Scientists Identify Neural Population Highly Selective for Music

Scientists have long wondered if the human brain contains neural mechanisms specific to music perception. Now, for the first time, MIT neuroscientists have identified a neural population in the human auditory cortex that responds selectively to sounds that people typically categorize as music, but not to speech or other environmental sounds. “It has been the…

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Distractibility Trait Predisposes Some To Attentional Lapses

People vary according to different personality traits, such as extraversion or conscientiousness, and new research suggests that they also vary according to a particular cognitive trait: distractibility. Says study author Nilli Lavie of University College London: “We all know from personal experience that some people appear to be more prone to lapses of attention than…

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Emotion Processing In Brain Changes With Tinnitus Severity

While some tinnitus patients adapt to the condition, many others are forced to limit daily activities as a direct result of their symptoms. A new study reveals that people who are less bothered by their tinnitus use different brain regions when processing emotional information. Tinnitus, otherwise known as ringing in the ears, affects nearly one-third…

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Narcissism Seed Of Violence From Children Toward Parents

For the first time, a Spanish study carried out on 591 adolescents and their parents demonstrates that exposure to violence in the home, a lack of affectionate and positive communication between parents and children, and a permissive upbringing all create narcissistic adolescents who physically or verbally assault their parents. It is a taboo subject that…

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Early Childhood Depression Alters Brain Development

The brains of children who suffer clinical depression as preschoolers develop abnormally, compared with the brains of preschoolers unaffected by the disorder, according to new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Their gray matter — tissue that connects brain cells and carries signals between those cells and is involved in seeing,…

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Sadness-induced Inflammation Linked To Comorbid Diseases

Feeling sad can change levels of stress-related opioids in the brain and increase levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood that are linked to increased risk of co-morbid diseases including heart disease, stroke and metabolic syndrome, according to a study by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). Previous studies…

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How Brain Architecture Leads To Abstract Thought

Using 20 years of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from tens of thousands of brain imaging experiments, computational neuroscientists Hava Siegelmann and a postdoctoral colleague at the University of Massachusetts have created a geometry-based method for massive data analysis to reach a new understanding of how thought arises from brain structure. The authors say…

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UV Index Definition

Alongside the day’s high and low temperatures, weather reports generally contain a UV alert for a particular time. But what does it actually mean – and what should you do about it? Ultraviolet light is a form of radiation invisible to the human eye. Ultraviolet wavelengths of sunlight are made up of UVB, which has…

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How Nanoparticles Give Electrons Away

Whether it is in catalytic processes in the chemical industry, environmental catalysis, new types of solar cells or new electronic components, nanoparticles are everywhere in modern production and environmental technologies, where their unique properties ensure efficiency and save resources. The special properties of nanoparticles often arise from a chemical interaction with the support material that…

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