DailyDirt: Slowly Piecing Together How The Brain Works

Studies

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Scientists are learning more and more about the human brain all the time. We’ve learned a lot about the brain by studying disorders and instances of the brain not working the way it normally does. But there are also new medical imaging devices that allow researchers to take a peek at how normal brains work, too. Here are just a few links about some fascinating brain studies.

• Scientists at UC Berkeley have started to develop a method that could reconstruct mental images using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the brain activity of volunteers. Reconstructed videos aren’t exactly high definition reproductions, but they vaguely match up to the videos that the volunteers are shown. [url]
• The placebo effect (for pain) has been shown to involve cannabinoid receptors in the brain. The study suggests that people are capable of creating their own natural opiate-like chemicals with some training. [url]
• After a professor of neuroscience developed synesthesia and started to actually feel sounds, there’s a bit more interest in discovering how the sense of touch is related to hearing. Come on, feel the noise. Girls, rock your boys. [url]
• To discover more interesting articles on the human mind, check out what’s currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]  

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: brain, fmri, placebo effect, senses, synesthesia