It has often been claimed that humans learn language using brain components that are specifically dedicated to this purpose. Now, new evidence strongly suggests that language is in fact learned in brain systems that are also used for many...
These are skull casts from human evolution. Left to right: Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus and Homo neanderthalensis.Credit: Roger Seymour. Casts photographed in the South Australian Museum.
A University of Adelaide-led project has overturned the theory that...
When making a complex decision, we often break the problem down into a series of smaller decisions. For example, when deciding how to treat a patient, a doctor may go through a hierarchy of steps -- choosing a diagnostic...
How does stress -- which, among other things, causes our bodies to divert resources from non-essential functions -- affect the basic exchange of materials that underlies our everyday life? Weizmann Institute of Science researchers investigated this question by looking...
Comparison of grey matter (brown) and white matter (yellow) in sex-matched subjects A (56 years, BMI 19.5) and B (50 years, BMI 43.4) Credit: Lisa Ronan
From middle-age, the brains of obese individuals display differences in white matter similar to...
Salk Institute researchers discovered that inhibiting a protein called phospholipid scramblase 1 (PLSCR1) controls the infected cell's antiviral response and provides long-term protection from immune attack and excessive inflammation. Salk Institute researchers discovered that inhibiting the protein PLSCR1 controls...
For adults, memories tend to fade with time. But a new study has shown that there are circumstances under which the opposite is true for small children: they can remember a piece of information better days later than they...
The findings of this study shed new light on how stress, depression and other mental states can alter organ function, and show that there is a real anatomical basis for psychosomatic illness.
Credit: © llhedgehogll / Fotolia
Neuroscientists at the University...
A depiction of the traditional view of the split brain syndrome (top) versus what the researchers actually found in two split-brain patients across a wide variety of tasks (bottom). Credit: Yair Pinto
A new research study contradicts the established view...
Cornell University researchers found that music can have important effects on the cooperative spirits of those exposed to music. Credit: Cornell University
From casual acoustic melodies at the coffee shop to throbbing electronic beats at teen clothing outlets, music is...
People who play video games for even a small amount of time have superior perception and attention skills to those who don't play at all, new research suggests.
A study by psychologists at Nottingham Trent University found participants who played...
