Summary: A new study reveals that aphantasics, people unable to visualize, are more resistant to involuntary visual thoughts, such as imagining a pink elephant. While vivid visual imaginations often lead…
Category: Neuroscience
Positive Attitude Boosts Passion and Determination
Summary: New research links a positive attitude, or “growth mindset,” to higher levels of passion and determination. A study of over 1,500 participants aged 13 to 77 found that those…
Moms Carry 71% of the Mental Load
Summary: New research shows that mothers take on 71% of household mental load tasks, including planning, scheduling, and organizing, while fathers manage just 45%. This imbalance often leads to stress,…
AI Mirrors Human Bias: ‘Us vs. Them’ in Language Models
Summary: AI systems, including large language models (LLMs), exhibit “social identity bias,” favoring ingroups and disparaging outgroups similarly to humans. Using prompts like “We are” and “They are,” researchers found…
Genetic Mechanism Links Emotional Experiences to Behavior Changes
Summary: Researchers have identified a genetic mechanism that regulates behavioral adaptations to emotional experiences by forming R-loops, unique RNA:DNA structures that activate target genes. The study focused on NPAS4, a…
Do Animals Really Understand Fairness?
Summary: New research challenges the idea that animals share humans’ sense of fairness, suggesting their reactions to unequal rewards stem from unmet expectations rather than inequity aversion. In the largest…
Distinctive Neural Wiring Enhances Memory Storage
Summary: A new study has revealed distinct features of the human hippocampus, a brain region critical for memory storage and retrieval, challenging the assumption that it functions like a scaled-up…
Interoception Enhances Female Sexual Satisfaction
Summary: Women who are more attuned to internal bodily signals, such as heartbeats and touch, experience orgasms more frequently and with greater satisfaction. This inward focus, known as interoception, is…
Dogs Using Soundboards Show Intentional Communication
Summary: Dogs trained to use soundboards can combine two-word buttons purposefully to communicate needs and desires, rather than randomly or by imitating their owners. Researchers analyzed over 260,000 button presses…
Can We Program the Brain to Learn Without Teaching?
Summary: Researchers have developed a groundbreaking technique to “write” new learning patterns directly into the brain using real-time neurofeedback from fMRI imaging. Participants in the study learned new visual object…
