Imagine you are in a soccer match, and it’s tied. Each team will begin taking penalty kicks. The crowd is roaring, and whether or not your team wins the game depends on your ability to hit the shot. As you imagine this scene, are you able to picture the scenario with colors and details? Scientists … Read more
You’re alone, and you suddenly have the sneaking suspicion that someone’s there. Maybe you watched a scary movie or read the latest thriller novel and wonder if there’s a killer lurking in your room. You look around and open the closet door, but no one’s there. So why does your mind make you feel as … Read more
Using only a sensor-filled helmet combined with artificial intelligence, a team of scientists has announced they can turn a person’s thoughts into written words. In the study, participants read passages of text while wearing a cap that recorded electrical brain activity through their scalp. These electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were then converted into text using an … Read more
Mysterious, spiral signals have been discovered in the human brain, and the scientists who found the swirls think they could help to organize complex brain activity. The signals, which appeared as swirling spirals of brain waves across the outer layer of the brain, were discovered in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans of 100 … Read more
Human beings can generate false memories of events mere seconds after they have occurred, a new study has found. The phenomenon, which researchers have dubbed “short-term memory illusions,” shows how easily and rapidly humans reimagine experiences to fit our preconceptions, rather than accurately recording what takes place. The researchers published their findings April 5 in … Read more
Miniature, lab-grown models of the human brain’s wrinkled surface can be used to patch injuries in the brains of living rats and thus repair broken connections in the rodents’ sensory processing systems, a new study shows. Someday, such minibrains — known as brain organoids — could potentially be used to mend the brains of human … Read more
Scientists have uncovered a mysterious network of brain connections that is linked to several psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This shared brain circuitry could help reveal why many patients who are diagnosed with one psychiatric illness also meet the criteria for a second. “Half of the people we treat meet criteria … Read more
Falling in love may hit your heart, but what does it do to your brain? It turns out that falling in love corresponds with the release of key brain chemicals from certain regions of the brain, Dr. Gül Dölen (opens in new tab), an associate professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of … Read more
The “secret code” the brain uses to create a key type of memory has finally been cracked. This type of memory, called working memory, is what allows people to temporarily hold on to and manipulate information for short periods of time. You use working memory, for example, when you look up a phone number and … Read more
