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brain mapping

·January 23, 2013·3 min read

New Brain Circuit Sheds Light on Development of Voluntary Movements

A research team describes the entire network of brain cells that are connected to specific motor neurons controlling whisker muscles in newborn mice. A better understanding of such motor control circuits could help inform how human brains develop, potentially leading to new ways of restoring movement in people who suffer paralysis from brain injuries, or to the development of better prosthetics for limb replacement.

This image is of Aron Barbey and his brain scans.

Featured Psychology

·January 22, 2013·3 min read

Researchers Map Emotional Intelligence in the Brain

New research involving Vietnam veterans with combat related brain injuries offers the first detailed map of the brain regions which contribute to emotional intelligence.

Fetal neurons are shown in two panels in this image. The caption describes well.

Featured Neurology

·January 17, 2013·5 min read

Findings on Potential to Prevent, Reverse Serious Disabilities Affecting Children Born Prematurely

Researchers report that low blood and oxygen flow to the developing brain does not, as previously thought, cause an irreversible loss of brain cells, but rather disrupts the cells’ ability to fully mature.

Two brain images are shown side by side with Wernicke's area highlighted.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 16, 2013·3 min read

Research Reveals How the Human Brain Adapts to Injury

Scientists used a new combination of neural imaging methods to discover how the human brain adapts to injury. The research shows that when one brain area loses functionality, a back-up team of secondary brain areas immediately activates, replacing not only the unavailable area but also its confederates.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 26, 2012·2 min read

Stimulating Brain Cells with Light

The work will be conducted on laboratory rats modelling Parkinson’s disease. The transplanted cells will be derived from skin from an adult human and will have been “reprogrammed” as nerve cells. The light-sensitive protein is obtained from a bacterium, which uses light to gain energy.

Featured Psychology

·October 25, 2012·2 min read

Loneliness? It’s All a State of Mind

Researchers from UCL have found that lonely people have less grey matter in a part of the brain associated with decoding eye gaze and other social cues.

Neural network model is shown and described in the caption.

Featured Neurology

·October 24, 2012·3 min read

Like a Noisy Political Campaign, “Grassroots” Neurons Wire and Fire Together for Dominance in the Brain

Researchers found that neurons team up together to sway particular outcomes in the brain and take over the nervous system in the name of their preferred action or behavior.

An old picture shows a man on a tight rope crossing Niagara River.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·October 19, 2012·4 min read

Researchers Explore How the Brain Perceives Direction and Location

The Who asked “who are you?” but Dartmouth neurobiologist Jeffrey Taube “where are you?” and “where are you going?” Taube is not asking philosophical or theological questions. He is investigating nerve cells in the brain that function in establishing one’s location and direction.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 19, 2012·2 min read

How the Brain Forms Categories

Neurobiologists investigated how the brain is able to group external stimuli into stable categories. They found the answer in the discrete dynamics of neuronal circuits.

A brain with multiple colored areas is shown.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 19, 2012·3 min read

First Micro-Structure Atlas of the Human Brain Completed

A European team of scientists have built the first atlas of white-matter microstructure in the human brain.

Neurons and a neural network are shown. Caption describes well.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·October 18, 2012·3 min read

A Glance at the Brain’s Circuit Diagram

Scientists developed a method for decoding neural circuit diagrams. Using measurements of total neuronal activity, they can determine the probability that two neurons are connected with each other.

Psychology

·October 15, 2012·3 min read

Language is Shaped by Brain’s Desire for Clarity and Ease

Using an artificial language in a carefully controlled laboratory experiment, researchers found that many changes to language are simply the brain's way of ensuring that communication is as precise and concise as possible.