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consciousness

Featured Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·June 17, 2020·3 min read

What it means when animals have beliefs

Researchers proposed four criteria to understand and investigate animal belief systems. Findings suggest flexible behavior caused by belief is exhibited in the behavior of rats, chimpanzees, and dogs.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·June 11, 2020·5 min read

High doses of ketamine can temporarily switch off the brain

Higher doses of ketamine administered to sheep completely reduced brain activity for a short period. Researchers report as the drug wore off and consciousness was regained, the animals' brain activity switched between high and low-frequency oscillations. The timing of the brain activity corresponds to the time human users report experiencing feelings that their brain 'disconnected' from their bodies after ketamine use.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 29, 2020·6 min read

Anesthesia’s effect on consciousness solved, settling century-old scientific debate

Exposure to anesthesia causes lipid clusters to move from an ordered state to a disordered one, then back again. These changes lead to subsequent effects that cause changes in consciousness.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·May 22, 2020·6 min read

New ‘sniff test’ predicts recovery of consciousness in brain

Researchers have developed a sniff test that can detect which patients in a vegetative state following a TBI will regain consciousness.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 15, 2020·3 min read

The dreaming brain tunes out the outside world

The brain tunes out information from the outside world, such as the sound of speech, during REM sleep. During light sleep, the brain prioritizes meaningful speech, just as it does during a wakeful state. Researchers believe the mechanism enables the brain to protect the dreaming phase, which is essential for memory consolidation.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 11, 2020·3 min read

A ‘consciousness conductor’ synchronizes and connects mouse brain areas

Mouse study reveals slow-wave brain activity, which is indicative of sleep and resting states, is controlled by the claustrum. The synchronization of active and silent states across the brain via the slow waves contributes to consciousness.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 29, 2020·4 min read

Simple ‘sniff test’ reliably predicts recovery of severely brain injured patients

A simple smell test could help doctors to identify which patients in a vegetative state will recover. 100% of patients in a vegetative state who reacted to the sniff test went on to regain consciousness. 91% of those were still alive three years post-injury.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 28, 2020·3 min read

How the heart affects our perception

Brain activity alters over the heartbeat cycle, helping us make sure certain information is kept out of our conscious experience. The findings provide a conceptual framework to explain how internal signals integrate into our conscious perception of the world.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 27, 2020·5 min read

How general anesthesia works

Rodent studies reveal how general anesthesia dampens high-frequency brain activity by weakening synapses.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 5, 2020·2 min read

COVID-19 linked to rare form of encephalitis

A patient who tested positive for COVID-19 developed acute necrotizing encephalitis (ANE) as a result of the coronavirus infection. An MRI scan revealed the patient had lesions in the thalamus and temporal lobes, areas of the brain implicated in consciousness, sensation, and memory function. Researchers advise doctors to look out for COVID-19 patients who present with altered levels of consciousness, as this may be symptomatic of ANE.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·March 11, 2020·4 min read

A delicate dance of dynamic changes in the conscious brain

The brain quickly transitions from one network to another in regular patterns. The transition trajectories constitute a temporal circuit where the conscious brain cycles through a structured pattern of states over time.