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"Neuroscientists believe that we have distinct neural systems for processing different types of time, for example, to maintain a circadian rhythm, to control the timing of fine body movements, and for conscious awareness of time passage. A new study in the Journal of Neuroscience reveals that the brain may in fact have a second method for sensing elapsed time [that] not only works in parallel with our primary neural clock, but may even compete with it. 'Past research suggested that a brain region called the striatum lies at the heart of our central inner clock, working with the brain's surrounding cortex to integrate temporal information. But conscious awareness of elapsed time demands that the brain not only measure time, but also keep a running memory of how much time has passed. The hippocampus is critically important for remembering past experiences [and ]might also play a role in remembering the passage of time. Studies recording electrical brain activity in animals have shown that neurons in the hippocampus signal particular moments in time. But the hippocampus isn't always necessary for tracking time. Remarkably, people with damage to their hippocampus can accurately remember the passage of short time periods, but are impaired at remembering long time intervals.' Striatum - highly accurate (to secs) Hippocampus - about 5-min intervals

Striatum - highly accurate (to secs) Hippocampus - about 5-min intervals

Scientist Matthew Lieberman uncovers the neuroscience of human connections - and the broad implications for how we live our lives. "When we experience social pain - a snub, a cruel word - the feeling is as real as physical pain. That finding is among those in a new book, SOCIAL."

"The existing evidence does not support the conclusion that free will is an illusion. First of all, it does not show that a decision has been made before people are aware of having made it. It simply finds discernible patterns of neural activity that precede decisions. If we assume that conscious decisions have neural correlates, then we should expect to find early signs of those correlates "ramping up" to the moment of consciousness. It would be miraculous if the brain did nothing at all until the moment when people became aware of a decision to move. These experiments all involve quick, repetitive decisions, and people are told not to plan their decisions but just to wait for an urge to come upon them. The early neural activity measured in the experiments likely represents these urges or other preparations for movement that precede conscious awareness. "This is what we should expect with simple decisions. Indeed, we are lucky that conscious thinking plays little or no role in quick or habitual decisions and actions. If we had to consciously consider our every move, we'd be bumbling fools."

"To find this out, researchers of the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden studied the heart rates of high school choir members as they joined their voices. Their findings, published this week in Frontiers in Neuroscience, confirm that choir music has calming effects on the heart - especially when sung in unison."

Even the smallest dose of power can change a person. You've probably seen it. Someone gets a promotion or a bit of fame and then, suddenly, they're a little less friendly to the people beneath them. Why? But if you ask Sukhvinder Obhi, a neuroscientist at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, he might give you another explanation: Power fundamentally changes how the brain operates. Everybody watched a simple video. In it, an anonymous hand squeezes a rubber ball a handful of times. Obhi's team tracked the participants' brains, looking at a special region called the mirror system. The mirror system contains neurons that become active both when you squeeze a rubber ball and when you watch someone else.... Whether you do it or someone else does, your mirror system activates. In this small way, the mirror system places you inside a stranger's head. It turns out, feeling powerless boosted the mirror system - people empathized highly. But, Obhi says, "when people were feeling powerful, the signal wasn't very high at all."

Love and lust have distinct but interlocking brain signatures: People often think of love and lust as polar opposites-love exalted as the binder of two souls, lust the transient devil on our shoulders, disturbing and disruptive. Now neuroscientists are discovering that lust and love work together more closely than we think. Indeed, the strongest relationships have elements of both. (rest of article not provided free) In Brief Brain imaging is revealing the distinct but interlocking patterns of neural activation associated with lust and love. Lust is most likely grounded in the concrete sensations of the given moment. Love is a more abstract gloss on our experiences with another person. Imaging is also helping to decipher the disorders of lust, including anorgasmia. Dozens of discrete regions across the brain fire at the point of orgasm-suggesting many different ways to develop anorgasmia.