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Electric ‘thinking cap’ can help you learn faster, better. Robert Reinhart applies the electrical stimulus to subject Laura McClenahan.

Electric ‘thinking cap’ can help you learn faster, better

After 20 minutes the headband is removed and the EEG cap will capture readings of her brain as she executes the learning task. (Credit: John Russell / Vanderbilt University) In a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Vanderbilt psychologists show that it is possible to learn through the application of a mild electrical current to the brain, and that this effect can be enhanced or depressed depending on the direction of the current. The medial-frontal cortex is believed to be the part of the brain responsible for the instinctive “Oops!” Response we have when we make a mistake. USC study locates the source of key brain function. Public release date: 1-Jun-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Robert Perkinsperkinsr@usc.edu 213-740-9226University of Southern California Scientists at the University of Southern California have pinned down the region of the brain responsible for a key survival trait: our ability to comprehend a scene—even one never previously encountered—in a fraction of a second.

USC study locates the source of key brain function

The key is to process the interacting objects that comprise a scene more quickly than unrelated objects, according to corresponding author Irving Biederman, professor of psychology and computer science in the USC Dornsife College and the Harold W. Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience. Thought Chemical response. The fine dopamine line between creativity and schizophrenia. New research shows a possible explanation for the link between mental health and creativity.

The fine dopamine line between creativity and schizophrenia

By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have managed to show that the dopamine system in healthy, highly creative people is similar in some respects to that seen in people with schizophrenia. High creative skills have been shown to be somewhat more common in people who have mental illness in the family. Creativity is also linked to a slightly higher risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Mind and Brain.