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Our brains are wired so we can better hear ourselves speak, new study shows

Our brains are wired so we can better hear ourselves speak, new study shows
Like the mute button on the TV remote control, our brains filter out unwanted noise so we can focus on what we’re listening to. But when it comes to following our own speech, a new brain study from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that instead of one homogenous mute button, we have a network of volume settings that can selectively silence and amplify the sounds we make and hear. Activity in the auditory cortex when we speak and listen is amplified in some regions of the brain and muted in others. Neuroscientists from UC Berkeley, UCSF and Johns Hopkins University tracked the electrical signals emitted from the brains of hospitalized epilepsy patients. Their findings, published today (Dec. 8, 2010) in the Journal of Neuroscience, offer new clues about how we hear ourselves above the noise of our surroundings and monitor what we say. The auditory cortex is a region of the brain’s temporal lobe that deals with sound. Related:  Psicología

Health | Left-handers 'better in fights' If you find yourself in a fight, you'd better hope it's not against a left-hander - scientists have found they often have the upper hand. Opponents simply do not expect a left-hook. The endurance of left-handedness has puzzled researchers, because it is linked to disadvantages including an increased risk of some diseases. But University of Montpellier experts, writing in Proceedings B, say it could be because they do well in combat. The team saw that left-handers had the advantage in sports such as fencing, tennis and baseball. They said that Western interactive sports such as these can be classed as "special cases of fights - with strict rules, including the "prohibition of killing and intentionally wounding the opponent". This led them to speculate the same advantage may persist in more aggressive contexts, such as war, so societies which are more violent would have a higher frequency of left-handers. Skill range "And I think the answer is 'no it doesn't'.

Human Connectome Project | Mapping the human brain connectivity Health | Preferred hand 'set in the womb' The hand you prefer to use as a 10-week-old foetus is the hand you will favour for the rest of your life, research suggests. A team from Belfast's Queen's University studied foetuses in the womb, and after birth. Their findings challenge the widely held view that a child does not develop left or right-handedness until it is at least three years old. The research is reported by New Scientist magazine. In one part of their study, the Belfast team identified 60 foetuses who sucked their right thumb in the womb, and 15 who sucked their left thumb. When the babies were examined again between the ages of 10 and 12, the researchers found all 60 of the right thumb suckers were now right-handed. Two-thirds of the left thumb suckers were left handed, the rest apparently having switched their dominant hand. They also produced evidence suggesting foetuses begin to favour one hand over another at an even earlier stage. The Belfast team found the majority tend to wave their right arm more than their left.

Quantum mind–body problem An interpretation of quantum mechanics is a set of statements which attempt to explain how quantum mechanics informs our understanding of nature. Although quantum mechanics has held up to rigorous and thorough experimental testing, many of these experiments are open to different interpretations. There exist a number of contending schools of thought, differing over whether quantum mechanics can be understood to be deterministic, which elements of quantum mechanics can be considered "real", and other matters. This question is of special interest to philosophers of physics, as physicists continue to show a strong interest in the subject. History of interpretations[edit] Main quantum mechanics interpreters Although the Copenhagen interpretation was originally most popular, quantum decoherence has gained popularity. Nature of interpretation[edit] More or less, all interpretations of quantum mechanics share two qualities: Two qualities vary among interpretations: Challenges to interpretation[edit]

Health | Left-handers 'think' more quickly Left-handed people can think quicker when carrying out tasks such as playing computer games or playing sport, say Australian researchers. Connections between the left and right hand sides or hemispheres of the brain are faster in left-handed people, a study in Neuropsychology shows. The fast transfer of information in the brain makes left-handers more efficient when dealing with multiple stimuli. Experts said left-handers tended to use both sides of the brain more easily. Study leader Dr Nick Cherbuin from the Australian National University measured transfer time between the two sides of the brain by measuring reaction times to white dots flashed to the left and right of a fixed cross. He then compared this with how good participants were at carrying out a task to spot matching letters in the left and right visual fields, which would require them to use both sides of the brain at the same time. More efficient "It's certainly very interesting.

Integral theory Integral theory, a philosophy with origins in the work of Sri Aurobindo and Jean Gebser, and promoted by Ken Wilber, seeks a synthesis of the best of pre-modern, modern, and postmodern reality.[1] It is portrayed as a "theory of everything,"[2] and offers an approach "to draw together an already existing number of separate paradigms into an interrelated network of approaches that are mutually enriching."[1] It has been applied by scholar-practitioners in 35 distinct academic and professional domains as varied as organizational management and art.[1] Methodologies[edit] AQAL, pronounced "ah-qwul," is a widely used framework in Integral Theory. Sri Aurobindo, Jean Gebser, and Ken Wilber, have all made significant theoretical contributions to integral theory. In his book The Ever-Present Origin, Swiss phenomenologist Jean Gebser distinguished between five structures of consciousness: archaic, magic, mythical, mental, and integral. AQAL Theory – Lines. Principles and Properties: Themes[edit] H.

Gene for Left-Handed Trait Discovered August 1, 2007 The gene most closely linked to left-handedness has been found, experts announced this week. The gene, called LRRTM1, is also associated with a slight increase in developing certain mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. Clyde Francks is lead author of a new study on the gene and a visiting fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University. For right-handed people, he said, the right side of the brain usually controls emotion, while the left side of the brain tends to control speech and language. (Related: "First Ever Brain 'Atlas' Completed" [September 26, 2006].) In left-handers—about 10 percent of the world's population—the pattern is usually reversed. "We think that this gene affects the symmetry of the brain," Francks said. Brain asymmetry is also a factor in schizophrenia, a mental disorder that affects about one in a hundred people worldwide and results in impaired perception and severe behavioral changes. Finding Symmetry

Hacking Knowledge: 77 Ways To Learn Faster, Deeper, & Better If someone granted you one wish, what do you imagine you would want out of life that you haven’t gotten yet? For many people, it would be self-improvement and knowledge. Newcounter knowledge is the backbone of society’s progress. Great thinkers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and others’ quests for knowledge have led society to many of the marvels we enjoy today. Your quest for knowledge doesn’t have to be as Earth-changing as Einstein’s, but it can be an important part of your life, leading to a new job, better pay, a new hobby, or simply knowledge for knowledge’s sake — whatever is important to you as an end goal. Life-changing knowledge does typically require advanced learning techniques. Health Shake a leg. Balance Sleep on it. Perspective and Focus Change your focus, part 2. Recall Techniques Listen to music. Visual Aids Every picture tells a story. Verbal and Auditory Techniques Stimulate ideas. Kinesthetic Techniques Write, don’t type.

The List Blog 10. Charles Bonnet Syndrome Charles Bonnet syndrome is a condition that causes patients with visual lossto have complex visual hallucinations. It was first described by CharlesBonnet in 1760 and was incorporated into English-speaking psychiatry in1982. Most of the people afflicted with Charles Bonnet Syndrome areindividuals who are in the early stages of sight loss, and the hallucinationsusually begin while the person’s vision is slowly diminishing. The mostcommon culprit is macular degeneration, a disease where certain light-sensing cells in the retina malfunction and cause a slowly worsening blindspot in the center of one’s vision.People who have Charles Bonnet syndrome often see vivid yet unrealimages. Sufferers understand that the hallucinations are not real. 9. Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia is literally defined as the "fear of thenumber six hundred sixty-six (666).” 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. A similar condition is Fregoli delusion. 3. 2. 1. One More Target Fixation

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