8
votes
Is praying the Catholic rosary a meditation and does it enhance brain plasticity?
The accepted method of praying the Rosary is to actually complete five (5) decades, each containing the Hail Mary (Ave Maria) repeated 10 times (hence the term "decade"). Each decade is followed by an ...
- 81
8
votes
Do stimulants increase the IQ tests score for everyone?
IQ in ADHD sufferers indeed increases with the treatment of stimulants, such as methylphenidate (Meyes et al., 1994). This is thought to rely on the attention-narrowing effect of stimulants, i.e., ...
- 20.7k
8
votes
Accepted
Can you get sad by sniffing onions, just like you can get happy by forcing yourself to smile?
I assume you're referring to the experiment by Strack, Martin, and Stepper (1988) in which people rated a cartoon as funnier when they had to hold their face in a smile shape by gripping a pencil in ...
- 361
7
votes
What is "Attention" in terms of brain activity?
Firstly its important to note that attention basically the outcome of automatic processes, although attention may easily be directed by conscious choices.
As a previous poster mentioned the ...
- 1,196
7
votes
What is the computational role of the cortical column?
Cortical columns are groups of neurons in the brain that are oriented perpendicularly to the cortical surface. Cells within a column respond to the same stimulus property (Fig. 1). For example, ...
- 20.7k
7
votes
Is quick left brain vs right brain test fake?
Without references, you state:
In this picture if you noticed her rotating clockwise you are right
brain dominant.
We discourage asking questions on this site (or in science in general) which ...
- 3,522
6
votes
Accepted
Is the brain inherently social?
The "social brain" concept likely originated with Robin Dunbar's Social Brain Hypothesis, proposed in 1998. However, Dunbar was not suggesting that the brain has dedicated "social modules". Rather, ...
- 19.8k
6
votes
How often are complex networks and graph theory useful in computational neuroscience?
In my opinion as a computational neuroscience researcher, graph theory has not made major inroads into computational neuroscience because we don't have good evidence for what graphs characterise ...
6
votes
Accepted
What are the advantages of 2AFC in a psychophysical discrimination task?
What makes a task a two alternative forced choice task?
I am beginning my answer with this question because there is a general misconception about what 2AFC really means. Many people believe that ...
- 261
6
votes
How does the neocortex distinguish between perception and imagination?
Short answer
Perception and imagination in the visual system use pretty much the same neural machinery, but in opposite directions - perception goes bottom-up, from the periphery to the central ...
- 20.7k
6
votes
Accepted
When your two eyes disagree sharply
Binocular rivalry refers to a situation where you present different images to each eye (often in the context of an experiment, although you also point out some quick 'at home' ways to achieve this), ...
- 7,735
6
votes
Why can't human thoughts be stored in metals?
First off, you mention 'metals'. What is a metal?
In common speech, a metal is a shiny material that conducts electricity and heat well.
In physics, a metal is regarded as a substance capable ...
- 20.7k
5
votes
Can we identify specific emotions on the basis of fMRI scans?
From meta-analyses that include musical emotion inductions, there is not much evidence that we can reliably distinguish between emotions in the brain, independent of the emotion induction procedure or ...
- 4,398
5
votes
Efficiency of multitasking depending on task difficulty
First, it is important to disambiguate between concurrent multitasking and sequential multitasking (Salvucci et al, 2009). In a recent publication I present a short overview on related work of both (...
- 3,522
5
votes
What does "non-linear processing" mean, exactly?
The idea of linear/non-linear in neuroscience is the same as in mathematics. A process $f(x)$ is linear if $f(\alpha x) = \alpha f(x)$ and $f(x+y) = f(x)+f(y)$ for all $x$, $y$, and $\alpha$.
- 2,633
5
votes
Accepted
How are the brains of mathematicians different from typical people?
Psychology
The first major source I would go to is the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY). It is a major longitudinal study following several cohorts of mathematically talented ...
- 700
5
votes
Accepted
Is there a specific term for the notion of storing "algorithms" in human memory?
This is called procedural memory.
In textbooks, memory is often broken down into a hierarchy of types. Note that this taxonomy is primarily a guide to language use - ie, how types of memory are ...
- 19.8k
4
votes
Can split-brain patients sleep like whales?
Short answer
An animal study did not reveal any effects on the synchronization of the cerebral hemispheres after callosotomy, as based on EEG recordings. When one hemisphere showed sleep patterns on ...
- 20.7k
4
votes
Why is Potassium(K) important to neurology & the brain?
The main cell of the brain is the neuron. The neuron has a semipermeable membrane that under specific circumstances lets potassium through. Another common cell is the glia cell, which only has ...
- 628
4
votes
Can people improve their memory by training themselves to recall previously forgotten memories?
Memory is not fixed - it is very plastic. If you look at Amnesia, there are many different causes and many different ways it can manifest itself. It can also be anywhere between mild and severe. ...
- 12.3k
4
votes
Where can I get data on lie detection and brain activity?
You might have trouble finding raw data but there have been plenty of studies looking at the neurological and physiological activity associated with deception, which may contain answers to your ...
- 2,416
4
votes
Success rates or reviews of Brain Working Recursive Therapy (BWRT), and number of sessions needed on average
Looking at the client testimonials on the website you provided it looks like it varies from 1 session to a few more. Like any other therapy it seems to depend on the client and problem being dealt ...
- 12.3k
4
votes
Accepted
How do brain zaps occur?
Here's the only speculation I could find about brain shivers aka brain zaps.
Cortes JA, Radhakrishnan R. A Case of Amelioration of Venlafaxine-Discontinuation “Brain Shivers” With Atomoxetine The ...
- 153
4
votes
Does night-sleep-deprivation have any effect on cognitive performance?
According to this article, yes it does have various symptoms including cognitive deficiencies that make us more prone to errors and less efficient :
Circadian rhythms biologically program us to ...
- 2,187
4
votes
Accepted
The role of high-performance in neuropsychology
The short answer to your question is that, yes, you are correct. "Cognitive high performance" is a much smaller part of classic neuropsychology than the study of brain damage. There are studies of the ...
- 1,113
4
votes
Do stimulants increase the IQ tests score for everyone?
Not about IQ as a whole alas, but I found a 2010 systematic review & meta-analysis "Modafinil and methylphenidate for neuroenhancement in healthy individuals: A systematic review", apparently the ...
4
votes
Accepted
How exactly does transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) work?
I'm not sure at what level of sophistication you expect this answer, but the basic theory of how tDCS works at a cellular level is that neurons oriented roughly parallel to the electric field lines ...
4
votes
Accepted
Are the skills trained and learn from world memory championship transferable?
Improvements will be limited to likewise tasks (memorizing stuff). Quoting https://www.cambridgebrainsciences.com/blog/brain-training-only-makes-you-better-at-brain-training:
A just-released meta-...
4
votes
Accepted
What extent is non linear dynamics and chaos helpful to study brain function?
Since this an active and relatively new area of research, nobody can tell you for certain where it will lead.
Whether it will "dead end" is perhaps the wrong way to think about it too. All lines of ...
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