Researchers reporting online on April 22nd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, offer more evidence that successful study habits should include plenty of napping. They found that people who take a nap and dream about a task they have just learned perform it better upon waking than either those who don’t sleep at all […]
Some of us need regular amounts of coffee or other chemical enhancers to make us cognitively sharper. A newly published study suggests perhaps a brief bit of meditation would prepare us just as well. While past research using neuroimaging technology has shown that meditation techniques can promote significant changes in brain areas associated with concentration, […]
Human memory for visual scenes varies according to a number of factors. These include the novelty of the scene, its behavioral relevance, and the subject’s attention. Often, people will clearly remember details of the context in which they received shocking news – for example, remembering where they were and what they were doing when they […]
It is no wonder attractive human faces are everywhere in media and advertising – when we see those faces, our brains are constantly computing how much the experiences are worth to us. New brain-imaging research shows it’s even possible to predict how much people might be willing to pay for a particular face. (read the […]
When faced with a choice that could yield either short-term satisfaction or longer-term benefits, people with complete information about the options generally go for the quick reward, according to new research from University of Texas at Austin psychologists. The findings, available online in the journal Judgment and Decision Making, could help better explain the decisions […]
Northwestern University researchers have found that even before infants begin to speak, words play an important role in their cognition. For 3-month-old infants, words influence performance in a cognitive task in a way that goes beyond the influence of other kinds of sounds, including musical tones. (read the full story)
A novel research project spearheaded by the University of Leicester and part-funded by The Leverhulme Trust aims to shed new light on the way people perceive art. By bringing together an artist and a neuroscientist, both disciplines seek to learn from each other principles of visual perception. In the process of the research, both artist […]
Men and women with a history of alcohol abuse may not see long-term negative effects on their memory and thinking, but female smokers do, a new study suggests. In a study of 287 men and women ages 31 to 60, researchers found that those with past alcohol-use disorders performed similarly on standard tests of cognitive […]
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