brain

When we want to move the fingers of the hand independently, the little finger and the thumb (the "outer" fingers) react much faster than the middle finger. This is because nerve cells that control neighboring fingers negatively affect responsiveness, Hubert Dinse and colleagues at the Institute for Neural Computing at the University of Bochum have shown.

When two individuals face each other in the classic game of "rock, paper or scissors", or when we participate in a game of cards, poker or any other game that involves interpreting the intention of other people in order to develop a "winning" strategy , brain activity is different than if we solve a puzzle or play solitaire.

For decades, researchers have questioned whether Alzheimer's begins in one area of the brain and spreads from there, or whether it begins independently and simultaneously in several vulnerable regions of our gray matter. Scientists at Columbia University in New York (United States) have found the answer: it spreads through the brain from a single center, infecting one neuron after another through the circuits that connect them, called synapses.

Physicists from the University of Frankfurt (Germany) have concluded that the ability of the human brain to process and record information is the main limiting factor in the growth of the amount of data that is stored on the Internet, and not the cost of the data production, nor hardware.

Decaffeinated coffee increases the availability of energy at the brain level, reducing the risk of suffering from dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, according to a study published in the journal 'Nutritional Neuroscience' in its latest edition.

One of the most widespread images in noisy places is that of someone talking on a cell phone, covering the opposite ear. However, such a maneuver is useless. The best ploy is ... cover the microphone! of course, when we are not talking. Thus, we can take advantage of the brain's ability to discriminate different signals: it is what is called the cocktail effect.

Neuroscientists may one day be able to listen to the constant internal monologues that take place in our minds, or to hear the imaginary speech of a patient with a stroke or an inability to speak, according to a team of researchers from the University of California. (USA).

Children who receive more affection during their school years develop a larger hippocampus and have fewer symptoms of depression. These are the conclusions of a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition and that confirms what we all intuitively know: there is nothing like "mother's love."