News tagged with neural mechanisms

Related topics: brain




Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance

(Medical Xpress)—Visual perception is far more complex and powerful than our experience suggests. Moreover, in attempting to both understand vision and implement it in a computational device, the fact that ...

Neuroscience created Feb 28, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 14 | with audio podcast feature

Optogenetics illuminates pathways of motivation through brain, study shows

Whether you are an apple tree or an antelope, survival depends on using your energy efficiently. In a difficult or dangerous situation, the key question is whether exerting effort—sending out roots in search of nutrients ...

Neuroscience created Nov 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New insights into how humans learn to walk

(Medical Xpress) -- A new study has revealed that as humans learn to walk the two basic patterns of stepping present in the newborn remain unchanged and two new patterns are added at the toddler stage. This ...

Medical research created Nov 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast report

Scientists pinpoint the brain circuitry linked to making healthy or unhealthy choices

(Medical Xpress) -- What drives addicts to repeatedly choose drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, overeating, gambling or kleptomania, despite the risks involved?

Neuroscience created Oct 30, 2011 | popularity 3.6 / 5 (10) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Neuroscientists uncover neural mechanisms of object recognition

Certain brain injuries can cause people to lose the ability to visually recognize objects — for example, confusing a harmonica for a cash register.

Neuroscience created Jul 13, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

The benefits of meditation: Neuroscientists explain why the practice helps tune out distractions and relieve pain

Studies have shown that meditating regularly can help relieve symptoms in people who suffer from chronic pain, but the neural mechanisms underlying the relief were unclear. Now, MIT and Harvard researchers ...

Neuroscience created May 05, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Scientists probe the source of a pulsing signal in the sleeping brain

New findings clarify where and how the brain's "slow waves" originate. These rhythmic signal pulses, which sweep through the brain during deep sleep at the rate of about one cycle per second, are assumed ...

Neuroscience created Apr 18, 2013 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

'Strikingly similar' brains of man and fly may aid mental health research

A new study by scientists at King's College London and the University of Arizona (UA) published in Science reveals the deep similarities in how the brain regulates behaviour in arthropods (such as flies ...

Neuroscience created Apr 11, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists identify brain's 'molecular memory switch'

Scientists have identified a key molecule responsible for triggering the chemical processes in our brain linked to our formation of memories. The findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Neural Circuits, reveal ...

Neuroscience created Mar 28, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Nerve regeneration research and therapy may get boost from new discovery

A new mechanism for guiding the growth of nerves that involves cell-death machinery has been found by scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno that may bring advances in neurological medicine and research. ...

Neuroscience created Mar 25, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Game of Japanese chess reveals how experts develop their capacity for rapid problem-solving

(Medical Xpress)—The superior capability of experts to rapidly solve problems depends largely on their intuition, and it has long been known that this is related to experience and training. Although many ...

Neuroscience created Mar 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Humanoid robot helps train children with autism

"Aiden, look!" piped NAO, a two-foot tall humanoid robot, as it pointed to a flat-panel display on a far wall. As the cartoon dog Scooby Doo flashed on the screen, Aiden, a young boy with an unruly thatch ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Mar 20, 2013 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Behavioral therapy for children with autism can impact brain function

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for before-and-after analysis, a team of researchers including a UC Santa Barbara graduate student discovered positive changes in brain activity in children with autism who ...

Autism spectrum disorders created Feb 14, 2013 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

fMRI study uncovers neural mechanism underlying drug cravings

Addiction may result from abnormal brain circuitry in the frontal cortex, the part of the brain that controls decision-making. Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Molecular Imaging Science in Japan collaborating with colleagues ...

Neuroscience created Jan 28, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study of how eye cells become damaged could help prevent blindness

Light-sensing cells in the eye rely on their outer segment to convert light into neural signals that allow us to see. But because of its unique cylindrical shape, the outer segment is prone to breakage, which ...

Medical research created Jan 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast