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Mind-reading, lie-detection and telekinesis with fMRI and EEG – Science fact and fiction
In the last few years, fMRI and EEG have made it into the popular press as tools for reading minds (here, here, here, here and here for a sample), lie-detection (here, here and here), and telekinesis – controlling/ moving objects with our thoughts – (here, here, here, and here). I think there was even a…
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Why do we dream?
Why do we dream? Theory 1: Dreams express inner wishes and desires (Freud’s idea). But what about nightmares? Those can’t be wishes. Theory 2: Dreams provide solutions to problems. But then why can we only recall 1% of dreams? Dreams aren’t helpful in providing solutions if we can’t remember them. Often anecdotes about people who…
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Helping Addicts with medications for cravings
If we could make it so drug addicts could stop craving the substances that have brought them to their knees, would relapse rates drop and addiction-treatment success rates soar? I sure hope so! Medications that stop cravings? I’ve already written about a study by the renowned addiction researcher Barry Everitt showing that medications could be…
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Sound asleep – Learning while sleeping may indeed be a reality
Okay, so this recent study from Northwestern isn’t saying you can learn anything you want by simply playing it while you’re asleep. Still, it seems to give hope that some learning enhancement can occur while we’re napping.
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Drug use memories and relapse: Can medication provide addiction help?
Originally posted on allaboutaddiction.com: About a year ago, while sitting in a lecture on learning and memory, the idea that certain drugs can affect the emotional responses to memory long after the memory itself has been formed came up. As someone interested in addiction research, the implication for treatment immediately came up in my head:…
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brain mapping disorders
An ever growing number of studies feature brain mapping to illustrate structural differences in the brain based on grouping those with and without a given disorder. Techniques such as structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can aid in researchers understanding of differences in shape and volume of various brain regions. Group differences are often found, yet…
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Social Cognitive Neuroscience under attack!
As one of the bloggers who tends to be a bit more skeptical of work in social cognitive neuroscience, I’m posting this article w/out really investigating it closely. I do this for three reasons. 1) As I said, I’m biased toward believing its true anyway 2) Even if I was objective, I’m not really qualified…
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Drug memories and relapse: A light at the end of the tunnel?
From All About Addiction: About a year ago, while sitting in a lecture on learning and memory, the idea that certain drugs can affect the emotional responses to memory long after the memory itself has been formed came up. As someone interested in addiction research, the implication for treatment immediately came up in my head:…
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Are there differences at the neural level in the ways that liberals and conservatives process information?
Some theories suggest that conservatives tend to have a more structured and persistent cognitive style, where liberals tend to be more open to ambiguity. Building on this idea, a recent paper by David Amodio and his colleagues investigated whether liberals and conservatives would show different brain responses when completing a task requiring cognitive control. They…