A study last year led by University College London neuroscientist Dr Cathy Price reveals how the human brain is uniquely adapted to manage multiple languages.
Category: Video Content
How Brains Learn To See
Pawan Sinha, a Professor of Vision and Computational Neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose work spans experimental and computational approaches to studying human visual cognition. In this video Professor Sinha details his groundbreaking research into how the brain’s visual system develops. Sinha and his team provide free vision-restoring treatment to children born blind, and then study how their brains learn to interpret visual data. The work offers insights into neuroscience, engineering and even autism
What Is Neuroplasticity?
Not so long ago many scientists believed that the brain didn’t change after childhood – that it was hard-wired and fixed by the time we became adults – but recent advances in only the last decade now tell us that this is not true. The brain can and does change throughout our lives. It is adaptable, like plastic – hence the term “neuroplasticity.”
Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior, environment and neural processes, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury. Learn more about neuroplasticity in this short video.
Study Suggests Our Brains Have a ‘Sixth Sense’
Scientists may have discovered a “sixth sense” that relates to something called numerosity, which involves the ability to rapidly assimilate the number of objects within one’s field of vision. The team behind the study used fMRI scans to highlight the activity of a key area of the brain, which seemed to alter its response based upon the number of objects perceived.
Dubbed a “number sense,” the phenomenon is believed to manifest in a part of the brain called the posterior parietal cortex, situated around the crown of an individual’s head. The study’s lead researcher, Ben Harvey, who works at the Utrecht University in the Netherlands, explained that most people don’t need to methodically count a small number of objects presented to them, “… we just know how many there are straight away.” This has led many people to maintain that a person’s numerosity powers represent something akin to a “sixth sense.”
Use Your Mind to Change Your Brain
In this video, neuropsychologist Dr Rick Hanson explains how we can use our minds to change our brains to change our minds for the better.
Inside The Sleeping Brain
In this TED talk, Russell Foster, a circadian neuroscientist (he studies the sleep cycles of the brain), shares three popular theories about why we sleep, busts some myths about how much sleep we need at different ages — and hints at some bold new uses of sleep as a predictor of mental health.
MRI-Guided Gene Therapy for Brain Cancer
Neurosurgeons at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center are among the first in the world to utilize real-time MRI guidance for delivery of gene therapy as a potential treatment for brain tumors. Using MRI, neurosurgeons can inject Toca 511, a novel investigational gene therapy directly into a brain malignancy such as glioblastoma.
OK, Glass: I Can’t Walk, So Help Me Explore
Watch how Alex Blaszczuk, paralyzed from the chest down and unable to use her hands since a car accident in 2011, uses Google Glass to explore her world.
Google is paying close attention to how people like Van Sant and Blaszczuk are using Glass. At Georgia Tech, the company is working on two projects aimed at finding Glass applications for those with muscular dystrophy and Parkinson’s disease. A collaborative effort between researchers at Carnergie Mellon University and the University of Rochester focuses on using Glass to help the blind.
So while Glass may still be widely viewed as a status symbol, the future of the device may have a much deeper humanitarian impact than we envisioned by clearing a path for the disabled.
Source: Mashable
This Is Your Brain On Music
How Brains Learn To See
Pawan Sinha details his groundbreaking research into how the brain’s visual system develops. Sinha and his team provide free vision-restoring treatment to children born blind, and then study how their brains learn to interpret visual data. The work offers insights into neuroscience, engineering and even autism.
inside-the-brain.com 