Category: Brain
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Non-thinking: Harder than thinking! Now go to sleep.
Brain networks at rest appear to be waiting in a state of potentiation to execute even the simplest of behaviors, report researchers. This evidence comes from a new paper published this week in the journal PLoS One, reporting on a study led by professors Vaibhav Diwadkar, Ph.D., at Wayne State University's School of Medicine and…
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Itching brain. Gods becoming mice.
Itching is a highly contagious behavior. When we see someone scratch, we're likely to feel itchy, too. A research shows contagious itching is hardwired in the brain. For this study, Chen's team put a mouse in an enclosure with a computer screen. The researchers then played a video that showed another mouse scratching. "Within a…
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Tripping on acid. Finding significance where none is. Finding meaning. Via senses. Where no meaning is there…
An enhanced sense of meaning is one of the hallmarks of the psychedelic experience. People who have been under the influence of drugs like LSD, mescaline or hallucinogenic mushrooms often describe finding profound significance in even the most prosaic objects and sensations. LSD dramatically changes the way people perceive the environment and themselves, often blurring…
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Remembering… Should we care?
How does heightened attention improve our mental capacity? This is the question tackled by a research, which reveals a chemical signal released across the brain in response to attention demanding or arousing situations. (1) A brain wide chemical signal that enhances memory. Seems a great solution. But to which problem? Are we meant to remember…
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Remembering. Verifying memories. Self-reference.
Research on eyewitness testimony has shown that false details put forth during an interrogation can lead some people to develop vivid memories of events that never happened. While this “false memory” phenomenon is alive and well, new research suggests that a bit of misinformation also has potential to improve our memories of past events —…
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