Neuroscience

I recently wrote about research on people's beliefs using fMRI technology to see how different parts of the brain were activated. Near the end of their paper, the researchers commented that such results could be useful as a lie detection technique. The differences in brain activity between perceptions of truth and falsehood seemed significant enough to warrant putting these results into practical real-world use. Indeed, there are already two companies, No Lie MRI and Cephos, promoting their services to screen customers who need to prove they are telling the truth. The difficulty is that lying…

Researchers have successfully reconstructed 3-D hand motions from brain signals recorded in a non-invasive way, according to a study in The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings could help improve existing EEG-based systems designed to allow movement-impaired people to control a computer cursor with just their thoughts. Previously researchers have used non-portable and invasive methods that place sensors inside the brain to reconstruct hand motions. In this study, neuroscientists placed an array of sensors on the scalps of five participants to record their brains' electrical activity, using…

I have recently watched Jill Bolte Taylor's interview at TED. Taylor is a neoroanatomist who specializes in the post-mortem examination of the human brain. In 1996 she experienced a stroke and was able to keep lucid enough for long enough to be able to recall her experience. With her scientific training she was able to put together her personal experience with her knowledge of neuroanatomy. This brain-crash has had a profound effect on her view of the mind and the human experience. You can see how emotional she still is about her experience of self-transcendence, which she ascribes to her…

“Is religion a science?” This may seem an odd question with which to start, but this is the very first question Aquinas asks in his monumental Summa Theologica. “Among the philosophical sciences one is speculative the other practical [natural philosophy], nevertheless sacred doctrine [Roman Catholicism] includes both; as God, by one and the same science, knows both Himself and His works.” For Aquinas, not only is theology both a speculative and natural philosophy but it is also superior to both, in as much as it is guided by divine knowledge, which cannot be misled, and has as its end…

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center say that increasing the normally occurring process of making nerve cells might prevent addiction. The conclusion is based on a rodent study demonstrating that blocking new growth of specific brain nerve cells increases vulnerability for cocaine addiction and relapse. Published in Journal of Neuroscience, the study's findings are the first to directly link addiction with the process, called neurogenesis, in the region of the brain called the hippocampus. While the research specifically focused on what happens when neurogenesis is blocked, the…

New research using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows that abuse or emotional neglect during childhood combined with genetic factors can result in structural brain changes, rendering some individuals more vulnerable to  depression. The study results appear in Neuropsychopharmacology. 24 patients (aged 18-65 years) being treated as inpatients for major depression were investigated with high-resolution structural MRI and childhood stress assessments. Special analysis programs were used to measure brain regions. These patients were compared with 27 healthy control subjects from the…

A Canadian research team has identified an early-life protective compensation in brain cells that have the Huntingtin gene mutation that may lead to drug treatments for Huntington's disease (HD). Stephen Ferguson and Fabiola Ribeiro of Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario wrote that they were able to identfy a protective mechanism in brain cells that might explain why HD symptoms take so long to appear and lead to new treatments. Their findings are published in The Journal of Neuroscience. Huntington's disease (HD) is a debilitating, herediary…

New research from Tel Aviv University and MIT suggests that magnesium, a key nutrient for the functioning of memory, may be even more critical than previously thought. The multi-center experiment focused on a new magnesium supplement, magnesium-L-theronate (MgT), and found that the synthetic compound enhances memory or prevents its impairment in young and aging animals. The research was carried out over a five-year period and may have significant implications for the use of over-the-counter magnesium supplements. In the study, published recently in Neuron, two groups of rats ate normal diets…

University of Pittsburgh researchers say they have taken a significant step toward unraveling the brain activity that drives adolescents to engage in impulsive, self-indulgent, or self-destructive behavior. Published in the current edition of Behavioral Neuroscience, the study demonstrates that adolescent brains are more sensitive to internal and environmental factors than adult brains and suggests that the teenage tendency to experiment with drugs and develop psychological disorders could stem from this susceptibility. Although the exact mechanics of the adolescent brain's reaction need…

Did music evolve before language?  It's not a trivial idea and there has been debate about it since literally the days of Darwin - Sir Charles himself proposed the notion in "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex" that a 'musical protolanguage' model could mean that music came before language. Darwin is often invoked to legitimize new (and old) ideas and people who want to respond to criticisms that music is an invention rather than a product of evolution are happy to take support where they can get it, but that is not much of a defense.   Darwin's second book had…