Ed Links Brain Stuff Edition (II)

Brain Mechanisms Of Social Conformity

New research reveals the brain activity that underlies our tendency to "follow the crowd." The study provides intriguing insight into how human behavior can be guided by the perceived behavior of other individuals.

Evolution Of New Brain Area Enables Complex Movements

A new area of the cerebral cortex has evolved to enable man and higher primates to pick up small objects and deftly use tools. The brain's primary motor cortex turns out to have neighboring "old" and "new" parts. In most animals, including cats, rats and some monkeys, the old primary motor cortex controls movement indirectly through the circuitry of the spinal cord.

Spotless Mind? Unwanted Memories Might Be Erasable Without Harming Other Brain Functions

A molecule known to preserve memories -- PKMzeta -- specifically stores complex, high-quality memories that provide detailed information about an animal's location, fears and actions, but does not control the ability to process or express this information. This finding suggests that PKMzeta erasure that is designed to target specific debilitating memories could be effective against the offending memory while sparing the computational function of brain.

How Mirror Neurons Allow Us To Learn And Socialize By Going Through The Motions In The Head

The old adage that we can only learn how to do something by trying it ourselves may have to be revised in the light of recent discoveries in neuroscience. It turns out that humans, primates, some birds, and possibly other higher animals have mirror neurons that fire in the same pattern whether performing or just observing a task. These mirror neurons clearly play an important role in learning motor tasks involving hand eye coordination, and possibly also acquisition of language skills, as well as being required for social skills, but the exact processes involved are only just being discovered.

How The Brain Thinks About Crime And Punishment

A new study reveals that humans use different neural mechanisms for determining criminal responsibility and assigning an appropriate punishment. The research, published in the journal Neuron, provides fascinating insight into brain systems that may explain how thousands of years of reliance on human sanctions to enforce social norms gave rise to our current criminal justice system.

Unlocking The Mysteries Of Memory

Stop and think for a moment. What do you remember about your breakfast this morning? One part of your brain will recall the smell of coffee brewing, while another will remember your partner's smile while walking out the door. How does the brain weave together these fragments, and how does it bring them back to conscious life?

Poor Children's Brain Activity Resembles That Of Stroke Victims, EEG Shows

Prefrontal cortex activity in children from low socioeconomic levels is lower than in similar children from well-off families. The brain differences, documented through EEGs, are dramatic: the prefrontal cortexes of poor kids 9 and 10 years of age react to novel stimuli in the same way as the brain of a stroke victim. The researchers believe this is fixable, however.

Poor Children's Brain Activity Resembles That Of Stroke Victims, EEG Shows

Prefrontal cortex activity in children from low socioeconomic levels is lower than in similar children from well-off families. The brain differences, documented through EEGs, are dramatic: the prefrontal cortexes of poor kids 9 and 10 years of age react to novel stimuli in the same way as the brain of a stroke victim. The researchers believe this is fixable, however.

'Wiring' In The Brain Influences Personality

Some people are constantly seeking a new kick; some prefer to stick to tried and tested things. Which group you belong to seems to be connected, inter alia, with the 'wiring' of specific centers of the brain. This was discovered by scientists at the University of Bonn using a new method. Even how much acceptance people seek is apparently also determined by nerve fibers in the brain.

Evolution Of The Visual System Is Key To Abstract Art

Famous works of abstract art achieve popularity by using shapes that resonate with the neural mechanisms in the brain linked to visual information, a psychologist has discovered.

Forgotten But Not Gone: How The Brain Re-learns

Thanks to our ability to learn and to remember, we can perform tasks that other living things can not even dream of. However, we are only just beginning to get the gist of what really goes on in the brain when it learns or forgets something. What we do know is that changes in the contacts between nerve cells play an important role. But can these structural changes account for that well-known phenomenon that it is much easier to re-learn something that was forgotten than to learn something completely new?

Seeing A Brain As It Learns To See

A brain isn't born fully organized. It builds its abilities through experience, making physical connections between neurons and organizing circuits to store and retrieve information in milliseconds for years afterwards. Now that process has been caught in the act for the first time by a research team that watched a naïve brain organize itself to interpret images of motion.

Been There, Done That: Brain Mechanism Predicts Ability To Generalize

A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices.

Blindsight: How Brain Sees What You Do Not See

Blindsight is a phenomenon in which patients with damage in the primary visual cortex of the brain can tell where an object is although they claim they cannot see it. Scientists now provide compelling evidence that blindsight occurs because visual information is conveyed bypassing the primary visual cortex.

How Memories Are Made, And Recalled

What makes a memory? Single cells in the brain, for one thing. For the first time, scientists have recorded individual brain cells in the act of calling up a memory, thus revealing where in the brain a specific memory is stored and how the brain is able to recreate it.

Scientists Watch As Listener's Brain Predicts Speaker's Words

Scientists have shown for the first time that our brains automatically consider many possible words and their meanings before we've even heard the final sound of the word.