altered states
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Learning to pay attention
By Rachel Jones Our sensory system is constantly bombarded with inputs, but owing to the brain’s finite processing power, we are forced to pay attention to only a tiny proportion of these inputs at any given time. In a new st...
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Visual hallucinations? Draw it!
Visual (and other non-visual) hallucinations sometimes occur during epileptic seizures. A relatively straightforward but little used method to describe these experiences is to ask the sufferer to draw the hallucinations —...
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Resting states in unconscious monkeys
Nature has an interesting report from Marc Raichle‘s laboratory that studies the resting states in monkeys. This study not only demonstrates that resting states occur in non-human primates, but that it is possible to find...
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Who’s superstitious?
What makes some people supersticious, or believe in the paranormal? In the latest issue of the Journal of Research in Personality, researchers Marjaana Lindeman and Kia Aarnio from Helsinki, Finland, first set out by conceptual...
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On the (sound) track of anesthetics
Danish scientists challenge the accepted scientific views of how nerves function and of how anesthetics work. Their research suggests that action of nerves is based on sound pulses and that anesthetics inhibit their transmissio...
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Can we improve mind reading?
Is it possible to improve our ability to read other’s minds? In the case of mind-reading disabilities such as that found in autism spectrum disorder, it has been suggested that it is possible to train patients to become b...
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Out-of-body experiences may be caused by arousal system disturbances in brain
Near death, sleep-wake transition have same likelihood of correlating to out-of-body experiences Having an out-of-body experience may seem far-fetched to some, but for those with arousal system disturbances in their brains, it ...
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Inducing a dreamy state
Brain stimulation provides an interesting tool to study the functions of a given area of the brain. In a study by Vignal et al. published in Brain, artificial stimulation or seizures in specific mesial temporal lobe structures ...
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Brain Stimulation During Non-REM Sleep Enhances Memory
Transcranial application of low-frequency electrical current during early nocturnal sleep potentiates the subject’s ability to remember words memorized the night before, German neuroendocrinologists report in this week...