http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Have you ever experienced a sudden feeling of familiarity while in a completely new place? Or the feeling you've had the exact same conversation with someone before? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-deja-vu.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:54:50 EST news277113274 Languages are highly complex systems and yet most children seem to acquire language easily, even in the absence of formal instruction. New research on young children's use of British Sign Language (BSL) sheds light on one of the mechanisms - iconicity - that may endow children with this amazing ability. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-road-language-iconic.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 13 Nov 2012 15:10:22 EST news272041816 When interacting with robots or animations with unnatural-looking faces, many people report a sense of unease. The face seems familiar yet alien, leaving the brain uncertain whether it is definitely human. To make robots more acceptable, it is necessary to understand the roots of these emotional reactions. Research from Japan has now shown that these reactions may begin in early infancy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-infants-greater-unease-computer-morphed-shown.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 12 Oct 2012 07:59:30 EST news269247551 (Medical Xpress) -- Most people have been in a situation that suddenly feels strangely familiar, while also realizing that they have never been in that specific place before. These experiences are called ‘déjà vu’ and the phenomenon has inspired countless books, songs and movies.   What is remarkable about déjà vu, says Western University graduate student Chris Martin, is that the impression of familiarity is accompanied by a sense that the current environment or situation should in fact feel new. But how can it be that a scene or an experience evokes a sense of familiarity but at the same time a feeling that this familiarity is wrong? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-explore-secret-deja-vu.html Neuroscience Sun, 12 Aug 2012 16:42:07 EST news264008515 Long before babies understand the story of Goldilocks, they have more than mastered the fairy tale heroine's method of decision-making. Infants ignore information that is too simple or too complex, focusing instead on situations that are "just right," according to a new study to be published in the journal PLoS ONE on May 23. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-goldilocks-effect-babies.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 23 May 2012 17:00:12 EST news257010839 No matter what novel objects we come to behold, our brains effortlessly take us from an initial "What's that?" to "Oh, that old thing" after a few casual encounters. In research that helps shed light on the malleability of this recognition process, Brown University neuroscientists have teased apart the potentially different roles that two distinct cell types may play. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-distinct-brain-cells-sights.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00:07 EST news253363963