All articles tagged with #brain activity
A new Imaging Neuroscience study finds that voluntary and forced choices unfold through remarkably similar evidence-accumulation processes in the brain: neural signals ramp up before a decision, with faster ramps for quick choices and slower ramps for slower ones, suggesting our brains weigh internal preferences and goals in the same automatic way across decision types, challenging simple notions of free will.
A new theory proposes that imagination works by dampening ongoing activity in early visual brain areas to carve familiar images from the brain’s background signals, rather than building them from scratch. This suppression-based view explains why mental images are often weaker than seeing, relates to conditions like aphantasia and hyperphantasia, and is supported by evidence linking imagined perception to reduced neural activity and by animal experiments showing small neuronal interventions can steer behavior.
Oxford researchers propose a link between tinnitus and sleep, suggesting the large brain waves of deep non-REM sleep can suppress tinnitus-related activity; ferret studies show tinnitus and sleep disruption occur together and that sleep dampens hyperactivity, indicating sleep could be a therapeutic target to interrupt the cycle of phantom ringing.
A study led by Rutgers University recorded women orgasming inside MRI machines to understand brain activity during climax, revealing insights into pleasure and potential applications for those with orgasm difficulties.
A groundbreaking genetic study suggests that reducing baseline brain activity by targeting the Homer1 gene could offer a new approach to treating ADHD and other neurodevelopmental disorders, shifting focus from stimulating to calming neural activity for improved attention.
A 2022 study unexpectedly recorded brain activity during a patient's death, revealing that the brain may remain active and exhibit memory-like waves, such as gamma oscillations, suggesting that our lives might indeed flash before our eyes as we die, although findings are preliminary and based on a single case.
Research shows that individuals with visual snow syndrome experience heightened face pareidolia, seeing faces in random patterns more frequently due to hyperexcitability in the visual cortex, which amplifies false perceptual signals and offers insights into how the brain interprets visual information.
New research shows that ADHD drugs like Adderall and Ritalin do not directly improve attention but instead increase brain arousal and the feeling of reward, making tasks seem more interesting and easier to focus on. The drugs primarily affect brain regions related to wakefulness and motivation, and their effectiveness can be influenced by sleep quality. This challenges previous beliefs about how these medications work and suggests a need to reevaluate their role in treating ADHD.
Research shows that intermittent energy restriction not only leads to weight loss but also causes coordinated changes in brain activity and gut microbiome, suggesting a complex interaction that may influence long-term weight management and obesity-related health issues.
A study reveals that reducing background brain activity by targeting the Homer1 gene can improve focus, suggesting a new approach for treating ADHD by calming neural noise rather than stimulating brain circuits, with potential implications for other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Recent research indicates that up to 40% of fMRI signals may not accurately reflect actual brain activity, highlighting significant issues with signal interpretation, noise, and the reliability of fMRI as a tool for understanding neural processes.
A new brain decoding technique called mind captioning can generate accurate, structured text descriptions of what a person sees or recalls by translating semantic brain activity into language without relying on traditional language areas, opening new possibilities for nonverbal communication and understanding mental content.
A study finds that shyness is linked to reduced spontaneous activity in the cerebellum, with this relationship being partly mediated by the Behavioral Inhibition System, highlighting the neural and motivational factors underlying shy behavior.
A new non-invasive AI technique called 'mind captioning' can translate brain activity into detailed descriptive sentences, revealing how the brain interprets visual information and potentially aiding those with language impairments.
The world's largest dream database, pooling over 2,600 sleep recordings from 505 people, reveals that dreams occur across all sleep stages and can be predicted from brain waves with up to 70% accuracy, offering new insights into consciousness and the sleeping brain.