According to a study published recently in Nature, neurons firing synchronously help to focus the brain’s attention on certain tasks and lead to quicker response times. When neurons fire independently their electrical output is nothing but noise, and no coherent signal is discernible in the static. When even a few neurons fire synchronously, their individual …
Tag: visual cortex
Dec 28 2005
Neuron Growth Occurs in Adult Brains
Researchers from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have recently found that contrary to popular belief, neurons do grow in mature brains. It had been widely accepted that structural remodeling of neurons does not occur in adult brains, but the discovery that it does could lead to advances in treatments of spinal …
Nov 01 2005
Rice University Blindsight Study
LiveScience.com has a summary of a study published this week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that provides additional evidence of the phenomenon known as blindsight, residual visual sensitivity experienced in the brain even when one is blind or otherwise unable to see. While the results of the study …
Feb 16 2005
Neuroscientist to Become His Own Monkey
In an effort to explore the relationship between brain activity and consciousness, Stanford University nueroscientist Bill Newsome is currently seeking regulatory approval to implant an electrode into his own brain. Engadget has a summary of an interview MIT Technology Review did recently with Newsome in which he explains his obsession with determining how brain functions …