Tag: brain

Shifty eyes=better memory

The next time you’re talking to someone with keeps looking from side to side as you talk instead of right at you, don’t write them off as untrustworthy. They may just be trying to remember your name. Dr. Andrew Parker, a psychologist specializing in cognitive neuroscience at Manchester Metropolitan University in the U.K., recently presented …

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"Why are your eyes so shifty?"

“I’m trying to remember your name.”

Slow-wave sleep

The science of sleep was one of my earliest column topics, way back in 1991. And why not? After all, as I pointed out then, sleep is so important birds, fish, reptiles and mammals all do it, we spend a third of our lives doing it, and if we don’t do it, we die. Like …

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Plugging computer memory into the brain

Researchers have created computer chips that can talk to the brain, chips which could revolutionize the way we think about thinking, and how we treat various neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s: “It’s the type of science that can change the world,” says Richard H. Granger, Jr., a professor of brain sciences who leads the Neukom Institute …

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A rat-tickling good time!

Last week’s column on laughter, inspired by John Tierney’s column in the New York Times, mentioned that rats make a high-pitched squeak when tickled. Tierney’s blog has had several laughter-related posts since his column appeared. Here’s another one, specifically about rat-tickling–complete with a link to a rat-tickling video! (And how often can one say that?)

That’s not funny…so why am I laughing?

Whenever an election is about to occur, we see stories of the “gender gap,” the difference in voting patterns between men and women. But there’s another gender gap that perhaps hasn’t had as much attention: the difference in laughing patterns between men and women. I’ve written before about laughter, but since I’ve noted sadly before …

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Drug-induced selective amnesia

Scientists have used a drug to wipe out a specific memory, while leaving others intact. Only in rats…so far.

Decisions, decisions

Life is one long series of decisions. Today, for instance, I had to decide on a topic for this column—and decided to write about the science of making decisions. Despite what we’d like to think, research continues to show that rational thinking often has little to do with our decision-making process. As Jerry Adler pointed …

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Score one for us loners:

According to a new study, group thinking clouds decision-making: People have a harder time coming up with alternative solutions to a problem when they are part of a group, new research suggests. I think every organization should seriously look into this problem, perhaps by striking a committee. Oh, wait…

A machine that knows what you intend to do…

…before you do it. These findings also raise hope for improvement of clinical and technical applications. Already today the first steps are being made in easing the lives of paralyzed patients with computer-assisted prosthetic devices and so-called brain computer interfaces. These devices focus on reading out the movement the patient intends to – but is …

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Dual-task interference

You can see them a kilometer away. You notice the car driving a) slowly or b) erratically or c) both. And then you get closer…and can see the cellphone glued to the driver’s ear. Everyone pays lip service to the notion that cellphoning while driving is a bad idea…and yet some people still do it. …

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Why talking on a cellphone while driving is stupid:

Neural Bottleneck Found That Thwarts Multi-tasking. A couple of excerpts: “While we are driving, we are bombarded with visual information. We might also be talking to passengers or talking on the phone,” Marois said. “Our new research offers neurological evidence that the brain cannot effectively do two things at once. People think if they are …

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