Every day the human brain is presented with tasks ranging from the trivial to the complex. How much mental effort and attention are devoted to each task is usually determined in a split second and without conscious awareness. Now a study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers finds that a structure deep within the brain, […]
Tag Archives | Anterior Cingulate Cortex
FMRI Images Show How The Brain Looks When Out Of Patience And Losing Self-Control
New pictures from the University of Iowa show what it looks like when a person runs out of patience and loses self-control. A study by University of Iowa neuroscientist and neuro-marketing expert William Hedgcock confirms previous studies that show self-control is a finite commodity that is depleted by use. Once the pool has dried up, […]
Integrative Body-Mind Training Prompts Positive Changes In Brain White Matter
Scientists studying the Chinese mindfulness meditation known as integrative body-mind training (IBMT) say they have confirmed and expanded their findings on changes in structural efficiency of white matter in the brain that can be related to positive behavioral changes in subjects practicing the technique regularly for a month.
Maturing Brain Circuitry Changes Play A Role In Moral Sensitivity
People’s moral responses to similar situations change as they age, according to a new study at the University of Chicago that combined brain scanning, eye-tracking, and behavioral measures to understand how the brain responds to morally laden scenarios. Both preschool children and adults distinguish between damage done either intentionally or accidently when assessing whether a […]
Neural Mechanisms Of Cooperation And Anticipation Of Guilt Are Identified
On a daily basis, our social life places us in situations where we have to decide whether or not to cooperate with others. However, the motivation that encourages us to behave cooperatively is often not clear. Now, new research published by Cell Press in the May 12, 2011, issue of the journal Neuron suggests that […]
Brain Imaging Uncovers The Neurological Basis Of Embarrassment
Recording people belting out an old Motown tune and then asking them to listen to their own singing without the accompanying music seems like an unusually cruel form of punishment. But for a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley, this exact Karaoke experiment has revealed what […]
Political Views Are Reflected In Brain Structure
We all know that people at opposite ends of the political spectrum often really cannot see eye to eye. Now, a new report published online on April 7th in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveals that those differences in political orientation are tied to differences in the very structures of our brains.
Brain Imaging Illustrates How Meditation Reduces Pain
Meditation produces powerful pain-relieving effects in the brain, according to new research published in the April 6 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience. “This is the first study to show that only a little over an hour of meditation training can dramatically reduce both the experience of pain and pain-related brain activation,” said Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., […]
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