cognitivescience
Can playing table tennis, better known as “ping pong,” lead to significant improvements in brain structure and function? New research published in the journal Brain Research suggests it can. Researchers discovered that table tennis players exhibit distinct patterns of brain activity and structural changes in the brain, including increased white matter integrity in regions associated with motor skills. Table tennis is one of the world’s fastest open-skill sports, demanding players to quickly track and respond to the ball’s trajectory. This requires high levels of cognitive functions such as dec...
PsyPost (UK)
Imagine navigating through your day without that constant internal dialogue, the one that helps you plan, remember, and self-reflect. It might seem almost impossible to some, but new research has shown that not everyone experiences an inner voice. A groundbreaking study by Johanne Nedergård of the University of Copenhagen and Gary Lupyan of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has explored how the absence of this inner speech, a condition they term “anendophasia,” affects various cognitive tasks. The research has been published in the journal Psychological Science. The assumption that an inner ...
PsyPost (UK)
A recent study published in the journal Cognition and Emotion has revealed that blindness, whether present from birth or acquired later in life, does not impede the ability to process emotional speech. Interestingly, the study found that individuals who became blind later in life might have enhanced abilities in this area compared to sighted individuals. Emotional speech processing involves recognizing and interpreting emotions conveyed through speech, which is essential for navigating social interactions. Previous research has provided conflicting results on whether blindness impairs or enhan...
PsyPost (UK)
Every few seconds, we blink our eyes — a simple, involuntary act. While it’s commonly understood that blinking keeps our eyes lubricated, a new study by researchers from the University of Rochester has uncovered a more intricate role: blinking also helps our brains process visual information more effectively. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study sheds light on how these brief closures of our eyes contribute to visual perception. Humans spend about 3 to 8 percent of their waking hours with their eyes closed due to blinking. Given that blinking briefly obsc...
PsyPost (UK)
How do we decide when to stick to a goal or when to abandon it for a potentially better option? Recent research published in Nature Human Behaviour has shed light on this dilemma. The study reveals that a brain region known as the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a pivotal role in our tendency to remain committed to our goals. One key motivation for the study was to bridge the gap between behavioral economics, which provides numerous examples of overcommitment, and neuroscience, which can offer insights into the brain regions and processes involved. Previous research has shown that...
PsyPost (UK)
What role does the neurotransmitter serotonin play in fertility? A recent study by scientists from Nagoya University in Japan has uncovered a link between serotonin neurons, glucose availability, and reproductive health. Their findings suggest that serotonin neurons in the brain play a significant role in maintaining reproductive functions by sensing glucose levels and enhancing the release of reproductive hormones. The research was published in Scientific Reports. Depression is linked to dysfunction in central serotonergic neurons and is known to correlate with both reproductive and metabolic...
PsyPost (UK)
A recent study published in Experimental Brain Research has shed new light on how total sleep deprivation impacts the brain’s ability to process and integrate multiple stimuli presented in quick succession. The researchers found that a complete day without sleep significantly impairs both attentional and temporal integration mechanisms. In other words, going without sleep for a whole day seriously hinders our ability to pay attention and process information quickly, which is crucial for reacting correctly to fast changes around us. Humans have a limited ability to process several events when t...
PsyPost (UK)
A recent study by researchers from Osaka University has identified specific brain activity patterns associated with daydreaming and mind-wandering. The researchers found that these self-generated thoughts are linked to sharp-wave ripples in the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory formation and retrieval. The findings have been published in Nature Communications. The ability to think about things that are not present is a hallmark of human cognition, allowing us to plan for the future, reminisce about the past, and imagine hypothetical scenarios. However, the exact brain mechanisms b...
PsyPost (UK)
Recent research published in PLOS One has shed light on an intriguing connection between narcissism and cognitive performance in stressful situations. The study found that individuals with higher levels of grandiose narcissism performed better on intelligence tests when under stress thanks to a broader distribution of visual attention. Grandiose narcissism is a personality trait characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. Individuals with high levels of grandiose narcissism often exhibit behaviors such as boasting, do...
PsyPost (UK)
A recent study by researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has found that specific nutrients may play a key role in promoting healthy brain aging. The study, published in the journal npj Aging, suggests that certain dietary components could help maintain cognitive function and brain health as we age. As people age, cognitive decline and brain health deterioration are common concerns. Researchers have long studied various factors contributing to brain aging, including genetics, lifestyle, and environmental influences. While much is kno...
PsyPost (UK)
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