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Brainwaves reflect ability to beat built-in bias

By Guest PostJune 13, 2013Scienceactivity, behavior, brain science, brainwaves, brown institute, brown university, cognitive control, eeg scalp monitors, genetic, humans, ian eisenberg, james cavanagh, marc guitart masip, michael frank, neurological roots, obsessive compulsive disorder, pavlovian bias, prefrontal cortex, psychological factors, quentin huys, situational factors, specific brain activity, symbols, university college london, university of zurich, vertebrates

Many animals, including humans, harbor ingrained biases to act when they can obtain rewards and to remain inactive to avoid punishment. Sometimes, however those biases can steer us wrong. A new study finds that theta brainwave activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts how well people can overcome these biases when a better choice are available.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Vertebrates are predisposed to act to gain rewards and to lie low to avoid punishment. Try to teach chickens to back away from food in order to obtain it, and you’ll fail, as researchers did in 1986. But humans are better thinkers than chickens. In the May 8 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers show that the level of theta brainwave activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts whether people will be able to overcome these ingrained biases when doing so is required to achieve a goal. (more…)

Beetroot juice – the winning formula for team sports

By Guest PostMarch 19, 2013Healthactivity, andy jones, beetroot juice, chemical processes, david weir, dietary nitrate supplementation, energy, high nitrate content, joe rees, nitrate rich juice, ospreys, paralympics, richie pugh, stamina, university of exeter, wales sevens captain, welsh rugby players

New research shows that drinking beetroot juice can significantly improve performance in team sports involving bouts of high intensity exercise.

Trials by the University of Exeter Sport and Health Sciences department have found a direct link between the high nitrate content of beetroot and the chemical processes needed to get muscles working at their most efficient during intermittent bursts of activity.

During the tests, sportsmen were either given beetroot juice with a full complement of nitrates, or juice which had had the nitrate removed. Those who had taken the nitrate-rich juice were found to have a distinct advantage when exercising over those who had been given the control juice to drink. (more…)

Songbirds’ Brains Coordinate Singing with Intricate Timing, Study Shows

By Guest PostMarch 2, 2013Nature, Scienceactivity, ana amador, anatomy, aphasia, avian vocal organ, basic motor functions, brain, buenos aires, control vocalizations, coordinate singing, coordinating human speech, daniel margoliash, disorder, dynamics of movement, feedback, gabriel mindlin, highly skilled behavior, howard nusbaum, human brain, human speech production, model, neuroscientist, premotor cortical neurons, single neurons, song, song system, songbird, songs of birds, speech, speech problems, stroke, stuttering, syrinx, timing, university, university of chicago, vocal signals, yonatan sanz perl, zebra finches

Research may help explain how human brain governs speech

As a bird sings, some neurons in its brain prepare to make the next sounds while others are synchronized with the current notes—a coordination of physical actions and brain activity that is needed to produce complex movements, new research at the University of Chicago shows.

In an article in the current issue of Nature, neuroscientist Daniel Margoliash and colleagues show, for the first time, how the brain is organized to govern skilled performance—a finding that may lead to new ways of understanding human speech production. (more…)

Reconcilable Differences: Study Uncovers the Common Ground of Scientific Opposites

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2013Science20th century, activity, austrian physicist, chaotic motion, classical, common ground, denys bondar, english scientist, experimental data, herschel rabitz, imperial college London, isaac newton, laws of motion, mathematical framework, mathematical model, microscopic particles, misha ivanov, novel theories, observed data, odds physics equations, operational dynamic modeling, paul ehrenfest, princeton model, princeton university, quantum elements, quantum mechanics, reconcilable differences, renan cabrera, robert gilmore, scientific laws, scientific opposites, shakespearean sounding crossroads, study, theoretical roof, theories, ukraine, uzhgorod national university

Searching for common elements in seemingly incompatible scientific theories may lead to the discovery of new ones that revolutionize our understanding of the world.

Such is the idea behind a mathematical framework Princeton University researchers developed that strips away the differences between scientific laws and theories to reveal how the ideas are compatible. In a recent report in the journal Physical Review Letters, the authors explain how the mathematical model finds common ground between the famously at-odds physics equations that govern classical and quantum mechanics. (more…)

How Do Cells Tell Time? Scientists Develop Single-Cell Imaging to Watch the Cell Clock

By Guest PostNovember 18, 2012Science24 hour, activity, biological noise, cell, cell division, circadian clock, cyclic gene, cyclic protein, cyclical behavior, embryonic segmentation, embryonic segments, emilie delaune, gene, gene activation, life, lifespan, mesoderm, mitosis, molecular clock, muscle, nathan shih, nervous system, notch signaling pathway, oscillating pattern, oscillation, paul françois, phase, protein, sharon amacher, signal, signal reception, single cell, somites, synchronization, tissue segments, vasculature, vertebrae, visualization, visualize, zebrafish embryos

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new way to visualize single-cell activity in living zebrafish embryos has allowed scientists to clarify how cells line up in the right place at the right time to receive signals about the next phase of their life.

Scientists developed the imaging tool in single living cells by fusing a protein defining the cells’ cyclical behavior to a yellow fluorescent protein that allows for visualization. Zebrafish embryos are already transparent, but with this closer microscopic look at the earliest stages of life, the researchers have answered two long-standing questions about how cells cooperate to form embryonic segments that later become muscle and vertebrae. (more…)

Scanning the Brain for Impending Error

By Guest PostApril 22, 2012Scienceactivity, adaptation, algebra, animal watch, brain wave, canada, carole beal, cognitive, computer science, data, dissertation, earner, eeg, electroencephalography, english language, fatigue, federico cirett, july, Mexico, mistake, montreal, new technology, personalization, san diego, sat exam, sista, stress, ua, university of arizona, user modeling

UA computer science doctoral student Federico Cirett is using new technology to predict, in advance, when people will make a mistake. He’s been testing subjects taking the SAT exam in math.

Our bodies and brains tend to give us good cues about when we are becoming stressed, fatigued or overwhelmed.

But what if, with near exact precision, you could predict when heightened levels of fatigue were about to cause you to make a mistake?

University of Arizona doctoral student Federico Cirett believes he’s found a way – and with about 80 percent accuracy. (more…)

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