http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Although there is no doubt that hypnosis can impact the mind and behavior, the underlying brain mechanisms are not well understood. Now, new research provides fascinating insight into the specific neural effect of the power of suggestion. The study, published by Cell Press in the June 25 issue of the journal Neuron, uncovers the influence of hypnotic paralysis on brain networks involved in internal representations and self imagery. http://www.physorg.com/news165065163.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:40:03 EST news165065163 New research from Vanderbilt University indicates the way our brain handles how we move through space -- including being able to imagine literally stepping into someone else's shoes -- may be related to how and why we experience empathy toward others. http://www.physorg.com/news164972802.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:47:03 EST news164972802 A recent neuroimaging study reveals that the ability to distinguish true from false in our daily lives involves two distinct processes. Previous research relied heavily on the premise that true and false statements are both processed in the left inferior frontal cortex. Carried out by researchers from the Universities of Lisbon and Vita-Salute, Milan, the June Cortex study found that we use two separate processes to determine the subtle distinctions between true and false in our daily lives. Deciding whether a statement is true involves memory; determining one is false relies on reasoning and problem-solving processes. http://www.physorg.com/news164454142.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:42:44 EST news164454142 After a review of 284 cases, specialists at the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Neuroscience Institute have concluded that performing a stereotactic needle biopsy in an area of the brain associated with language or other important functions carries no greater risk than a similar biopsy in a less critical area of the brain. http://www.physorg.com/news163268266.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:18:27 EST news163268266 A University of Toronto study provides the first direct evidence that our mood literally changes the way our visual system filters our perceptual experience suggesting that seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses is more biological reality than metaphor. http://www.physorg.com/news163244296.html Medicine & Health Wed, 03 Jun 2009 10:38:59 EST news163244296 Portions of the brain that activate when people view pictures of objects compared to scrambled images can also be activated by touch alone, confirms a new report published online on May 28th in Current Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news162744208.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 15:44:06 EST news162744208 (PhysOrg.com) -- Just as our world buzzes with distractions -- from phone calls to e-mails to tweets -- the neurons in our brain are bombarded with messages. Research has shown that when we pay attention, some of these neurons begin firing in unison, like a chorus rising above the noise. Now, a study in the May 29 issue of Science reveals the likely brain center that serves as the conductor of this neural chorus. http://www.physorg.com/news162739756.html Medicine & Health Thu, 28 May 2009 14:29:38 EST news162739756 A new study demonstrates that when faced with a difficult decision, the human brain calls upon multiple neural systems that code for different sorts of behaviors and strategies. The research, published by Cell Press in the May 28th issue of the journal Neuron, provides intriguing insight into the mechanisms that help the human brain rise to the formidable challenge of adaptive decision making in the real world. http://www.physorg.com/news162647119.html Medicine & Health Wed, 27 May 2009 12:45:37 EST news162647119 Neuroscientists feel they are much closer to an accepted unified theory about how the brain processes speech and language, according to a scientist at Georgetown University Medical Center who first laid the concepts a decade ago and who has now published a review article confirming the theory. http://www.physorg.com/news162562862.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 May 2009 13:23:16 EST news162562862 Cambridge University researchers have discovered that whether someone is a 'people-person' may depend on the structure of their brain: the greater the concentration of brain tissue in certain parts of the brain, the more likely they are to be a warm, sentimental person. http://www.physorg.com/news162017277.html Medicine & Health Wed, 20 May 2009 06:05:28 EST news162017277 Studying the way a person's brain 'sings' could improve our understanding of conditions such as epilepsy and schizophrenia and help develop better treatments, scientists at Cardiff University have discovered. http://www.physorg.com/news161950816.html Medicine & Health Tue, 19 May 2009 11:20:45 EST news161950816 (PhysOrg.com) -- Monkeys playing a game similar to "Let's Make A Deal" have revealed that their brains register missed opportunities and learn from their mistakes. http://www.physorg.com/news161529375.html Biology Thu, 14 May 2009 14:16:47 EST news161529375 Older adults may have difficulty understanding speech because of age-related changes in brain tissue, according to new research in the May 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that older adults with the most difficulty understanding spoken words had less brain tissue in a region important for speech recognition. The findings may help explain why hearing aids do not benefit all people with age-related hearing difficulties. http://www.physorg.com/news161367888.html Medicine & Health Tue, 12 May 2009 17:25:14 EST news161367888 A new University of British Columbia study finds that our brains are much more active when we daydream than previously thought. http://www.physorg.com/news161280990.html Medicine & Health Mon, 11 May 2009 17:16:51 EST news161280990 For some time now it has been known that certain hereditary factors enhance the risk of schizophrenia or a manic-depressive disorder. However, just how this occurs had remained obscure. Researchers at the Zentralinstitut für Seelische Gesundheit in Mannheim, Heidelberg University and Bonn University are now able to answer this question, at least for one common genetic variant: this impairs the interoperation of certain regions of the brain. The study is to appear on 1st May in the prestigious scientific journal Science. It will also be suited to provide fresh stimuli for the search for cures. http://www.physorg.com/news160322616.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:04:19 EST news160322616 A new study provides direct experimental evidence that a brain region important for reading and word recognition contains neurons that are highly selective for individual real words. The research, published by Cell Press in the April 30th issue of the journal Neuron, provides important insight into brain mechanisms associated with reading and may lead to a better understanding of reading disabilities. http://www.physorg.com/news160229278.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:08:32 EST news160229278 (PhysOrg.com) -- When one thinks of Einstein, it is natural to assume that obviously his brain differed from that of the average person. And, ever since Thomas Harvey, a pathologist in Princeton, removed Einstein's brain upon his 1955 death and documented it, scientists have been studying it. Currently, Einstein's brain is in 240 pieces, mounted on slides. However, measurements and photographs were taken of the brain prior to its dis-assembly, and these photos are pored over every few years by those wishing to unravel the secrets of the brain belonging to one of the geniuses of the 20th Century. http://www.physorg.com/news159536686.html Medicine & Health Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:45:26 EST news159536686 New research provides insight into how the brain can execute different actions in response to the same stimulus. The study, published by Cell Press in the April 16 issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that information from single brain cells cannot be interpreted differently within a short time period, a finding that is important for understanding both normal cognition and psychiatric disorders. http://www.physorg.com/news159022115.html Medicine & Health Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:49:02 EST news159022115 For the first time, researchers have clearly shown regeneration of a critical type of nerve fiber that travels between the brain and the spinal cord and which is required for voluntary movement. The regeneration was accomplished in a brain injury site in rats by scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and is described in a study to be published in the April 6th early on-line edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). http://www.physorg.com/news158258501.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:42:36 EST news158258501 As we look at the world around us, images flicker into our brains like so many disparate pixels on a computer screen that change every time our eyes move, which is several times a second. Yet we don't perceive the world as a constantly flashing computer display. Why not? http://www.physorg.com/news157906808.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:01:41 EST news157906808 By doing a set of vigorous visual exercises on a computer every day for several months, patients who had gone partially blind as a result of suffering a stroke were able to regain some vision, according to scientists who published their results in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news157739842.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:38:17 EST news157739842 An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed a new analytical tool to answer the question of how our brain cells record outside stimuli and react to them. http://www.physorg.com/news157720415.html Medicine & Health Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:17:25 EST news157720415 Video games that involve high levels of action, such as first-person-shooter games, increase a player's real-world vision, according to research in today's Nature Neuroscience. http://www.physorg.com/news157558426.html Medicine & Health Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:14:25 EST news157558426 A new study provides intriguing insights into mechanisms of cognitive flexibility at the single cell level. The research, published by Cell Press in the March 26th issue of the journal Neuron, may help to explain how we can change our point of view when faced with conflict. http://www.physorg.com/news157211339.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:49:32 EST news157211339 A University of Pennsylvania psychology study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging technology to scan the brain, reveals that people who consider themselves visual learners, as opposed to verbal learners, have a tendency to convert linguistically presented information into a visual mental representation. The more strongly an individual identified with the visual cognitive style, the more that individual activated the visual cortex when reading words. http://www.physorg.com/news157202233.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:25:05 EST news157202233 In a study by Miall, Gowen and Tchalenko published by Elsevier, in the March issue of Cortex, a brain scanner was used to record the brain's activity in each stage of the process of drawing faces. The researchers found that the captured visual information is stored as a series of locations or action plans to reach those locations. It is as if the brain remembers key locations and then "joins the dots" with a straight or curved line to achieve the desired image on the page. http://www.physorg.com/news156713625.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:34:21 EST news156713625 Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that convulsive seizures in a form of severe epilepsy are generated, not on the brain's surface as expected, but from within the memory-forming hippocampus. The scientists hope that their findings - based on a mouse model of severe epilepsy - may someday pave the way for improved treatments of childhood epilepsy, which affects more than two percent of children worldwide. Their study will be published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) the week of March 16. http://www.physorg.com/news156443277.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:28:24 EST news156443277 New research is unraveling the complex brain mechanisms associated with disabling migraine headaches. The study, published by Cell Press in the March 12th issue of the journal Neuron, reveals that perturbation of the delicate balance between excitation and inhibition may make the brain more vulnerable to migraine attacks. http://www.physorg.com/news156007151.html Medicine & Health Wed, 11 Mar 2009 16:20:00 EST news156007151 Believing in God can help block anxiety and minimize stress, according to new University of Toronto research that shows distinct brain differences between believers and non-believers. http://www.physorg.com/news155404273.html Medicine & Health Wed, 04 Mar 2009 15:52:03 EST news155404273 In macular degeneration, the most common form of adult blindness, patients progressively lose vision in the center of their visual field, thereby depriving the corresponding part of the visual cortex of input. Previously, researchers discovered that the deprived neurons begin responding to visual input from another spot on the retina - evidence of plasticity in the adult cortex. http://www.physorg.com/news155323109.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:19:28 EST news155323109