research in mice points to a potential new target: a developmental process gone awry, which causes some immune cells to feast on the connections between neurons.

The feeling of knowing (FOK) is a component of meta-memory that helps people decide if they know or do not know a specific piece of information. By using over-claiming technique as a convenient method for measuring FOK, this study aims to analyse if it varies systematically across different academic levels.

Einstein’s brain has not led to any profound discoveries about what might make a person predisposed to intelligence

Quantum mechanics is difficult to understand at the best of times, but new evidence suggests that the current standard view of how particles behave on the quantum scale could be very, very wrong.

Every night since humans first evolved, we have made what might be considered a baffling, dangerous mistake. Despite the once-prevalent threat of being eaten by predators, and the loss of valuable time for gathering food, accumulating wealth, or having sex, we go to sleep. Scientists have long speculated and argued about why we devote roughly a third of our lives to sleep, but with little concrete data to support any particular theory. Now, new evidence has refreshed a long-held hypothesis: During sleep, the brain cleans itself.

Even after one exposure to the composites, neurons that had previously fired exclusively in response to one picture—like that of Eastwood—significantly increased their firing rate  when exposed to the image with which it had been combined—in one case, by 230%, Fried and colleagues report today in the journal Neuron. The fact that an individual neuron can adapt its firing rate so quickly could help explain how large, dynamic neuronal networks form complicated memories of past events, Fried says.

Although the precise role of neurogenesis in memory is still controversial, more than a decade of research has demonstrated that boosting neurogenesis with exercise and antidepressants such as Prozac can increase rodents' ability to learn new information about places and events. A few years ago, however, neuroscientist Paul Frankland of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, noticed that some of the animals in his experiment actually did worse on certain memory tasks when their neuron birth rates had been ramped up. In particular, they performed poorly on tests that required them to retain details about past events.

It is difficult to completely eliminate the birth of new neurons in infant mice, but by genetically engineering dividing neural stem cells to self-destruct the team was able to achieve about a 50% reduction of neurogenesis in the animals, Frankland says. With less neurogenesis, the young rodents acted more like adult mice in the experiment. They froze when first placed in the box for roughly a week, rather than just 1 day, after receiving the foot shocks.

If there’s one thing that distinguishes humans from other animals, it’s our ability to use language. But when and why did this trait evolve? A new study concludes that the art of conversation may have arisen early in human evolution, because it made it easier for our ancestors to teach each other how to make stone tools—a skill that was crucial for the spectacular success of our lineage.

CERTAIN SOUNDS TAKE PRIORITY

PAST IMAGES AFFECT PRESENT PERCEPTION

COLOR INFLUENCES TASTE

The participants remembered more words if they had read them aloud compared to all other conditions, even the one where people heard their own voices reading the words.

This may well underlie why rehearsal is so valuable in learning and remembering: We do it ourselves, and we do it in our own voice. When it comes time to recover the information, we can use this distinctive component to help us to remember.

His theory of universal grammar posits that there's a genetic component to language, and the ability to acquire and comprehend language is innate.

curvature blindness illusion

the simple act of reading to your kids can also influence their behavior in surprising ways.

They found that 3-year-olds taking part in the study had a much lower chance of being aggressive or hyperactive than children in the control group of the same age.

the study subjects showed fewer behavioral problems and better focus than their peers who didn't receive the same intervention.