency of spontaneous eye blinking

dopamine, reduction, blinking, disrupts, spontaneous, cannabis, chronic, indication

cannabis disrupts the activity of dopamine in the brain. With chronic users a significant reduction was seen in the frequency of spontaneous eye blinking, an indication of a reduction in dopamine production

#219 read 2016 October 02 05:47 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160929140…

spine, neurons, synapses, memories, tiny, connections, changes, little

Our brains hold on to memories via physical changes in synapses, the tiny connections between neurons. Unexpected molecular mechanisms by which these changes take place have now been revealed
As we acquire a new memory, the connections, or synapses, between certain sets of neurons strengthen. In particular, the receiving end of a pair of these neurons – consisting of a little nub called a spine – gets a little larger.
The group also was able to add a tiny amount of signaling chemical, glutamate, at the single spine in order to mimic what happens during learning. This caused the spines to grow.

#218 read 2016 October 01 04:52 AM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-09-algorithm-enable-visible-…

Light and matter interact most in part of spectrum our eyes are sensitive to

interact, sensitive, spectrum, narrow, eyes, matter, light, reason

The reason our eyes are sensitive only in this narrow part of the spectrum is because this is where light and matter interact most

#217 read 2016 September 23 10:52 PM. Link: theconversation.com/is-your-nervous-system-a-de…

neuronal, dictator, trigger, behavior, act, oligarchy, movements, democracy

For some behaviors, a single nerve cell does act as a dictator, triggering an entire set of movements via the electrical signals it uses to send messages.
But these dictator cells aren’t the whole story. Crayfish can trigger a tail-flip another way too – via another small set of neurons that effectively act as an oligarchy.
For many other behaviors, however, nervous systems make decisions through something like Sherrington’s “million-fold democracy.”
Unlike countries, however, nervous systems can implement multiple forms of government simultaneously. A neuronal dictatorship can coexist with an oligarchy or democracy. The dictator, acting fastest, may trigger the onset of a behavior while other neurons fine-tune the ensuing movements.

#216 read 2016 September 23 10:34 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160725192…

waves, excitatory synaptic, synaptic stimulation, beta waves, beta, brain, activity, model

Beta rhythms, or waves of brain activity with an approximately 20 Hz frequency, accompany vital fundamental behaviors such as attention, sensation and motion and are associated with some disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
Scientists have debated how the spontaneous waves emerge, and they have not yet determined whether the waves are just a byproduct of activity, or play a causal role in brain functions.
They found that they could closely replicate the shape of the beta waves in the model by delivering two kinds of excitatory synaptic stimulation to distinct layers in the cortical columns of cells
Neither the computer models nor the measurements traced the source of the excitatory synaptic stimulations that drive the pyramidal neurons to produce the beta waves, but Jones and her co-authors posit that they likely come from the thalamus

#215 read 2016 September 23 10:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160726123…

cyclists, mental fatigue, performance, computerised, induce, slowed, endurance, resist

research shows for the first time that elite endurance athletes have superior ability to resist mental fatigue
while the recreational cyclists slowed down after performing a computerised cognitive task to induce mental fatigue, the professional cyclists’ time trial performance was not affected

#214 read 2016 September 23 10:28 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160803161…

memories, protein, brain, levels, volume, nptx2, atrophy, alzheimer

Researchers have identified a protein essential for building memories that appears to predict the progression of memory loss and brain atrophy in Alzheimer’s patients. Their findings suggest there is a link between brain activity and the presence of this protein.
a correlation between higher levels of NPTX2 and better memory and more brain volume. Lower levels of the protein were associated with diminished memory and less volume.

#213 read 2016 September 23 09:55 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160804135…

cookie, percent, piqued, tempting, dipped, curiosity, stairs, elevator

piquing people’s curiosity can influence their choices by steering them away from tempting desires, like unhealthy foods or taking the elevator, and toward less tempting, but healthier options, such as buying more fresh produce or taking the stairs
In the first experiment, the researchers approached 200 people in a university library and gave them a choice between two fortune cookies, one plain and one dipped in chocolate and covered in sprinkles
Participants whose curiosity was piqued (i.e., were told the plain cookie contained a fortune specifically about them) overwhelmingly chose the plain cookie by 71 percent. In contrast, when participants were told nothing, 80 percent chose the chocolate-dipped cookie.
researchers were able to increase the use of the stairs in a university building nearly 10 percent by posting trivia questions near the elevators and promising the answers in the stairwell.
The strategies employed in these experiments and field studies are similar to those used by websites that attempt to increase traffic with sensationalized headlines

#212 read 2016 September 23 09:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160815185…

adrenal medulla, cerebral cortex, cortical areas, response, areas, stressful, cognition, originates

identified the neural networks that connect the cerebral cortex to the adrenal medulla, which is responsible for the body’s rapid response in stressful situations.
the control of the adrenal medulla originates from multiple cortical areas. According to the new findings, the biggest influences arise from motor areas of the cerebral cortex and from other cortical areas involved in cognition and affect

#211 read 2016 September 19 05:17 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160918180…

pictures, told, half, behavioural, unpleasant, neural, pleasant, implies

A pilot study from a group of Dutch scientists implies that being told that an image is an artwork automatically changes our response, both on a neural and behavioural level.
Half of the pictures were pleasant and the other half unpleasant. They were either told that the pictures were works of art or photographs of real events
The results of this modified experiment indicate that the effect of context is more complex than it might seem.

#210 read 2016 September 16 02:25 AM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2105986-what-you-e…

bacterial, glucose, mice, infected, fever, cold, adage, benefitted

giving mice with flu glucose saved their lives, but it killed those that were infected with bacteria
when mice were in bacterial defence mode, they benefitted from a lack of sugar
The findings may help explain the ancient adage that it’s best to feed a cold, but starve a fever. Colds are usually caused by viruses, while fevers would traditionally have been more likely to be down to a bacterial infection. Most diets were historically heavy on carbohydrates, which release glucose in our bodies

#209 read 2016 September 09 02:03 AM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-09-physicists-laser.html

laser, intense, optical, beam, strongly, ring, self focus, energy

Powerful laser beams, given the right conditions, will act as their own lenses and “self-focus” into a tighter, even more intense beam. University of Maryland physicists have discovered that these self-focused laser pulses also generate violent swirls of optical energy that strongly resemble smoke rings. In these donut-shaped light structures, known as “spatiotemporal optical vortices,” the light energy flows through the inside of the ring and then loops back around the outside.
The team strongly suspects that STOVs could explain decades’ worth of anomalous results and unexplained effects in the field of high-intensity laser research

#208 read 2016 September 08 02:00 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160902111…

Loading the mind with more knowledge (like languages) increases elasticity and learning capability.

learn, boosts, elasticity, reacts, accumulated, loading, effectively, processes

The more foreign languages we learn, the more effectively our brain reacts and processes the data accumulated in the course of learning.
loading the mind with more knowledge boosts its elasticity

#207 read 2016 August 20 12:53 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160728143…

memories, sleep, brain, spindles, alternates, sleep spindles, stored, waves

For years, researchers have recorded electrical brain activity that oscillates or alternates during sleep; they present as waves on an electroencephalogram (EEG). These waves are called sleep spindles, and scientists have suspected their involvement in cataloging and storing memories as we sleep
They could’ve been merely byproducts of other brain processes that enabled what we learn to be stored as a memory. But our study shows that, indeed, the spindles are crucial for the process of creating memories we need for every-day life. And we can target them to enhance memory
During sleep one of the nights, each person received tACS – an alternating current of weak electricity synchronized with the brain’s natural sleep spindles
Frohlich’s team found no improvement in test scores for associative word-pairing but a significant improvement in the motor tasks when comparing the results between the stimulation and placebo night

#206 read 2016 August 20 12:45 AM. Link: spectrumnews.org/opinion/viewpoint/timing-key-u…

autism, auditory, window, longer, visual information, poorer, simultaneous, integrate

People with autism tend to integrate auditory and visual information over longer windows of time than most of us do
children with autism called out sights and sounds as simultaneous even when they were separated by long intervals of time
the longer the binding window is in people with autism, the poorer they perform on tasks that require them to connect auditory and visual information

#205 read 2016 August 09 08:49 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160804152…

appearance, tetherball, exaggerating, plateau, mistakes, noise, participants, skills

Exaggerating the visual appearance of mistakes could help people further improve their motor skills after an initial performance peak
healthy participants learned a virtual tetherball-like game in which they tried to hit a target with a ball hanging from a pole. After three days, all players reached a performance plateau. Then, for some players, the researchers secretly manipulated the game so that the distance by which the ball missed the target appeared bigger on screen than it actually was
Participants whose mistakes appeared at least twice as bad as they really were broke past their plateau and continued sharpening their tetherball skills. A control group that remained undeceived showed negligible improvement
error exaggeration did not change how they made corrections in their throwing techniques. Instead, it reduced random fluctuations, or noise, in nervous system signals that control muscle movement. These findings challenge existing assumptions that such noise cannot be reduced

#204 read 2016 August 09 08:45 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160804172…

slow motion, participants, regular speed, saw, action, video, juries, perceive

viewing an action in slow motion compared to regular speed can cause viewers to perceive an action as more intentional.
This is because slow motion gives the false impression that the actor had more time to think before acting
One analysis showed that nearly four times as many juries would unanimously vote for a first-degree murder verdict if made up of participants who saw the video in slow motion rather than of participants who saw the video at regular speed

#203 read 2016 August 05 06:50 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160803124…

neuronal, mice, rats, memories, forget, exercise cause, cause, earlier

exercise causes more new neurons to be formed in a critical brain region, and contrary to an earlier study, these new neurons do not cause the individual to forget old memories
it was a surprise in 2014 when a research study, published in the journal Science, found that exercise caused mice to forget what they’d already learned
Shetty and his team decided to replicate this earlier research, using rats instead of mice. Rats are thought to be more like humans physiologically, with more-similar neuronal workings. They found that – luckily for runners everywhere – these animal models showed no such degradation in memories.

#202 read 2016 August 04 04:30 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-just-seen-…

birds, sleep, hemisphere, expect, scientists, remained airborne, flight, minutes

Scientists have been able to observe birds falling asleep mid-flight for the first time - an ability that’s long been suspected but never been proven
birds can shut down one hemisphere at a time during flight, as expected
they can also rest both hemispheres at once - something scientists didn’t expect them to be able to do while remaining airborne
as the sun set, the birds switched into slow wave sleep for several minutes at a time while they continued to fly over the water
the birds even went into brief periods of REM sleep while they remained airborne
frigatebirds slept less than an hour a day, or 42 minutes on average, to be precise - less than 10 percent of the time they normally spend sleeping on land

#201 read 2016 August 04 01:41 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160803140…

sleep, circadian clock, something, homeostat, sleep homeostat, system, anew, anticipate

Sleep is governed by two systems – the circadian clock and the sleep homeostat. While the circadian clock is quite well understood, very little is known about the sleep homeostat
The circadian clock allows us to anticipate predictable changes in our environment that are caused by the Earth’s rotation. As such, it makes sure we do our sleeping when it hurts us least, but it doesn’t speak to the mystery of why we need to sleep in the first place
The homeostat measures something – and we don’t know what that something is – that happens in our brains while we are awake, and when that something hits a certain ceiling, we go to sleep. The system is reset during sleep, and the cycle begins anew when we wake up.

#200 read 2016 July 24 06:32 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brai…

neurons, memories, excitability, engram, brain, mice, memories trace, brain cells

When two events happen in short succession, they feel somehow linked to each other. It turns out that apparent link has a physical manifestation in our brains
In your brain, and in the brains of lab mice, recollections are physically represented as collections of neurons with strengthened connections to one another. These clusters of connected cells are known as engrams, or memory traces.
more excitable neurons—that is, brain cells that activate easily—are more likely to be recruited into an engram, so if you increase the excitability of particular neurons, you can preferentially include them in a new engram.
Neurons in a newly formed memory trace are subsequently more excitable than neighboring brain cells for a transient period of time. It follows then that a memory formed soon after the first might be encoded in an overlapping population of neurons
Mice should normally form separate memories when events happen 24 hours apart, but when the researchers re-excited the neurons in the first memory engram while the second memory was forming, they could artificially link those experiences
Decreasing the excitability of the neurons in the first memory during the second event seemed to prevent the second memory from forming.

#199 read 2016 July 05 11:02 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/zapping-the-brain-s-visual…

vision, 20, brain, improve, normal, current, zapping, transcranial

applying an electrical current to the brain can improve people’s vision temporarily, and the worse your eyesight is, the more powerful the boosting effect
zapping the visual cortex of the brain for 20 minutes via transcranial direct-current stimulation offered improvements in vision lasting up to 2 hours
tested this hypothesis on 20 young, healthy people who had normal or near-normal vision. The group was asked to evaluate the position of two identical vertical lines, and assess whether they were perfectly aligned or slightly offset from one another.

#198 read 2016 July 03 08:35 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-derived_neurotrophi…

Expression of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein, which supports growth and differentiation of neurons and synapses and is especially active in areas of the brain vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking, is enhanced by environmental enrichment, leading to improved performance on learning and memory tasks.

bdnf, neurons, enhance, environmental enrichment, brain, neurotrophic factor, factor, growth factor

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, also known as BDNF, is a protein[1] that, in humans, is encoded by the BDNF gene.[2][3] BDNF is a member of the neurotrophin family of growth factors, which are related to the canonical Nerve Growth Factor. Neurotrophic factors are found in the brain and the periphery.
BDNF acts on certain neurons of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system, helping to support the survival of existing neurons, and encourage the growth and differentiation of new neurons and synapses.[4][5] In the brain, it is active in the hippocampus, cortex, and basal forebrain—areas vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking
BDNF expression is significantly enhanced by environmental enrichment and appears to be the primary source of environmental enrichments ability to enhance cognitive processes. Environmental enrichment enhances synaptogenesis, dendridogenesis, and neurogenesis, leading to improved performance on various learning and memory tasks.

#197 read 2016 July 02 07:16 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2012-02-classical-musical-composi…

describe, equation, piece, beta, music, levitin, predictable, analyzing

A team of researchers, led by Daniel Levitin of McGill University, has found after analyzing over two thousand pieces of classical music that span four hundred years of history, that virtually all of them follow a one-over-f (1/f) power distribution equation
One-over-f equations describe the relative frequency of things that happen over time and can be used to describe such naturally occurring events as annual river flooding or the beating of a human heart. They have been used to describe the way pitch is used in music as well, but until now, no one has thought to test the idea that they could be used to describe the rhythm of the music too.
by adding another variable to the equation, called a beta, which was used to describe just how predictable a given piece was compared to other pieces, they could solve for beta and find a unique number of for each composer.

#196 read 2016 July 02 07:14 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/dn28728-memory-rec…

cue, brain, cells, memory, jangly, doorbell, hippocampus, recollection

Memory recollection usually starts with a cue – a few notes of a jangly doorbell, say, might remind you of a song. Information about the cue is transmitted from your eyes and ears to your brain’s hippocampus, where a set of cells recognise it. These cells then trigger a pattern of activity in the front of the brain that matches that of the memory.

#195 read 2016 July 02 07:09 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-say-this-strate…

test, studies, participants, recall test, recall, learned, suggest, minutes

A 2003 study, cited in a meta-analysis by Henry L. Roediger III and Jeffrey D. Karpicke, highlights the power of testing for making information stick.
In the study, researchers led by Mark Wheeler had participants either review a list of 40 words five times or review it once and take four recall tests. Then they took a recall test either 5 minutes or one week later.
participants who’d read the word list five times performed much better on the recall test five minutes later. But participants who’d read the test just once and been tested performed better on the test one week later.
More recent research suggests that combining testing with immediate feedback (finding out whether you answered right or wrong) is more effective, and can even boost memory right after the information is learned.
these studies suggest that the most efficient strategy for remembering something - whether you’re learning a new language or studying for a science exam - is simply to practice recalling it.

#194 read 2016 July 02 07:07 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered…

There are gene clusters in the brain (ex. M1 and M3 – each consisting of hundreds of genes) thought to influence human intelligence.

clusters, genes, m1, m3, cognitive, reasoning, processing, scientists

For the first time ever, scientists have identified clusters of genes in the brain that are believed to be linked to human intelligence
The two clusters, called M1 and M3, are networks each consisting of hundreds of individual genes, and are thought to influence our cognitive functions, including memory, attention, processing speed, and reasoning.

#193 read 2016 July 02 05:18 PM. Link: arxiv.org/abs/1406.2572

error, local, proliferation, dimensional, local minima, difficulty, minimum, saddle points

A central challenge to many fields of science and engineering involves minimizing non-convex error functions over continuous, high dimensional spaces
it is often thought that a main source of difficulty for these local methods to find the global minimum is the proliferation of local minima with much higher error than the global minimum
Here we argue, based on results from statistical physics, random matrix theory, neural network theory, and empirical evidence, that a deeper and more profound difficulty originates from the proliferation of saddle points, not local minima, especially in high dimensional problems of practical interest. Such saddle points are surrounded by high error plateaus that can dramatically slow down learning, and give the illusory impression of the existence of a local minimum

#192 read 2016 July 02 04:32 PM. Link: blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/you-can…

Foster goals that are at the edge of what you can achieve

achieve, instinct, einstein, barely, pursue, develop, greatest, albert

“One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can just barely achieve through one’s greatest efforts.” —Albert Einstein

#191 read 2016 July 02 04:08 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160303120…

calculations, expectations, visual, visual system, neuronal, incredibly, tackles, incorporates

Neuronal calculations consider expectations
Without us being aware of it, our visual system tackles incredibly difficult tasks every second.
To facilitate the processing of such visual information, the visual system incorporates expectations of typical features of the environment into its calculations.

#190 read 2016 July 02 03:59 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-06-statisticians-convey-stat…

rule, statistical, data, computational, ahead, statistical practice, analysis, simple

Convinced that better use of data will improve research, innovation and literacy across other disciplines, six leading statisticians recently published “Ten Simple Rules for Effective Statistical Practice” in the journal PLOS Computational Biology
sound statistical practices require a bit of science, engineering, and arts, and hence some general guidelines for helping practitioners to develop statistical insights and acumen are in order
Rule 1: Statistical Methods Should Enable Data to Answer Scientific Questions. Rule 2: Signals Always Come with Noise. Rule 3: Plan Ahead, Really Ahead. Rule 4: Worry about Data Quality. Rule 5: Statistical Analysis Is More Than a Set of Computations. Rule 6: Keep it Simple. Rule 7: Provide Assessments of Variability. Rule 8: Check Your Assumptions. Rule 9: When Possible, Replicate!. Rule 10: Make Your Analysis Reproducible

#189 read 2016 July 02 03:51 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/telling-yourself-you-can-d…

effective, improve, best score, played, found, game, 000, 44

After testing more than 44,000 people playing an online game, the team found that those who kept telling themselves they could improve - a common trick used by psychologists - achieved the best scores.
The use of imagery - where players imagined themselves beating their best score before they played - was effective, too, though not to the same extent as self-talk
‘If-then planning’ - spelling out a course of action and what will happen as a result - was found to be the least effective way of improving performance during the game

#188 read 2016 June 26 02:06 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160623122…

cathepsin b, exercise, brain, neurogenesis, neuron, spurred, correlated, muscles

A couple of proteins have been shown to fuel exercise-induced neuron growth, but a new study presents a new candidate, cathepsin B – one that can be directly traced from the muscles to the brain in mice
when cathepsin B was applied to brain cells, it spurred the production of molecules related to neurogenesis
in humans who exercise consistently for four months, better performance on complex recall tasks, such as drawing from memory, is correlated with increased cathepsin B levels

#187 read 2016 June 26 02:04 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160623115…

30 per cent, revised, feel, riskier, perceive, likelihood, momentum, tendency

an increase in probability feels riskier than a decrease
We wanted to know if the likelihood of a future event being revised up to 30 per cent would feel more likely to happen than it being revised down to 30 per cent
“If the latest estimate is 30 per cent, then it’s equally likely to go up or down or stay flat, but we have a tendency to perceive momentum – if things have gone up, we assume the trend will continue.”

#186 read 2016 June 25 03:53 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160615095…

Pairing stimuli with positive emotions (reward) improves memory for similar future stimuli (even if no reward), but only after sleeping first.

reward, remember, categories, images, participant, objects, animals, stimuli

Combining a positive emotional component with a given stimulus promotes memory for future stimuli of the same type
Our brain, quoting Javiera Oyarzún, first author of the study, “works as a sorting machine. Every time we expose ourselves to a stimulus, our brain sorts it out in a category, such as people, animals, objects, etc. This way, whenever we receive new information we can integrate it with similar available information thanks to our ability to generalize
we usually do not remember the details surrounding our usual way back home, but if during that time we receive a phone call with good news, or we witness a car accident, we will remember those details with much more precision
we designed a study with volunteers who were shown a series of images corresponding to two categories (objects and animals), but were only rewarded by one of these categories
As expected, participants remembered those images associated with a reward better
In a second session, however, they were shown new images of animals and objects, but knowing that this time there would be no reward. “What we saw is that participants not only remembered “rewarding” images better, but also those of the same semantic category despite knowing that they were not associated with any reward,”
One of the most significant aspects of the published work is that the effects of emotionally positive stimuli on memory storage are not observed until after 24 hours, ie, it is necessary that the participant sleeps.

#185 read 2016 June 25 03:49 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160229135…

sleep, cognitive, hour sleep, showed, nine hour, five hour, night, arithmetic

adolescents who sleep five hours a night for a week experience significant cognitive degradation
For seven nights, half of the participants received a five-hour sleep opportunity, while the other half had nine hours to sleep – the recommended sleep duration for this age group
Those in the nine-hour sleep group either maintained cognitive performance or showed practice-related gains in tasks requiring arithmetic calculation and symbol decoding. In contrast, those in the five-hour sleep group showed prominent deterioration of sustained attention, working memory, executive function, alertness, and positive mood. They also showed reduced performance gains (arising from repeated practice) with arithmetic and symbol-decoding
two nights of nine-hour recovery sleep could not fully reverse some of these cognitive deficits

#184 read 2016 June 25 03:40 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160613130…

caffeine, placebo, restricting, sleep, improved, performance, night, 200

after restricting sleep to 5 hours per night, caffeine use no longer improved alertness or performance after three nights
relative to placebo, caffeine significantly improved Psychomotor Vigilance Task performance during the first two days, but not the last three days of sleep restriction
Participants were administered either 200 mg of caffeine or a placebo twice daily.

#183 read 2016 June 25 03:13 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160229182…

face, gender, gender blended, asked, categorise, feminine, prefer, less appealing

the ‘Johnny Depp Effect’ – which involves women tending to prefer men with more feminine faces – holds in some contexts, but not in others
when people are asked to rate the attractiveness of gender-blended face morphs they tend to judge them as less appealing if they are first asked to classify the face as male or female
gender blends were disliked when, and only when, the faces were first categorised by gender, despite an overall preference of the participants for more feminine features
In the second experiment, in which some participants were first asked to categorise gender-ambiguous faces by ethnicity, they did not subsequently judge the gender blends as less appealing.
mental effort of having to assign a gender to an ambiguous face has a flow-on effect of negatively influencing how we feel about that face

#182 read 2016 June 25 02:23 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160613153…

neurons, brains, bird, primate, connect, previously, small, grow

The first study to systematically measure the number of neurons in the brains of birds has found that they have significantly more neurons packed into their small brains than are stuffed into mammalian and even primate brains of the same mass.
studies found that the birds could manufacture and use tools, use insight to solve problems, make inferences about cause-effect relationships, recognize themselves in a mirror and plan for future needs, among other cognitive skills previously considered the exclusive domain of primates
Birds can perform these complex behaviors because birds’ forebrains contain a lot more neurons than any one had previously thought – as many as in mid-sized primates
Previously, neuroanatomists thought that as brains grew larger neurons had to grow bigger as well because they had to connect over longer distances. “But bird brains show that there are other ways to add neurons: keep most neurons small and locally connected and only allow a small percentage to grow large enough to make the longer connections.

#181 read 2016 June 25 02:11 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160318085…

memories, main route, consequence, learned, associating, mice, connections, scientists

Gross and colleagues studied the hippocampus, a region of the brain that’s long been known to help form memories. Information enters this part of the brain through three different routes. As memories are cemented, connections between neurons along the ‘main’ route become stronger.
When they blocked this main route, the scientists found that the mice were no longer capable of learning a Pavlovian response – associating a sound to a consequence, and anticipating that consequence. But if the mice had learned that association before the scientists stopped information flow in that main route, they could still retrieve that memory
blocking that main route had an unexpected consequence: the connections along it were weakened, meaning the memory was being erased
this active push for forgetting only happens in learning situations

#180 read 2016 June 25 02:04 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160323082…

People with more similar “individual motor signatures” (how they move) display more organized collective behaviour

movement, blueprint, subtle, organised, collective, signature, behaviour, tend

each person has an individual motor signature (IMS), a blueprint of the subtle differences in the way they move compared to someone else, such as speed or weight of movement for example
people who have similar movements will tend to display more organised collective behaviour

#179 read 2016 June 25 01:59 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160621111…

Glance to right: high-value cards. Glance to left: lower-value cards

value, fleetingly, blackjack, spontaneously, glance, tend, whereas, cards

Blackjack players who hold high-value cards tend to glance fleetingly to the right, whereas those with a lower-value hand do so spontaneously to the left.

#178 read 2016 June 23 05:21 PM. Link: arxiv.org/abs/1605.07648v1

residual, network, fractal, neural network, extremely deep, deep, 85, 22

FractalNet: Ultra-Deep Neural Networks without Residuals
Repeated application of a single expansion rule generates an extremely deep network whose structural layout is precisely a truncated fractal.
Our experiments demonstrate that residual representation is not fundamental to the success of extremely deep convolutional neural networks. A fractal design achieves an error rate of 22.85% on CIFAR-100, matching the state-of-the-art held by residual networks.

#177 read 2016 June 23 12:49 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160609151…

network, hierarchical, hierarchy, connections, biological network, human brain, areas, tactile

New research explains why so many biological networks, including the human brain (a network of neurons), exhibit a hierarchical structure
the evolution of hierarchy – a simple system of ranking – in biological networks may arise because of the costs associated with network connections
For example, the human brain has separate areas for motor control and tactile processing, and each of these areas consist of sub-regions that govern different parts of the body
this paper suggest that hierarchy evolves not because it produces more efficient networks, but instead because hierarchically wired networks have fewer connections

#176 read 2016 June 23 12:41 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160609115…

orbitofrontal cortex, juice, monkey, option, moment, decision, impulsivity, millisecond

In recording moment-by-moment deliberations by macaque monkeys over which option is likely to yield the most fruit juice, UC Berkeley scientists have captured the dynamics of decision-making down to millisecond changes in neurons in the brain’s orbitofrontal cortex.
Located behind the eyes, the orbitofrontal cortex plays a key role in decision-making and, when damaged, can lead to poor choices and impulsivity.
The more the monkey needed to think about the options, particularly when there was not much difference between the amounts of juice offered, the more the neural patterns would switch back and forth.

#175 read 2016 June 23 12:35 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160602122…

improve, neurofeedback, electroencephalograpy, placebo, alleviate, alcoholism, boasts, examining

Neurofeedback using electroencephalograpy boasts thousands of practitioners and appears to both improve normal brain function and alleviate a wide variety of mental disorders – from anxiety to alcoholism. But after examining the scientific literature and consulting experts in Europe and the U.S., researchers now conclude that clinical improvements from this increasingly popular alternative therapy are due to placebo effects.

#174 read 2016 June 19 02:02 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160616140…

exercise, learned, four hours, hippocampus, intriguing, representations, boost, gym

A new study suggests an intriguing strategy to boost memory for what you’ve just learned: hit the gym four hours later.
those who exercised four hours after their learning session retained the information better two days later than those who exercised either immediately or not at all. The brain images also showed that exercise after a time delay was associated with more precise representations in the hippocampus

#173 read 2016 June 16 12:53 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160615134…

Cortisol levels (which are highest in the morning to give an energy boost) usually lower significantly after 45 minutes of art creation (for 25% of people, it increases, perhaps indicating arousal/engagement).

cortisol, levels, participants, art, 25, 45, arousal, lowers

Cortisol lowers significantly after just 45 minutes of art creation
However, roughly 25 percent of the participants actually registered higher levels of cortisol – though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
For example, our cortisol levels vary throughout the day – levels are highest in the morning because that gives us an energy boost to us going at the start of the day. It could’ve been that the art-making resulted in a state of arousal and/or engagement in the study’s participants.

#172 read 2016 June 16 12:53 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160614133…

sleep, memory, rem, autonomic nervous, increases, improvement, percent, nervous system

the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for control of bodily functions not consciously directed (such as breathing, heartbeat, and digestive processes) plays a role in promoting memory consolidation – the process of converting information from short-term to long-term memory – during sleep
increases in autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity during sleep is correlated with memory improvement.
while approximately 40 percent of the performance improvement due to the nap could be predicted by the amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, when the researchers considered heart rate activity during REM, they could account for up to 73 percent of the performance increases

#171 read 2016 June 15 02:58 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160614100…

Perceiving another’s pain and experiencing your own appear to use different parts of the brain, with empathy being a deliberative process rather than automatic.

pain, empathy, suggesting, process, deliberative, instinctive, perceiving, circuitry

the act of perceiving others’ pain (i.e., empathy for others’ pain) does not appear to involve the same neural circuitry as experiencing pain in one’s own body, suggesting that they are different interactions within the brain
The research suggests that empathy is a deliberative process that requires taking another person’s perspective rather than being an instinctive, automatic process

#170 read 2016 June 15 02:58 AM. Link: culurciello.github.io/tech/2016/06/04/nets.html

convolution, insight, network, great, 1x1 convolution, resnet, nin, convolution layer

the great advantage of VGG was the insight that multiple 3x3 convolution in sequence can emulate the effect of larger receptive fields, for examples 5x5 and 7x7. These ideas will be also used in more recent network architectures as Inception and ResNet.
Network-in-network (NiN) had the great and simple insight of using 1x1 convolutions to provide more combinational power to the features of a convolutional layers.
the great insight of the inception module was the use of 1x1 convolutional blocks (NiN) to reduce the number of features before the expensive parallel blocks. This is commonly referred as “bottleneck”
ResNet have a simple ideas: feed the output of two successive convolutional layer AND also bypass the input to the next layers!

#169 read 2016 June 14 06:23 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160310111…

income, life satisfaction, personality, income change, life, 000, 18, conscientious

The research, which examined levels of life satisfaction and income changes in more than 18,000 adults over a nine year period, revealed that income change is only important when individuals with specific personality characteristics experience an income loss
regardless of personality, income increases did not affect life satisfaction. When people lost income, however, there was a reduction in their life satisfaction. This was far greater for those who reported themselves as being conscientious, namely they were thorough in their attitudes to life and work, energetic, and effective and efficient in how they did things

#168 read 2016 June 14 06:16 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160310111…

identify, recognition, object, human, image, loses, scientists, detail

research suggests that there is an “atomic” unit of recognition – a minimum amount of information an image must contain for recognition to occur
When the scientists compared the scores of the human subjects with those of the computer models, they found that humans were much better at identifying partial- or low-resolution images
Almost all the human participants were successful at identifying the objects in the various images, up to a fairly high loss of detail – after which, nearly everyone stumbled at the exact same point. The division was so sharp, the scientists termed it a “phase transition.” “If an already minimal image loses just a minute amount of detail, everybody suddenly loses the ability to identify the object,” says Ullman. “That hints that no matter what our life experience or training, object recognition is hardwired and works the same in all of us.”

#167 read 2016 June 14 03:31 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160614083…

partner, envy, gamble, guilt, showed, compared, task, difference

A new equation, showing how our happiness depends not only on what happens to us but also how this compares to other people, has been developed by UCL researchers funded by Wellcome
found that inequality reduced happiness on average. This was true whether people were doing better or worse than another person they had just met
On average, when someone won a gamble they were happier when their partner also won the same gamble compared to when their partner lost. This difference could be attributed to guilt. Similarly, when people lost a gamble they were happier when their partner also lost compared to when their partner won, a difference that could be attributed to envy.
The people who gave away half of their money when they had the opportunity showed no envy when they experienced inequality in a different task but showed a lot of guilt. By contrast, those who kept all the money for themselves displayed no signs of guilt in the other task but displayed a lot of envy
The task may prove to be a useful way of measuring empathy, which could offer insight into social disorders such as borderline personality disorder

#166 read 2016 June 14 03:18 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160513084…

mathematical, network, brain, thought, language, mathematicians, activated, regions

the brain has a network of brain regions involved in advanced mathematics, as well as simpler arithmetic operations. This network is only activated when numbers are seen, in a population of high-level university students including both experts in mathematics and non-mathematicians
These results were obtained using functional MRI on university students specializing in mathematics and other disciplines
When they were thinking about mathematical subjects, a dorsal frontoparietal network of the brain was activated, a network which showed no overlap with the language regions
Most mathematicians and physicists believe instead that mathematical thought is independent of languages, such as Albert Einstein who said that, “The words of language, as they are written or spoken, do not seem to play any role in my mechanism of thought. The psychical entities which seem to serve as elements in thoughts are certain signs and more or less clear images which can be ‘voluntarily’ reproduced and combined.”

#165 read 2016 June 14 02:53 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-all-trees…

tree, diameter, thin, tall, height, wind, speed, 94

nearly all the trees whipped by winds blowing at speeds of 94 miles per hour or more had snapped, regardless of their species, height or diameter, whereas most trees hit by gusts below that threshold were left intact
Although mathematics alone would predict that the wind speed required for tree fracture should depend on trunk diameter and tree height, nature does not make trees that are both thin and tall. Instead short trees are thin and tall ones thick. Even more, thicker trees have larger defects, such as knots, where stress concentrates when a tree bends.

#164 read 2016 June 13 12:17 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160610094…

light exposure, prefrontal cortex, cognitive, exposure, blue, light, dlpfc, ventrolateral

blue wavelength light exposure led to subsequent increases in brain activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) when participants were engaging in a cognitive task after cessation of light exposure
a short single exposure to blue light for half an hour is sufficient to produce measurable changes in reaction times and more efficient responses (answered more items correctly per second) during conditions of greater cognitive load after the light exposure had ended

#163 read 2016 June 12 10:24 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160609174…

photo, experience, enjoy, participants, instance, activity, levels, people

research suggests that people who take photos of their experiences usually enjoy the events more than people who don’t.
In each experiment, individuals were asked to participate in an activity (e.g., taking a bus tour or eating in a food court) and were either instructed to take photos during the activity or not.
One critical factor that has been shown to affect enjoyment is the extent to which people are engaged with the experience
Another instance where photo-taking did not appear to increase enjoyment was when taking photos interfered with the experience itself, such as having to handle bulky and unwieldy camera equipment.
In one instance, participants went on a virtual safari and observed a pride of lions attacking a water buffalo, a sight most people found aversive. Photo-takers in that instance reported lower levels of enjoyment than those who saw the same encounter but did not take photos
Participants in one experiment reported higher levels of enjoyment after just taking “mental” pictures as they were going through the experience

#162 read 2016 June 12 09:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160610173…

pre adaptation, network, eventuality, anticipates, miraculous, recurrent, rebound, inputs

the brain anticipates all of the new situations that it may encounter in a lifetime by creating a special kind of neural network that is ‘pre-adapted’ to face any eventuality.
this seemingly miraculous pre-adaptation comes from connections between neurons that form recurrent loops where inputs can rebound and mix in the network, like waves in a pond, thus called “reservoir” computing

#161 read 2016 June 10 11:59 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160512085…

result, dozens, simultaneously, search algorithms, compared, display, even hundreds, search

How does Google decide which search results to display? Doctoral candidate Anne Schuth developed a new method by which dozens or even hundreds of search algorithms can be compared with each other simultaneously
With multileaving, several dozens or even hundreds of search algorithms can be compared with each other simultaneously by displaying their results alternately at the top of the user’s screen. The preferred result is determined by interpreting user interaction.’

#160 read 2016 June 03 04:32 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2089062-green-ligh…

Low-intensity green light seems to reduce migraine pain, while others (white, blue, red, amber) increase it.

light, migraine, amber, intensity, pain, reduce, increase, blue

While white, blue, red and amber light all increase migraine pain, low-intensity green light seems to reduce it

#159 read 2016 May 25 03:14 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160525140…

vessel, neural activity, increase, local, dilation, sensory, kara, colleagues

During sensory stimulation, increases in blood flow are not precisely ‘tuned’ to local neural activity
Kara and colleagues showed that, while blood flow did increase with neural activity, it also increased in response to certain sensory stimuli that did not evoke local neural activity
Kara and colleagues have devised a hypothesis. “The blood vessel dilation triggered by local, selective neural activity does not remain entirely local,” says Kara. “From a vessel deep within the brain, the dilation propagates up along the vessel walls into a surface vessel and then down into other vessels that enter neighboring columns.”

#158 read 2016 May 23 06:26 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160111162…

modifies, emotion, sound, voice, pitch, sadder, inflection, happier

Researchers have created a digital audio platform that can modify the emotional tone of people’s voices while they are talking, to make them sound happier, sadder or more fearful. New results show that while listening to their altered voices, participants’ emotional state change in accordance with the new emotion
This is the first evidence of direct feedback effects on emotional experience in the auditory domain
For example, the happy manipulation modifies the pitch of a speaker’s voice using pitch shifting and inflection to make it sound more positive, modifies its dynamic range using compression to make it sound more confident, and modifies its spectral content using high pass filtering to make it sound more excited

#157 read 2016 May 19 06:38 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160328191…

We remember especially what we expect to need to later recall.

expectation, recall, remember, person, need, information, much, based

much of what a person can remember is based on their expectation of the information they will need to recall.

#156 read 2016 May 19 06:17 PM. Link: blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/th…

alexithymia, experience, subtleties, intensities, textures, inability, emotions, mild

The clinical term for this experience is alexithymia and is defined as the inability to recognize emotions and their subtleties and textures
Research suggests that approximately 8% of males and 2% of females experience alexithymia, and that it can come in mild, moderate and severe intensities

#155 read 2016 May 19 06:01 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2082420-brain-shoc…

surges, cells, tdcs, astrocytes, doses, brains, neurons, regulate

large, sudden surges in calcium flow in the brains of mice seconds after they receive low doses of tDCS. These surges seem to start in cells called astrocytes – star-shaped cells that don’t fire themselves, but help to strengthen the connections between neurons and regulate the electrical signals that pass between them

#154 read 2016 May 19 05:47 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/new-eye-tracking-technique…

asd, webcam, figuring, mouths, autism, uncovered, cheap, tracking

Two separate groups of researchers have uncovered similar techniques for figuring out whether children have autism that’s quick, cheap, easy, and highly accurate: tracking the way their eyes move using a webcam and software
kids with ASD spend more time looking at the mouths of the people they’re talking to when the conversation topics turn more emotional

#153 read 2016 May 19 05:17 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160401111…

attention, separate, hypnosis, analyzed, pays, everyday, targeted, researchers

Our brain automatically pays great attention to everyday actions linked to a social context
For the purpose of the study, the researchers analyzed bottom-up attention separately from targeted top-down attention. In order to separate both attention processes, the team used hypnosis.

#152 read 2016 May 18 05:21 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160518074…

memories, enhanced, dialogue, hippocampal, hippocampus, cortical, triggering, coupling

Enhanced hippocampal-cortical coupling improves memory
For the first time, scientists have produced direct evidence that the long-term storage of memories involves a dialogue between two brain structures, the hippocampus and cortex, during sleep; by enhancing this dialogue, they succeeded in triggering the consolidation of memories that would otherwise have been forgotten

#151 read 2016 April 25 11:04 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160215172…

reward, offered, incentive, achieved, incentive group, effective, percent, risk

Financial incentives aimed at increasing physical activity were most effective when the rewards were put at risk of being lost
offering a $1.40 reward each time the goal is achieved (the gain incentive group), or when daily lotteries were offered, were no more effective than not offering a reward at all (the control group)
participants who risked losing the reward they’d already been given (the loss incentive group) achieved the goal 45 percent of the time, amounting to an almost 50 percent increase over the control group

#150 read 2016 April 25 10:48 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160331124…

memories, ampa receptors, brain cells, connect, active, process, wiping, forgetting

The study in rats reveals how forgetting can be the result of an active deletion process rather than a failure to remember.
The more AMPA receptors there are on the surface where brain cells connect, the stronger the memory.
the process of actively wiping memories happens when brain cells remove AMPA receptors from the connections between brain cells
Over time, if the memory is not recalled, the AMPA receptors may fall in number and the memory is gradually erased.

#149 read 2016 April 25 10:37 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2084524-we-are-zom…

choices, appear, 30, precede, surpassing, brains, shortest, delays

Our brains appear to rewrite history so that the choices we make after an event seem to precede it.
Participants’ reported accuracy was highest – surpassing 30 per cent – when the delays were shortest.
Such findings may also imply that many of the choices we believe we make only appear to be signs of free will after the fact

#148 read 2016 April 25 10:22 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160418145…

sound, relate, tongue, mouth, associate, vowel sound, things, far

people associate certain sounds with nearness and others with distance, say researchers, whose new study adds to the body of knowledge about symbolic sound
people intuitively associate front vowel sounds – those produced with the tongue relatively far forward in the mouth, such as the ee in feet – with things that are close by. Conversely, they relate back vowel sounds – those produced with the tongue far back in the mouth, such as oo in food – to things that are farther away
The participants regularly predicted that Floon, N.Y., was much further from NYC than Fleen

#147 read 2016 April 25 10:15 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421133…

Drawing information is a strong way of enhancing memory

enhance, recalled, remembered, drawing, participants, strategy, drawn, twice

drawing pictures of information that needs to be remembered is a strong and reliable strategy to enhance memory
Participants often recalled more than twice as many drawn than written words.

#146 read 2016 April 23 03:14 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-just-found-evid…

“Anti-memories”, inhibitory cortical ensembles which generate the opposite activity patterns of memories, appear to allow multiple memories to be stored without interference.

memories, neurons, anti memories, brain, store, excitatory, inhibitory, balanced

what regulates our ability to store and recall information? New research suggests one of the processes involved is ‘anti-memories’ – connections between neurons that generate the exact opposite pattern of electrical activity to that of the original memory
The ‘anti-memories’ hypothesis comes back to the idea that healthy brain function results from the interaction between two types of brain cells: excitatory and inhibitory neurons
without this balancing of excitatory/inhibitory (E/I) functions, overly excited neurons could give rise to conditions like epilepsy, schizophrenia, and autism
memories are stored in balanced E/I cortical ensembles
anti-memories “appear to allow multiple memories to be stored in the brain, without interference between these memories”

#145 read 2016 April 18 04:17 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered…

carbon, carbyne, remain elusive, family, even, baeyer, 1885, graphene

The ‘carbon family’ is one very resourceful family. But even with all these developments, carbyne remained elusive
This one-dimensional carbon chain was first discovered in 1885 by Adolf von Baeyer, who even stated that carbyne would remain elusive, as its high reactivity would always lead to its immediate destruction.
The team took two layers of graphene, pressed them together, and rolled them into thin, double-walled carbon nanotubes. The tubes were then wrapped around the atoms

#144 read 2016 April 16 12:18 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160414095…

consciousness, passive, consciousness automatically, enter, complex, idea, even, unconsciously

Complex ideas can enter consciousness automatically
New research provides further evidence for ‘passive frame theory,’ the groundbreaking idea that suggests human consciousness is less in control than previously believed. The study shows that even complex concepts, such as translating a word into pig latin, can enter your consciousness automatically, even when someone tells you to avoid thinking about it
further proof that “consciousness is passive, and that its contents are often generated unconsciously. But [consciousness] is necessary

#143 read 2016 April 15 09:41 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160414214…

cortex, brain, memory, hippocampus, slow oscillations, sleep, synaptic, wave ripples

How the brain consolidates memory during deep sleep
Using a computational model, study explains how hippocampus influences synaptic connections in cortex
During sleep, human and animal brains are primarily decoupled from sensory input. Nevertheless, the brain remains highly active, showing electrical activity in the form of sharp-wave ripples in the hippocampus (a small region of the brain that forms part of the limbic system) and large-amplitude slow oscillations in the cortex (the outer layer of the cerebrum)
Traces of episodic memory acquired during wakefulness and initially stored in the hippocampus are progressively transferred to the cortex as long-term memory during sleep
patterns of slow oscillations in the cortex, which their model spontaneously generates, are influenced by the hippocampal sharp-wave ripples and that these patterns of slow oscillations determine synaptic changes in the cortex
During such memory replay, the corresponding synapses are strengthened for long-term storage in the cortex

#142 read 2016 April 14 01:36 AM. Link: www.wired.com/2016/04/susie-mckinnon-autobiogra…

Deficient autobiographical memory: unable to mentally relive events, but may know facts about self

autobiographical, relive, mckinnon, deficient, mentally, lacks, severely, plenty

McKinnon is the first person ever identified with a condition called severely deficient autobiographical memory. She knows plenty of facts about her life, but she lacks the ability to mentally relive any of it

#141 read 2016 April 14 01:11 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/consciousness-occurs-in-ti…

milliseconds, conscious, last, time slices, information, 50, 400, stimuli

Consciousness occurs in ‘time slices’ lasting only milliseconds, study suggests
‘time slices’ consisting of unconscious processing of stimuli last for up to 400 milliseconds (ms), and are immediately followed by the conscious perception of events
The team thinks this presentation of information to our consciousness lasts for about 50 milliseconds, during which we also stop taking new sensory information in

#140 read 2016 March 26 09:58 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/bacteria-can…

Bacteria may communicate via electrical signalling

another, signalinga, multicellular, organisms, bacteria, reveals, mechanism, electrical

new evidence reveals that bacteria may have another way to “talk” to one another: communication via electrical signaling—a mechanism previously thought to occur only in multicellular organisms

#139 read 2016 March 25 11:15 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160301144…

solutions, diverse, innovate, connected groups, cultural, partial, partial connected, allowing

An individual’s propensity to learn from successful cultural models – a common strategy that allows us to copy efficient solutions from others – reduces the diversity of solutions
Partially connected groups are more likely to produce diverse solutions, allowing them to innovate by combining different solutions.
participants were asked to discover successive innovations to produce a virtual remedy and stop the spread of a virus
fully connected groups performed well in the short-run but rapidly converged toward the same solutions
innovation appears slower in partially connected groups but solutions are more diverse
partial isolation is a strong driver of cultural diversity and that larger and more connected populations do not necessarily exhibit higher cultural complexity

#138 read 2016 March 23 05:34 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/2082105-explosive-…

Toxoplasma gondii (parasite carries by cats) linked to “intermittent explosive disorder” in humans

gondii, protozoan, toxoplasma, ied, intermittent, parasite, psychiatric, explosive

Infection with Toxoplasma gondii, a protozoan parasite carried by cats, has been linked to a human psychiatric condition called intermittent explosive disorder
people with IED were more than twice as likely to test positive for exposure to T. gondii as the control group

#137 read 2016 March 21 06:27 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160321081…

narcissism, narcissistic personality, measure, contradicts, correlated, artworks, transient, trait

narcissism is positively associated with market performance of artworks, and contradicts previous research that concludes narcissism is short term and transient
Author Yi Zhou assessed the narcissistic personality trait through measuring the size of the artists’ signatures, in relation to the Narcissistic Personality Inventory
area-per-letter measure is correlated highly with narcissism

#136 read 2016 March 20 05:12 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160225101…

exercise, brain, help, neurotransmitters, boosts, carbohydrates, consumes, glutamate

Vigorous exercise boosts critical neurotransmitters, may help restore mental health
The research also helps solve a persistent question about the brain, an energy-intensive organ that consumes a lot of fuel in the form of glucose and other carbohydrates during exercise
There was a correlation between the resting levels of glutamate in the brain and how much people exercised during the preceding week

#135 read 2016 March 18 09:01 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/learning-complex-tasks-bre…

complex learning tasks can lead to large-scale reorganization in cerebral cortex

reorganisations, overwriting, cerebral, sensory, cortex, deals, tasks, conduct

complex learning tasks give us the ability to conduct large-scale reorganisations in our cerebral cortex, overwriting the ways our brain normally deals with sensory information

#134 read 2016 March 18 04:11 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160317105…

Recent students teaching other students is a good way to learn and teach

student, pedagogical, adopting, achieved, teaching, levels, fellow, alternative

higher levels of academic success may be achieved by adopting an alternative pedagogical model, one which has a recent student teaching fellow students

#133 read 2016 March 17 05:31 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160317151…

bursts, memory, active, information, found, prefrontal, glimpse, ensembles

A new glimpse into working memory: Bursts of neural activity found as brain holds information in mind
The researchers found that as items were held in working memory, ensembles of neurons in the prefrontal cortex were active in brief bursts, and these bursts only occurred in recording sites in which information about the squares was stored

#132 read 2016 March 15 02:59 AM. Link: www.wired.com/2015/04/hire-like-google/

Best predictor of job performance is work sample test (29%) and not interview (14%)

14, perform, percent, r2, 29, unstructured, predictor, interviews

Unstructured interviews have an r2 of 0.14, meaning that they can explain only 14 percent of an employee’s performance
The best predictor of how someone will perform in a job is a work sample test (29 percent)

#131 read 2016 March 15 01:50 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160310124…

brain, cells, dentate gyrus, region, known, granule, hippocampus, adulthood

Most brain cells are produced before birth, but a few select brain regions continue to grow new cells into adulthood. One such region is called the dentate gyrus, a tiny structure in the hippocampus, the brain’s headquarters for learning and memory.
Earlier studies suggested that cells within the dentate gyrus, known as granule cells, allow the brain to distinguish between similar, yet different, environments. This process, known as pattern separation, is a key component of the brain’s internal GPS

#130 read 2016 March 15 01:47 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/teaching-children-philosop…

math, skills, improve, reading, children, reasoned, constructing, weren

Teaching children philosophy can improve their reading and math skills, study finds
The kids who took part ended up improving their maths and reading skills by around two months’ of extra progress compared to students who weren’t taking the classes
the specific aim of the lessons was to develop children’s confidence in asking questions, constructing arguments, and having reasoned discussions with one another

#129 read 2016 March 15 01:39 AM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probably_approximately_co…

probability, learning, function, generalization, select, approximately correct, learner, pac

probably approximately correct learning (PAC learning) is a framework for mathematical analysis of machine learning
the learner receives samples and must select a generalization function (called the hypothesis) from a certain class of possible functions
The goal is that, with high probability (the “probably” part), the selected function will have low generalization error (the “approximately correct” part)

#128 read 2016 March 14 03:36 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160309083…

robot, assemble, tailoring, ikea, tinker, satisfaction, tended, ease

Robot makers may want to follow Ikea’s strategy for customer satisfaction and give people a chance to partially assemble their new robots to ease acceptance of the devices, according to researchers.
people who took part in a study on robot assembly tended to feel more positive about the machines if they had a hand in making them
the sense of ownership can be sustained with tailoring options that users can continue to tinker with, long after the initial set up

#127 read 2016 January 05 07:16 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/dn28704-sleep-isnt…

Having a rest immediately after hearing something helps us remember information later

10, remember, minute, rest, cent, hearing, afterwards, helps

having a rest helps a person to remember what they were told a few minutes earlier. And the effect seems to last
People who had a 10-minute rest after hearing a story remembered 10 per cent more of it a week later than those who played a spot-the-difference game immediately afterwards

#126 read 2016 February 03 01:18 AM. Link: yyue.blogspot.ca/2015/01/a-brief-overview-of-de…

lstms, train, 128, minibatches, initialize, throughput, biases, dependencies

If you are using LSTMs and you want to train them on problems with very long range dependencies, you should initialize the biases of the forget gates of the LSTMs to large values
It is vastly more efficient to train the network on minibatches of 128 examples, because doing so will result in massively greater throughput

#125 read 2016 February 03 01:30 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/resting-brainwaves-functio…

Resting brain pattern exhibits harmonic waves.

harmonic, resting, waves, patterns, brain, universal, identified, simple

resting brain patterns have been identified before in simple, universal rules of nature, known as harmonic waves.

#124 read 2016 February 03 12:16 PM. Link: blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-chasers/w…

Before developing perceptual constance (5 months), infants can identify image differences invisible to adults

month, constancy, perceptual, babies, invisible, striking, skill, adults

Before developing perceptual constancy, three- to four-month-old babies have a striking ability to see image differences that are invisible to adults. They lose this superior skill around the age of five months

#123 read 2016 February 11 12:42 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-that-s…

sighing, breaths, reflex, lungs, neurons, clusters, stem, saving

Sighing is actually a life-saving reflex, and scientists have found the switch that controls it
The team identified two tiny clusters of neurons in the brain stem that automatically turn normal breaths into sighs when our lungs need some extra help - and they do this roughly every 5 minutes

#122 read 2016 February 26 04:36 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Aboriginal_sylla…

canadian syllabic, consonantvowel, vowelin, abugidas, syllabaries, glyph, consonants, scripts

Canadian “syllabic” scripts are not syllabaries, in which every consonant–vowel sequence has a separate glyph,[4] but abugidas,[5] in which consonants are modified in order to indicate an associated vowel—in this case through a change in orientation, which is unique to Canadian syllabics

#121 read 2016 January 04 10:39 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/banana-peel-surprisingly-j…

Eating banana peels is healthy.

peels, edible, banana, eat, good, only

you can eat banana peels. And not only are they edible, they’re also good for you

#120 read 2015 December 06 08:12 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2015-11-nist-team-spooky-action-d…

Local realism/hidden local action is incorrect.

local, incompatible, realism, mechanics, quantum, experiment, hidden, prove

You can’t prove quantum mechanics, but local realism, or hidden local action, is incompatible with our experiment

#119 read 2016 March 11 03:38 AM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-03-invisibility-cloaks.html

cloak, distorted, invisibility, amplitude, stationary, render, relativity, transparent

limitations imposed by special relativity mean that the best invisibility cloaks would only be able to render objects partially transparent because they would suffer from obvious visible distortions due to motion
a moving amplitude cloak would drag light waves to different areas of space as seen by a stationary observer, making the image appear distorted

#118 read 2016 March 10 04:47 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120801154…

prefrontal cortex, suggesting, intelligence, control, 10, pathways, neural, cognitive

New research suggests that as much as 10 percent of individual differences in intelligence can be explained by the strength of neural pathways connecting the left lateral prefrontal cortex to the rest of the brain.
We’re suggesting that the lateral prefrontal cortex functions like a feedback control system that is used often in engineering, that it helps implement cognitive control (which supports fluid intelligence)

#117 read 2016 March 10 04:43 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150727130…

neurons, wave, harmonize, improvising, prefrontal, excite, intellectually, sync

when it comes to taking on intellectually challenging tasks, groups of neurons tune in to one another for a fraction of a second and harmonize, then go back to improvising
The anterior (blue) and posterior (orange) regions of the prefrontal cortex sync up to communicate cognitive goals to one another.
Our neural orchestra may need no conductor, just brain waves sweeping through to briefly excite neurons, like millions of fans in a stadium doing ‘The Wave

#116 read 2016 March 10 04:34 PM. Link: makezine.com/2014/05/29/10-ways-to-make-your-ro…

robot, move, likeability, aversion, gaze, hedges, thoughtful, intentional

while eye contact is important, gaze aversion can make a robot look more intentional, thoughtful, and creative
Adding extra words called hedges (“maybe,” “probably” or “I think” ) and discourse markers (“You know,” “just,” “well,” “like” and “um.”) increases the likeability of robots
Move back before going forward, move down before going up.
1/f or “pink” noise is found in many biological systems.

#115 read 2016 March 10 03:59 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150721134…

Words are ideal for activating categories in the mind and shape perception from early on to be more effective at prediction

effect, words, twitches, perceptual, activating, shaping, predictions, profound

A new study shows that words have a profound effect even on the first electrical twitches of perception.
Words are ideal for activating categories in the mind
you can see language shaping perceptual mechanisms to make more effective predictions of what is about to occur

#114 read 2016 March 09 07:47 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160309125…

Climbing more stairs and more education associated with younger appearing brain

climbed, stairs, brain, flight, year, person, 95, 58

A new study shows that the more flights of stairs a person climbs, and the more years of school a person completes, the ‘younger’ their brain physically appears.
brain age decreases by 0.95 years for each year of education, and by 0.58 years for every daily flight of stairs climbed

#113 read 2016 March 08 01:21 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160307144…

Sudden insights may lead to better solutions than slow methodical thinking

methodical, aha, gradual, insight, yield, listening, sudden, moments

A series of experiments showed that sudden insight may yield more correct solutions than using gradual, methodical thinking. In other words, say the researchers, it’s absolutely worth listening to your “aha!” moments.

#112 read 2016 March 07 05:48 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-03-reveal-molecular-patterns…

convergently evolved search strategy for large areas with sparse rewards: slow localized searches with long non-searching movements

search, predatory, sparse, localized, explore, strategies, targets, vast

In nature and society, everything from predatory animals to submarine-seeking ships has developed search strategies where slow, localized searches alternate with long, non-searching movements to explore vast areas where targets are sparse

#111 read 2016 March 07 11:07 AM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-03-american-statistical-asso…

measure, p value, hypothesis, probability, statistical, significance, random, chance

By itself, a p-value does not provide a good measure of evidence regarding a model or hypothesis.
A p-value, or statistical significance, does not measure the size of an effect or the importance of a result.
P-values do not measure the probability that the studied hypothesis is true, or the probability that the data were produced by random chance alone.

#110 read 2016 March 06 01:45 AM. Link: science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6277/1074

positive connectivity, ai, anterior, acc, based altruism, striatum, insula, cingulate

Empathy-based altruism is primarily characterized by a positive connectivity from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) to the anterior insula (AI)
reciprocity-based altruism additionally invokes strong positive connectivity from the AI to the ACC and even stronger positive connectivity from the AI to the ventral striatum

#109 read 2016 March 05 11:13 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160303134…

problem, students, fared, solving, introducing, difficulty, phillips, struggle

Making learning problems simple does not help students as much as making those same problems difficult.
By making students struggle with problems – introducing designed difficulty into problem solving – Phillips has discovered that students have fared better on topics over the long term

#108 read 2016 March 02 03:04 AM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-03-celestial-bodies-sizes.html

bodies, constructal law, evolve, tension, reduced, natural, system, coalesce

Constructal Law, which states that natural systems evolve to facilitate flow.
They showed that if the bodies coalesce into some large bodies and some small bodies, the tension is reduced faster than if the bodies merged uniformly
The natural tendency of a system to evolve toward a state of reduced tension is a manifestation of the Constructal Law

#107 read 2016 March 01 03:34 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/the-ability-to-compose-mus…

pathway, effects, music, snca, neuropsychiatric, cerebellar, deleterious, advantageous

In spite of the deleterious effects on the human mind, neuropsychiatric disorders have persisted in evolution suggesting that they perhaps also carry advantageous effects such as creativity
SNCA gene, which has been shown to activate after people listen to or perform music
able to link musical composition to a molecular pathway known as the cerebellar long-term depression (LTD) pathway

#106 read 2016 February 29 09:52 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/shame-is-a-survival-mechan…

shame, social, motivate, prohibit, damaging, fabric, mechanisms, performs

The function of shame is to prevent us from damaging our social relationships, or to motivate us to repair them.
An international team of researchers says that shame performs a vital role in maintaining our ties to the social fabric, much like other defence mechanisms that prohibit us from doing ourselves physical harm

#105 read 2016 February 28 08:43 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-kids-lea…

Integrating exercise into lessons improves math and spelling in childhood

peers, physically, lessons, math, exercise, spelling, significantly, didn

After two years, children who got the physically active lessons had significantly higher scores in math and spelling than their peers who didn’t exercise during class.

#104 read 2016 February 28 04:30 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131016122…

activity, neurons, level, 48, cortex, regulate, disruption, researchers

Researchers have found that neurons in the brain regulate their own activity in such a way that the overall activity level in the network remains as constant as possible
Even when neurons in the visual cortex are cut off from their main source of information, within 48 hours their activity returns to a level similar to that prior to the disruption

#103 read 2016 February 28 12:14 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160224070…

linguistic, sounds, languages, different, auditory, perceive, distortion, listening

Do speakers of different languages hear music differently?
Knowledge of our mother tongue acts as a sort of auditory “template” that influences the way we perceive the sounds of other languages (scientists call this “native listening”).
there is no transfer to the non-linguistic domain and that the distortion effects are limited to linguistic sounds.

#102 read 2016 February 27 09:07 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211141…

grade, scientists, learned, students, achievements, personal struggles, improve, science grade

High school students may improve their science grades by learning about the personal struggles and failed experiments of great scientists such as Albert Einstein and Marie Curie
students who learned about the scientists’ intellectual or personal struggles had significantly improved their science grades, with low-achievers benefiting the most.
students in the control group who only learned about the scientists’ achievements not only didn’t see a grade increase, they had lower grades than the previous grading period before the study began

#101 read 2016 February 27 08:46 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160115100…

Taking up new mentally challenging activities (ex. photography, quilting) is key to maintaining cognition in old age

mental challenge, quilting, vitality, aging, cognitive, healthy, photography, maintain

Mentally challenging activities key to a healthy aging mind
Taking up a new mental challenge such as digital photography or quilting may help maintain cognitive vitality

#100 read 2016 February 27 08:39 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis

market, prices, information, emh, unpredictable, predictable, implication, discount

In financial economics, the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) states that asset prices fully reflect all available information. A direct implication is that it is impossible to “beat the market” consistently on a risk-adjusted basis since market prices should only react to new information or changes in discount rates (the latter may be predictable or unpredictable).

#99 read 2016 February 27 08:02 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-02-physicists-properties-sup…

Nematicity: when liquid crystals spontaneously align under electric field

nematic, liquid crystal, orbitals, spontaneously, drops, displays, temperature, enter

The term “nematicity” commonly refers to when liquid crystals spontaneously align under an electric field in liquid crystal displays. In this case, it is the electronic orbitals that enter the nematic state as the temperature drops below a critical point.

#98 read 2016 February 27 07:19 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160224133…

optimist, conservatives, rather, research, transatlantic, nouns, liberals, describing

Conservatives prefer using nouns, new transatlantic research suggests. The research also established that conservatives generally, to a greater degree than liberals, tend to refer to things by their names, rather than describing them in terms of their features. An example would be saying someone ‘is an optimist’, rather than ‘is optimistic’.

#97 read 2016 February 26 09:16 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140612121…

brain, synchronization, brain waves, learn, rapid, thought, different, flits

Synchronized brain waves enable rapid learning
The human mind can rapidly absorb and analyze new information as it flits from thought to thought. These quickly changing brain states may be encoded by synchronization of brain waves across different brain regions, according to a new study.
as monkeys learn to categorize different patterns of dots, two brain areas involved in learning – the prefrontal cortex and the striatum – synchronize their brain waves to form new communication circuits

#96 read 2016 February 26 09:08 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2015-05-fair-theory-income-inequa…

The ‘invisible hand’ of the market might be maximizing fairness?

maximize, jointly maximize, theory, wondered, economists, fairness, invisible, firms

Economists have long wondered what it is that Adam Smith’s `invisible hand’ is supposed to be maximizing and what are the firms trying to jointly maximize in potential game theory. Our theory suggests that what the participants are jointly maximizing is fairness.

#95 read 2016 February 26 08:59 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150528084…

activation, brain, creative, center, found, cerebellum, heightened, negatively

A surprising link has been found between creative problem-solving and heightened activity in the cerebellum, a structure located in the back of the brain and more typically thought of as the body’s movement-coordination center.
found that activation of the brain’s executive-control centers – the parts of the brain that enable you to plan, organize and manage your activities – is negatively associated with creative task performance

#94 read 2016 February 26 08:57 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engel%27s_law

Engel’s law: as income rises, proportion of income spent on food falls

income, food, rises, elasticity, engel, expenditure, proportion, observation

Engel’s law is an observation in economics stating that as income rises, the proportion of income spent on food falls, even if actual expenditure on food rises. In other words, the income elasticity of demand of food is between 0 and 1.

#93 read 2016 February 26 08:53 PM. Link: www.wired.com/2013/02/math-and-nature-universal…

random, regular, universality, eigenvalues, spectra, correlated, chaotic, matrices

a precise balance of randomness and regularity known as “universality,” which has been observed in the spectra of many complex, correlated systems
regardless of their specific characteristics, the random matrices are found to exhibit that same chaotic yet regular pattern in the distribution of their eigenvalues

#92 read 2016 February 26 08:50 PM. Link: www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129610.100-the…

Giving robots small behavioural tics makes them appear more human.

tics, behavioural, interacting, robots, comfortable, feel, appear, lot

Giving robots a series of small behavioural tics can make help them appear a lot more human, which makes us feel more comfortable interacting with them

#91 read 2016 February 26 08:44 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meijer_G-function

function, g function, expressible, closure, constant, argument, constant power, 1936

In mathematics, the G-function was introduced by Cornelis Simon Meijer (1936) as a very general function intended to include most of the known special functions as particular cases.
A notable property is the closure of the set of all G-functions not only under differentiation but also under indefinite integration. In combination with a functional equation that allows to liberate from a G-function G(z) any factor zρ that is a constant power of its argument z, the closure implies that whenever a function is expressible as a G-function of a constant multiple of some constant power of the function argument, f(x) = G(cxγ), the derivative and the antiderivative of this function are expressible so too.

#90 read 2016 February 26 07:03 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150223122…

The hippocampus and PFC use two different frequencies to communicate when we learn to associate unrelated objects

brain, brain wave, learning, prefrontal, hippocampus, cortex, frequencies, communicate

How brain waves guide memory formation
Two brain regions that are key to learning – the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex – use two different brain-wave frequencies to communicate as the brain learns to associate unrelated objects, researchers have discovered

#89 read 2016 February 26 06:56 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150217202…

student, brain, mri, teachers, understanding, key, process, game

The science of teaching: Study finds brain processes that hold the key to understanding students
New research has identified the parts of the brain involved in computing mistakes in other people’s understanding, which is a key process in guiding students’ learning
According to the results, the MRI scans revealed that a region of the teachers’ brain called the anterior cingulate cortex signalled how wrong the beliefs of the student were during the game
The teachers had to indicate whether the students’ decisions during the game were correct or not, as they lay in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner

#88 read 2015 December 01 10:12 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/poorly-ventilated-office-s…

Working around cleaner air with less CO2 leads to higher cognitive functioning

co2, pollutants, levels, office, ventilated, dioxide, functioning, cognitive

people working in well-ventilated office spaces with below-average levels of indoor pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2) demonstrate significantly higher cognitive functioning scores than workers in offices with typical levels of pollutants and CO2

#87 read 2016 February 26 06:30 PM. Link: people.idsia.ch/~juergen/interest.html

rewards, curious, agents, learnable, mismatches, regularities, unpredictable, learners

curious agents are interested in learnable but yet unknown regularities, and get bored by both predictable and inherently unpredictable things.
His active reinforcement learners translate mismatches between expectations and reality into curiosity rewards or intrinsic rewards for curious, creative, exploring agents which like to observe / create truly surprising aspects of the world, to learn novel patterns

#86 read 2016 January 26 10:32 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-discovered…

Neurotrophins: proteins that promote neuron development

neurotrophins, drawbacks, penetration, neurons, stability, protein, promote, levels

Neurotrophins are a type of protein that promote the development of neurons, but which come with some drawbacks, including low stability and low penetration levels

#85 read 2015 December 01 09:37 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151119122…

receptor, scientists, memory formation, ghrelin, alters, unrecognized, dopamine, signaling

Critical mechanism of memory formation revealed by scientists
scientists have found that the interaction between a pair of brain proteins has a substantial and previously unrecognized effect on memory formation
the ghrelin receptor changes the structure of the dopamine receptor and alters its signaling pathway

#84 read 2016 February 26 04:43 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duployan_shorthand

Duployan stenography: letterform prototypes based on lines and circles

stenography, duployan, geometric, classified, stenographic, letterforms, ellipses, alphabetic

The Duployan stenography is classified as a geometric, alphabetic, stenography and is written left-to-right in connected stenographic style
Duployan is classified as a geometric stenography, in that the prototype for letterforms are based on lines and circles, instead of ellipses

#83 read 2016 February 26 03:20 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160224100…

scharff, reveal, prisoners, interview technique, asking questions, interview, questions, without asking

Refined interview technique can reveal plans of terror: How to get answers without asking questions
An interview technique for eliciting intelligence without asking questions has in a series of experiments proven to work very well
interview style that was based on treating the prisoners with respect and kindness instead of pressuring them with questions and threats of violence
Instead of an interrogation, Scharff arranged his meeting as a conversation, emphasizing that the most important details were already known, and that all he wanted was help to fill in some minor gaps. This meant that prisoners never knew when they disclosed information that Scharff did not already know, and often ended up revealing much more information than they thought they did.

#82 read 2016 February 24 08:49 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160224133…

movements, computer, shows, rapt, witchel, involuntary, bored, absorbed

Computers can tell if you’re bored, shows new study
The research shows that by measuring a person’s movements as they use a computer, it is possible to judge their level of interest by monitoring whether they display the tiny movements that people usually constantly exhibit, known as non-instrumental movements
If someone is absorbed in what they are watching or doing – what Dr Witchel calls ‘rapt engagement’ – there is a decrease in these involuntary movements.

#81 read 2016 February 23 10:58 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160211184…

lifelong memories, imprinting, moms, hatched, spawning, geese, brains, worms

Scientists learn how young brains form lifelong memories by studying worms’ food choices
Many animals are capable of making vital, lifelong memories during a critical period soon after birth. The phenomenon, known as imprinting, allows newly hatched geese to bond with their moms, and makes it possible for salmon to return to their native stream after spawning

#80 read 2016 February 22 10:59 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160222111…

There is an algorithm to design useful quantum experiments

designed, quantum experiments, intuition, unfamiliar, rely, algorithm, machines, solutions

Quantum experiments designed by machines
An algorithm has been designed that designs new useful quantum experiments. As the computer does not rely on human intuition, it finds novel unfamiliar solutions.

#79 read 2016 February 21 06:05 PM. Link: lifehacker.com/how-we-work-2016-thorin-klosowsk…

Do something out of your comfort zone and walk away a bit happier

youll, wouldnt, happier, comfort, listen, normally, walk, watch

Do/read/watch/play/listen to something you wouldn’t normally and when you edge out of that comfort zone you’ll always walk away a little happier.

#78 read 2016 February 21 04:20 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150602130…

Limbic tissue is predicting and directing predictions to everywhere else in cortex, as suggested by its structure and neural organization.

predicting, pinpointed, limbic, epicenter, cortex, neurons, barrett, everywhere

Epicenter of brain’s predictive ability pinpointed by scientists
“The unique contribution of our paper is to show that limbic tissue, because of its structure and the way the neurons are organized, is predicting,” Barrett said. “It is directing the predictions to everywhere else in the cortex, and that makes it very powerful.”

#77 read 2016 February 21 01:42 AM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-02-holes-drilled-collapse-wo…

holes, drilled, cube, 6 cm, lattice, cell, density, critical

The scenario involves a wooden cube with 6-cm sides made of medium-density fiberboard. Each of the six faces is marked with a 6 x 6-cm square lattice for a total of 36 square cells per face. Then round holes (of diameter equal to the length of a square cell) are drilled through random cells all the way through the cube.
the number of holes that needs to be drilled to collapse this particular cube is always around 13 holes in each of the three directions, or 39 holes total. Their formula shows that, although this critical number changes for different lattice sizes, the critical density of drills is very similar.

#76 read 2016 February 19 03:40 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160219134…

sleep, active, consolidate memories, replay, memories, brain, strengthens, hippocampus

Best to sleep on it: Brain activity patterns during sleep consolidate memory
This replayed activity happens in part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is our central filing system for memories. The key new finding is that sleep replay strengthens the microscopic connections between nerve cells that are active – a process deemed critical for consolidating memories.

#75 read 2016 February 19 03:33 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160217090…

students, attend public, test, pre k, public pre, time higher, preschool, admissions

Attending public preschool is linked to an increase in students taking the admissions test for gifted and talented programs
The researchers found that compared to students who did not attend public pre-K, the odds of taking the test were 4.8 times higher for full-time public pre-K students, and 3 times higher for part-time students.

#74 read 2016 February 15 12:16 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-figured-ou…

memories, response, arachnophobes, sweaty, dampen, norepinephrine, tarantula, triggering

memories can be manipulated because they act as if made from glass, existing in a molten state as they are being created, before turning solid
by blocking a chemical called norepinephrine - which is involved in the fight or flight response and is responsible for triggering symptoms such as sweaty palms and a racing heart - researchers can ‘dampen’ traumatic memories, and stop them being associated with negative emotions
arachnophobes who were shown the spider and given the drug were able to touch the tarantula within days

#73 read 2016 February 14 09:30 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160210134…

ink, colorless, color, create, nanostructure, inkjet, colloidal, team

Creating a color printer that uses a colorless, non-toxic ink inspired by nature
Instead of relying on dyes, the team exploits the nanostructure of this ink to create color on a page with inkjet printing.
The team found that a colorless titanium dioxide-based colloidal ink was the best suited for the job

#72 read 2016 February 14 08:32 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_coding

Neural spike trains can use multiple coding schemes

coding, augment, spikes, sparse, neural, schemes, strategy, sequence

Sparse coding may be a general strategy of neural systems to augment memory capacity.
A sequence, or ‘train’, of spikes may contain information based on different coding schemes.

#71 read 2015 December 01 09:35 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/new-study-suggests-we-re-s…

Children who start kindergarten at 7 are more mentally prepared

start, age, inattention, hyperactivity, youngsters, kindergarten, regulation, improving

youngsters typically start kindergarten at the age of six. Those who started aged seven showed lower levels of inattention and hyperactivity, factors known to be influential in improving self-regulation, which in turn is linked to academic achievement

#70 read 2016 February 14 01:20 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/new-mathematical-model-she…

algorithms, behavior, learning, account, model, habitbased, neuroimaging, reinforcement

temporal-difference algorithms of model-free learning account for both behavioral and neuroimaging data regarding habitbased decision making
model-based reinforcement learning algorithms have provided a powerful framework to account for goal-directed behavior and to identify some of the key brain areas involved in it

#69 read 2016 February 10 02:57 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/bacterial-cells-are-actual…

cell, light, synechocystis, refracts, pili, tentacle, cyanobacteria, triggers

What the researchers discovered when studying Synechocystis – a species of cyanobacteria found in freshwater lakes and rivers – is that their cell bodies act like a lens. When light hits the spherical surface of the cell, it refracts into a point on the other side of the cell. This triggers movement by the cell away from the focused internal spot, towards the source of the light, with the cells using tiny tentacle-like structures called pili to pull themselves forwards.

#68 read 2016 February 07 02:36 AM. Link: www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch….

much, learn, flaws, compound, opportunity, doubt, conditions, notice

What most people think are the best working conditions, are not.
The more you know, the more you learn; the more you learn, the more you can do; the more you can do, the more the opportunity - it is very much like compound interest.
If you believe too much you’ll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won’t get started

#67 read 2016 February 06 02:35 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151110171…

Faster brain waves make shorter game in visual stream

visual, wave, acuity, lapses, stimulus, gaps, tenth, shorter

Faster brain waves make shorter gaps in visual stream
Those lapses of attention come fast – maybe just once every tenth of a second
our visual acuity is at its best when a visual stimulus appears as the alpha wave is near a certain peak

#66 read 2016 February 05 01:54 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160204175…

Brain plasticity varies by functional network

plasticity, scientists, response, synapses, assorted, neighboring, functional, dramatic

Scientists find brain plasticity assorted into functional networks
scientists found dramatic differences in the plasticity response, even between neighboring synapses in response to identical activity experiences.

#65 read 2016 February 04 12:24 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-found-a-te…

Practising variations of a task more efficient than practising exact same task

practise, faster, exact, modified, row, learn, slightly, task

if you practise a slightly modified version of a task you want to master, you actually learn more and faster than if you just keep practising the exact same thing multiple times in a row

#64 read 2016 January 30 11:17 PM. Link: lifehacker.com/why-you-shouldn-t-take-some-medi…

Grapefruit juice affects effect size of some medications

cyp3a4, grapefruit, dose, throws, juice, crucial, enzyme, drinking

It blocks a crucial enzyme (CYP3A4) that controls how much of the medicine you receive. So drinking grapefruit juice basically throws off the safe dose.

#63 read 2016 January 29 04:28 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160129131…

Tracing over a math problem improves performance and understanding of geometry and algebra problems in children.

problems, tracing, maths, solved, algebra, enhanced, geometry, understood

tracing over elements of maths problems enhanced how they understood and solved problems in geometry and algebra

#62 read 2016 January 28 02:31 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2015-05-brain-map-geometries.html…

Space-mapping grid cells in rodent entorhinal cortex could also map hyperbolic surfaces.

entorhinal, rodents, hyperbolic, cortex, neurons, mapping, surfaces, grid

Grid cells, space-mapping neurons of the entorhinal cortex of rodents, could also work for hyperbolic surfaces.

#61 read 2016 January 28 01:33 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/massive-study-identifies-s…

Synaptic pruning linked to gene variant

c4, hallmarks, schizophrenia, neural, cutting, variant, connections, putting

presence of a highly active C4 gene variant could be cutting away neural connections in the brain, and putting an individual at an increased risk of developing the hallmarks of schizophrenia

#60 read 2016 January 24 02:24 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160120143…

effect, performance, performance brands, 3m, novices, lowers, placebo, esteem

Research has examined whether using performance brands such as Nike and 3M had any effect on consumers’ output
The effect is strongest among people who are novices in the respective task, such as golf putting or math tests, whereas experts receive little or no boost
Our results indicate that strong performance brands can cause an effect that is akin to a placebo effect
This higher self-esteem lowers their performance anxiety which, in turn, leads to the better performance outcomes

#59 read 2016 January 22 12:51 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-think-they-ve-f…

pathways, limbic, looping, behavioural, sensory, functionality, minds, happening

the brain is constantly looping signals through established pathways - pathways that can be thought of as city street maps for our minds
three different areas of functionality: sensory (what’s currently happening), behavioural (what we can do about it), and limbic (what it means to us)

#58 read 2016 January 21 02:43 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/our-brain-s-memory-capacit…

Synapses can change size every 2 to 20 minutes.

20, synapses, minutes, size, means, next, every

This means that every 2 or 20 minutes, your synapses are going up or down to the next size,

#57 read 2016 January 20 10:43 PM. Link: lifehacker.com/why-slow-internet-and-getting-st…

Being restrained can make increase aggression via the S(topped) trigger

restrained, stopped, trigger, aggressive, engage, reaction, stands, animal

It’s the S trigger, and the S stands for stopped. You’re stopped — it’s like you’re being restrained. And any time an animal is restrained, it will engage in an aggressive reaction to get free.

#56 read 2016 January 18 11:01 AM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-boredom-…

student, got, snidely, 25, schatz, boredom, learners, programmed

Boredom even accounts for about 25% of variation in student achievement
When the system was programmed to insult those who got questions wrong and snidely praise those who got them right, says Schatz, some students, especially adult learners, saw improved outcomes and were willing to spend longer on the machines

#55 read 2016 January 17 01:20 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/the-next-generation-of-com…

Brain working hard = high oxygen, resting/autopolot = low oxygen.

levels mean, autopilot, cruising, oxygen, basically, brain, hard, along

High oxygen levels mean the brain is working hard, and low levels mean it’s basically cruising along on autopilot.

#54 read 2016 January 16 10:26 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-new-me…

Low amplitude electric field: neurons more excitable

field, 26, excite, amplitude, mediate, activate, propagation, neurons

electrical fields can mediate propagation across layers of neurons. While the field is of low amplitude (approximately 2–6 mV/mm), it’s able to excite and activate immediate neighbours

#53 read 2016 January 12 02:40 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160112102…

addicted, drug, individual, basolateral amygdala, striatum, circumventing, cortex, cocaine

Individuals addicted to cocaine may have difficulty in controlling their addiction because of a previously-unknown ‘back door’ into the brain, circumventing their self-control, suggests a new study.
The basolateral amygdala stores the pleasurable memories associated with cocaine, but the pre-frontal cortex manipulates this information, helping an individual to weigh up whether or not to take the drug: if an addicted individual takes the drug, this activates mechanisms in the dorsal striatum
The pathway links the basolateral amygdala indirectly with the dorsolateral striatum, circumventing the prefrontal cortex. This means that an addicted individual would not necessarily be aware of their desire to take the drug.

#52 read 2016 January 12 02:38 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160112125…

Innate ratio processing ability linked to aptitude for other math concepts

aptitude, fractions, innate, determining, concepts, mathematical, processing, formal

New research finds evidence for an innate ratio processing ability that may play a role in determining our aptitude for understanding fractions and other formal mathematical concepts.

#51 read 2016 January 12 02:26 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160112125…

preschoolers, dropping, intervention, recall, risk, poor, shows, term

Early intervention: New research shows that preschoolers with poor short-term recall are more at risk of dropping out of high school

#50 read 2016 January 11 01:38 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/scientists-create-world-s-…

Endohedral fullerene: buckyball with other atoms or small molecules inside

fullerene, atoms, carbon, 60, endohedral, nanostructures, sturdy, phosphorus

endohedral fullerenes are spherical carbon nanostructures that consist of a sturdy fullerene cage made from 60 carbon atoms, inside which the atoms of non-metals or simple molecules, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and helium, are trapped

#49 read 2016 January 08 08:42 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141210080…

Saving something helps free cognitive resources to be used for remembering new information

saving, act, research, information, cognitive, encounter, helps, suggests

The simple act of saving something, such as a file on a computer, may improve our memory for the information we encounter next, according to new research. The research suggests that the act of saving helps to free up cognitive resources that can be used to remember new information.

#48 read 2016 January 07 04:09 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160104130…

Beyond a certain point, we cannot cancel a movement the brain has started preparing for

brain, point, cancel, duel, preparing, researchers, conclusion, certain

The brain-computer duel: Do we have free will?
Is it possible for people to cancel a movement once the brain has started preparing it? The conclusion the researchers reached was: Yes, up to a certain point – the ‘point of no return’.

#47 read 2016 January 07 04:03 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160107094…

brain, autopilot, scans, deepest, activate, values, stories, thought

Brain scans show that stories that force us to think about our deepest values activate a region of the brain once thought to be its autopilot

#46 read 2016 January 07 02:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160107104…

Taking an omniscient perspective can reduce bias against others.

bias, perspective, reduce, thinking, god, study, shows, against

Study shows thinking from God’s perspective can reduce bias against others

#45 read 2016 January 07 02:30 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160107094…

Valuing your time more than pursuit of money linked to greater happiness

valuing, happiness, pursuit, psychology, personality, linked, greater, money

Valuing your time more than the pursuit of money is linked to greater happiness, according to new research published by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology

#44 read 2016 January 04 04:08 PM. Link: phys.org/news/2016-01-evidence-bad.html

Large unanimity is less likely than the system being broken

unreliable, unanimous, witnesses, probability, unlikely, laws, according, large

getting a large group of unanimous witnesses is so unlikely, according to the laws of probability, that it’s more likely that the system is unreliable

#43 read 2015 December 30 07:42 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151223134…

brain, organization, research, neuropsychiatric, unraveled, biomarker, discontinuity, quantified

New research using computational neuroscience has unraveled a longstanding mystery of a fundamental property of the brain, topographic organization. The research shows that in the case of pathology, brain maps may undergo re-organization and their discontinuity can be quantified, allowing them to serve as a biomarker for detecting neuropsychiatric disease.

#42 read 2015 December 30 12:44 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/how-to-keep-your-new-year-…

willpower, manageable, relying, importantly, intentions, failing, document, beat

the number one thing to stop relying on is your own willpower
your goals should be small and manageable, you should document your success, tell others about your intentions, and, importantly, not beat yourself up for failing

#41 read 2015 December 26 01:40 PM. Link: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4667098/

pharmacological cognitive enhancement, npce, pce, non pharmacological, effective, modafinil, methylphenidate, caffeine

Pills or Push-Ups? Effectiveness and Public Perception of Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Cognitive Enhancement
We consider caffeine, methylphenidate, and modafinil for pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) and computer training, physical exercise, and sleep for non-pharmacological cognitive enhancement (NPCE).
we can conclude that PCE is not more effective than NPCE

#40 read 2015 December 24 03:05 AM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/here-s-why-evolution-might…

The mechanisms behind evolution can themselves evolve.

evolve, selection, ability, natural, change

natural selection can change its own ability to evolve

#39 read 2015 December 21 11:53 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151218084…

Ostrich effect: investors tend to avoid facing financial portfolio when expecting bad news

seppi, loewenstein, 2009, ostrich, portfolios, duane, expecting, dodge

George Loewenstein and Duane Seppi first introduced the ‘ostrich effect’ in 2009 to describe how investors ‘put their heads in the sand’ to dodge facing their financial portfolios when they’re expecting bad news.

#38 read 2015 December 21 09:39 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151221194…

Material purchases: frequent happiness. Experiental purchases: more intense one-time happiness.

purchases, happiness, provide, sweaters, skateboards, experiential, intense, zoo

Researchers have shown that material purchases, from sweaters to skateboards, provide more frequent happiness over time, whereas experiential purchases, like a trip to the zoo, provide more intense happiness on individual occasions.

#37 read 2015 December 20 09:46 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-proved-th…

analyse, lump, dramatically, bizarre, defeats, particle, exhibit, solve

The reason this problem is impossible to solve in general is because models at this level exhibit extremely bizarre behaviour that essentially defeats any attempt to analyse them
our results show that adding even a single particle to a lump of matter, however large, could in principle dramatically change its properties

#36 read 2015 December 19 12:39 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151216115…

Anemia correlated with lower verbal memory and executive functions

g dl, 13, 12, haemoglobin, anemia, verbal, participants, showed

Study participants with anemia, defined as haemoglobin <13 g/dl in men and <12 g/dl in women, showed lower performances in verbal memory and executive functions.

#35 read 2015 December 17 04:44 PM. Link: www.sciencealert.com/dogs-give-food-to-their-fr…

dogs, prosocial behaviour, exhibit, familiar, behaviour, toward, ulterior, voluntarily

The researchers found that dogs, in the absence of any ulterior motive, do indeed exhibit prosocial behaviour, by voluntarily giving food to other dogs.
the degree of familiarity among the dogs further influenced this behaviour. Prosocial behaviour was exhibited less frequently toward unfamiliar dogs than toward familiar ones.

#34 read 2015 December 14 06:17 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151209091…

Send unreadable messages back in time to solve problems?

intractable, solving, lock, contents, send, message, key, problems

Why send a message back in time, but lock it so that no one can ever read the contents? Because it may be the key to solving currently intractable problems.

#33 read 2015 December 14 06:13 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151214145…

Brain region for emotional processing affected by state of tinnitus

tinnitus, bothered, emotional, symptoms, processing, indicates, brain, regions

People with tinnitus who are less bothered by their symptoms use different brain regions when processing emotional information, new research indicates

#32 read 2015 December 14 01:07 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151211131…

Food labels influence the perception of flavour

labeled, cheese, tasty, flavour, ghent, delicious, perception, equally

Ghent University researchers found that food labels influence the perception of flavour. Light products are considered less tasty
Cheese with a claim about a reduced salt content, on the other hand, was labeled as equally delicious as regular cheese

#31 read 2015 December 14 12:56 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151211131…

training, athletes, exercise, hard, period, 40, winks, carbohydrate

Getting enough sleep is an essential part of any athlete’s training program, but a new study reveals intensive bouts of exercise can make it hard to get 40 winks
the athletes’ moods and capacity for exercise both worsened over the period of observation
a high carbohydrate regime reduced some, but not all, of the effects of hard training
The cycle of successful training must involve overload to a state of acute fatigue, followed by a period of rest. The results of such training are positive adaptations and improvements in performance

#30 read 2015 December 13 08:51 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151210181…

Hiring overqualified employees can be beneficial

employee, overqualified, overqualification, applicants, hiring, harmful, brings, benefits

Employee overqualification has been widely considered harmful for organizations, which is why most companies tend to screen out such job applicants. Research suggests, however, that hiring overqualified employees brings benefits.

#29 read 2015 December 12 04:44 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151208184…

concentrating, deaf, brain, sounds, magnetoencephalography, inattentional, momentarily, auditory

Concentrating attention on a visual task can render you momentarily ‘deaf’ to sounds at normal levels
The phenomenon of ‘inattentional deafness’, where we fail to notice sounds when concentrating on other things, has been observed by the researchers before
they have been able to determine, by measuring brain activity in real-time using MEG (magnetoencephalography), that the effects are driven by brain mechanisms at a very early stage of auditory processing

#28 read 2015 December 12 04:41 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151210144…

neuron, apigenin, substance, brain, cells, formation, 25, flavonoids

Apigenin, a substance found in parsley, thyme, chamomile and red pepper, improves neuron formation and strengthens the connections between brain cells, new lab research demonstrates.
just by applying apigenin to human stem cells in a dish they become neurons after 25 days – an effect they would not see without the substance
we can speculate that a diet rich in flavonoids may influence the formation of neurons and the way they communicate within the brain

#27 read 2015 December 12 04:29 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151210181…

Addiction linked to sensation/excitement seeking tendency.

seek, sensation, exciting, addiction, tendency, experiences, linked

Sensation seeking, or the tendency to seek out exciting experiences, has been linked to addiction.

#26 read 2015 December 06 10:01 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151109083…

Being reminded about what not to do helps children control impulsive behavior – not simply having to wait

control, help young, impulsive, reminded, delay, exercise, passage, wait

Don’t delay: Having to wait doesn’t help young kids exercise self-control
new research shows that it’s being reminded about what not to do, not the passage of time, that actually helps young children control their impulsive behavior

#25 read 2015 December 06 10:00 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151109110…

Positive emotions are more contagious than negative ones on twitter

emotional, contagious, twitter, positive emotional, negative ones, contagion, susceptible, virus

Positive emotions more contagious than negative ones on Twitter
New study shows that emotions spread like a virus through Twitter; some people are more susceptible than others to this ‘emotional contagion;’ positive emotions are much more contagious than negative ones.

#24 read 2015 December 06 09:40 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/hunger-makes…

Those who are hungry want more stuff, but do not necessarily enjoy things more

hungry, clips, group, werent, satiated, binder, didnt, fewer

As it turned out, the satiated group requested fewer binder clips than the hungry group. Once again, those who were hungry wanted more stuff
Despite taking more, the hungry people didn’t rate the clips higher than those people who weren’t hungry.

#23 read 2015 December 06 09:26 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151109085…

The blood-brain barries can be non-invasively opened with focused ultrasound.

invasively, ultrasound, barrier, focused, brain, blood, opened, non

Blood-brain barrier opened non-invasively with focused ultrasound for the first time

#22 read 2015 December 06 09:16 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-experien…

Brain maintains weak memories for a time which are capable of being enhanced

enhanced, memories, maintained, suggests, brain, weak, initially, evidence

New evidence suggests that our initially weak memories are maintained by the brain for a period, during which they can be enhanced.

#21 read 2015 December 06 09:09 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-we-are-a…

pathological personality, traits, weeded, neurotic, impulsive, biases, confer, mates

people with certain extreme pathological personality traits fare well in the game of love
Their results show that people with some pathological personality types, such as those considered neurotic and impulsive, had more mates and even more children than average, suggesting that such traits are not being weeded out by natural selection and actually may confer an evolutionary advantage
there may be some biases in participants’ self-reports of relationship

#20 read 2015 December 06 07:33 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151113051…

memory, meal, episodic memory, eat, sweet, brain, food, autobiographical

Eating sweet foods causes the brain to form a memory of a meal
Episodic memory is the memory of autobiographical events experienced at a particular time and place
neurons in the dorsal hippocampus, the part of the brain that is critical for episodic memory, are activated by consuming sweets
Researchers have found that people with amnesia will eat again if presented with food, even if they’ve already eaten, because they have no memory of the meal.

#19 read 2015 December 06 07:24 PM. Link: lifehacker.com/if-you-cant-come-up-with-a-good-…

Take two random concepts and see how you can fit them together.

concepts, belong, regardless, whether, together, two

take two concepts, regardless of whether they belong together, and see what you can make out of it

#18 read 2015 December 06 07:10 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151111165…

apologies, heard, important, children, transgressor, transgression, mitigate, confirms

Apologies are important to children who are 6 or 7 years old, an age when they are undergoing dramatic and important changes in cognitive development, a new project confirms.
children who experienced a minor transgression and heard an apology felt just as bad as those who did not hear an apology
But those who heard the transgressor say, ‘I’m sorry’ actually shared more with that person later. The apology repaired the relationship even though it did not mitigate their hurt feelings

#17 read 2015 December 05 10:37 PM. Link: www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-surprisi…

In the context of teamwork, too much talent may be bad, due to higher weight of personal goals over team goals.

talent, team, teamwork, attainment, flooded, pursuit, roster, prevent

Why is too much talent a bad thing? Think teamwork.
When a team roster is flooded with individual talent, pursuit of personal star status may prevent the attainment of team goals.

#16 read 2015 December 05 10:04 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151203140…

Blue is ‘greener’ than green at signalling environmental friendliness

friendliness, greener, judgments, signaling, affects, ethical, brands, suggests

Color affects ethical judgments of brands, research suggests
Studies show blue is ‘greener’ than green when it comes to signaling environmental friendliness

#15 read 2015 December 05 04:49 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140916111…

Actively categorizing your experiences may help extend good ones and shorten bad ones

experiences, shorten, consumers, extend, bad ones, categorizing, wonderful, trick

A new study finds that simply categorizing experiences can help consumers extend good experiences and shorten the bad ones
Can consumers use an easy trick to extend wonderful experiences, shorten bad ones?

#14 read 2015 December 05 04:47 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141020212…

Mental rest and reflection between learning episodes may be beneficial

learned, boost, reflect, rest, minds, mechanisms, mental, engaged

Mental rest and reflection boost learning, study suggests
brain mechanisms engaged when people allow their minds to rest and reflect on things they’ve learned before may boost later learning.

#13 read 2015 December 05 04:46 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141030114…

parental, children, socialization, detectable, bedtime, dinners, smarter, nightly

Can parents make their kids smarter?
Reading bedtime stories, engaging in conversation and eating nightly dinners together are all positive ways in which parents interact with their children, but according to new research, none of these actions have any detectable influence on children’s intelligence later in life
found evidence to support the argument that IQ is not the result of parental socialization

#12 read 2015 December 04 10:28 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150428171…

Uncertainty of causal relationship positively influences memorability

learning, whether, causal, stimulus, uncertainty, switching, determining, outcome

Switching on one-shot learning in the brain
uncertainty in terms of the causal relationship – whether an outcome is actually caused by a particular stimulus – is the main factor in determining whether or not rapid learning occurs

#11 read 2015 December 04 10:26 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150303153…

Leaky sensory gating of incoming senses helps filter irrelevant information and focus attention

sensory, gating, involuntarily, leaky, propensity, integrate, creativity, filter

“Leaky” sensory gating, the propensity to filter out “irrelevant” sensory information, happens early, and involuntarily, in brain processing and may help people integrate ideas that are outside of the focus of attention, leading to creativity in the real world

#10 read 2015 December 04 10:24 PM. Link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerkes%E2%80%93Dodson_law

Being calm may help concentration, benefitting intellectually demanding tasks, while tasks requiring stamina are better performed when excited (this more motivated).

arousal, demanding, tasks, level, stamina, intellectually, persistence, motivation

difficult or intellectually demanding tasks may require a lower level of arousal (to facilitate concentration), whereas tasks demanding stamina or persistence may be performed better with higher levels of arousal (to increase motivation)

#9 read 2015 December 04 08:47 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151130131…

Snunkoople effect: funny made-up words (ex. by Dr. Seuss) have uncommon letter combinations.

funny, word, non word, snunkoople, predictably, seuss, entropy, effect

How funny is this word? The ‘snunkoople’ effect
“We did show, for example, that Dr. Seuss – who makes funny non-words – made non-words that were predictably lower in entropy
Non-words like finglam, with uncommon letter combinations, are lower in entropy than other non-words like clester, which have more probable combinations of letters and therefore higher entropy

#8 read 2015 December 04 07:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151005121…

For those on autism spectrum, training by reprtition can hurt generalization ability.

autism, learned, training, actually, information, asd, harms, repetition

Training by repetition actually prevents learning for those with autism
Training individuals with those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to acquire new information by repeating the information actually harms their ability to apply that learned knowledge to other situations.

#7 read 2015 December 04 07:32 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151006142…

Repetition helps verbal memory especially when aloud and/or to another person.

boosts, aloud, repeating, verbal, addressing, memory, especially, person

Repeating aloud boosts verbal memory, especially when you do it while addressing another person.

#6 read 2015 December 04 11:38 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151204090…

We are more likely to assign credit to people for negative results than for positive.

outcome, intentional, paradox, blame, logical, helps, slow, quick

New research helps explain the paradox of why we are quick to blame people but slow to credit them for their actions.
There’s no logical reason why we would call something intentional, just because it causes a bad outcome as opposed to a good outcome

#5 read 2015 December 04 12:12 AM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150212212…

The first letter of a name influences its perception when read, and being in the first half of alphabet is beneficial.

fluent, headline, choosing, attractive, alphabet, reveals, dating, finding

Choosing a screen name with a letter starting in the top half of the alphabet is as important as an attractive photo and a fluent headline in the online dating game, reveals an analysis of the best ways of finding love in the digital world.

#4 read 2015 December 03 09:39 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151203082…

Cannabis increases neural noise.

cannabis, effects, increased, active, psychosis, neural, neural noise, healthy

Cannabis increases the noise in your brain
Several studies have demonstrated that the primary active constituent of cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, induces transient psychosis-like effects in healthy subjects similar to those observed in schizophrenia. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects are not clear. A new study shows that this active ingredient increases random neural activity, termed neural noise, in the brains of healthy human subjects. The findings suggest that increased neural noise may play a role in the psychosis-like effects of cannabis.

#3 read 2015 December 03 07:43 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151203112…

Having a strong sense of purpose is healthy.

pooled, cardiovascular, disease, risk, analysis, reports, purpose, sense

People who have a higher sense of purpose in life are at lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease, reports a pooled data analysis.

#2 read 2015 December 02 10:31 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151202132…

Low physical activity when younger may affect cognitive function in adulthood.

physical activity, tv, 25, midlife, acknowledge, limitations, cognitive, watching

Watching a lot of TV and having a low physical activity level as a young adult were associated with worse cognitive function 25 years later in midlife, according to an article.
The authors acknowledge a few limitations, including possible selection bias and that physical activity and TV viewing were self-reported.

#1 read 2015 December 02 10:27 PM. Link: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151202132…

Effects of oxytocin are complex – affecting men and women differently and elevation associated with some negative states.

oxytocin, women, neuroscientists, ptsd, hormone, anxiety, behavioral, trigger

New research by behavioral neuroscientists suggests oxytocin may have different effects in men and women – and in certain circumstances the hormone may actually trigger anxiety.
women with depression or PTSD have elevated oxytocin levels.