Neuroscience

Simple mathematical computations underlie brain circuits

(Medical Xpress) -- The brain has billions of neurons, arranged in complex circuits that allow us to perceive the world, control our movements and make decisions. Deciphering those circuits is critical to understanding how ...

Neuroscience

How the brain learns new skills

The human brain is "plastic": it can adapt and rewire itself, often more easily when learning new things related to familiar skills. For example, it is probably easier for a professional tennis player to learn to play badminton ...

Neuroscience

How chronic pain disrupts short term memory

A group of Portuguese researchers from IBMC and FMUP at the University of Porto has found the reason why patients with chronic pain often suffer from impaired short –term memory. The study, to be published in the Journal ...

Neuroscience

Aging brains aren't necessarily declining brains

For years, conventional wisdom held that growing older tends to be bad news for brains. Past behavioral data largely pointed to loss in cognitive – that is, thinking – abilities with age, including poorer memory and greater ...

Neuroscience

Neural balls and strikes: Where categories live in the brain

Hundreds of times during a baseball game, the home plate umpire must instantaneously categorize a fast-moving pitch as a ball or a strike. In new research from the University of Chicago, scientists have pinpointed an area ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Study finds night owls more likely to be psychopaths

(Medical Xpress)—People who stay up late at night are more likely to display anti-social personality traits such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathic tendencies, according to a study published by a University ...

Neuroscience

How the brain loses and regains consciousness (w/ video)

Since the mid-1800s, doctors have used drugs to induce general anesthesia in patients undergoing surgery. Despite their widespread use, little is known about how these drugs create such a profound loss of consciousness.

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