Latest news with #JournalofNeuroscience
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Researchers Discover Possible Secret to Better Memory
The secret to a better memory might be tied to your emotions. This is according to a study done by the Hangzhou Normal University in China that was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The study included 44 university students who were shown 144 squiggly shapes, each of which were followed by a positive, neutral or negative image. Then, the process was repeated two more times for each student. After a 24-hour break, students were given a recognition memory test and the results revealed that students had better recall of the squiggly shapes that were followed by positive images. "Our findings revealed that positive emotions enhanced the retrieval of meaningless squiggles compared to negative emotions," the study said. "These results provide neural evidence for the enhanced memory performance of items associated with positive emotions and shed light on the mechanisms underlying memory formation in emotional contexts," researchers concluded. Researchers did see a similar level of increased brain activity for negative emotions as compared to positive ones, but that did not lead to better recall. The belief is that could be a result of heightened alertness for potential threats due to negative emotions. While a small study, this does lend to the idea that being positive helps in retaining information. Just something to keep in mind if you want to improve your Discover Possible Secret to Better Memory first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 12, 2025
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
When Letting Your Mind Wander Helps You Learn
While you do the dishes or drive to work, your mind is likely not on the task at hand; perhaps you're composing a grocery list or daydreaming about retiring in Italy. But research published in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests you might be taking in more than you think. During a simple task that requires minimal attention, mind wandering may actually help people learn probabilistic patterns that let them perform the task better. 'The idea to study the potentially beneficial influence of mind wandering on information processing occurred to us during the COVID pandemic, when we had plenty of time to mind wander,' says Péter Simor, lead author of the recent study and a psychology researcher at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Study participants practiced a simple task in which they pressed keyboard buttons corresponding to the direction of arrows that lit up on a screen. But there were patterns hidden within the task that the participants were unaware of—and they learned these patterns without consciously noticing them. The researchers found that when participants reported letting their minds wander, they adapted to the task's hidden patterns significantly faster. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] 'This is an exciting and important piece of work, especially because the authors opted for a nondemanding task to check how [mind wandering] would affect performance and learning,' says Athena Demertzi, a cognitive and clinical neuroscientist at the University of Liège in Belgium. Previous related research focused more on long and demanding tasks, she says—on which zoning out is typically shown to have a negative effect. But the results are not clear-cut, says Jonathan Smallwood, a psychology researcher at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. 'I don't think that this means the spontaneous mind-wandering episodes themselves cause implicit learning to occur,' he says. 'Rather both emerge at the same time when people go into a particular state.' Neither Smallwood nor Demertzi was involved in the new study. Simor, who studies sleep, was interested in whether participants' mind wandering displayed any neural hallmarks of dozing off. Using electroencephalogram recordings, the team showed that in those test periods, participants' brains produced more of the slow waves that are dominant during sleep. Perhaps, the researchers say, mind wandering is like a form of light sleep that provides some of that state's learning benefits. To better understand whether mind wandering might compensate for lost sleep, Simor and his colleagues next plan to study narcolepsy and sleep deprivation. 'We know that people spend significant amounts of time not focused on what they are doing,' Smallwood says. 'The authors' work is important because it helps us understand how reasonably complex forms of behavior can continue when people are focused on other things—and that even though our thoughts were elsewhere, the external behavior can still leave its mark on the person.'
Scientific American
10-06-2025
- Health
- Scientific American
What a Wandering Mind Learns
While you do the dishes or drive to work, your mind is likely not on the task at hand; perhaps you're composing a grocery list or daydreaming about retiring in Italy. But research published in the Journal of Neuroscience suggests you might be taking in more than you think. During a simple task that requires minimal attention, mind wandering may actually help people learn probabilistic patterns that let them perform the task better. 'The idea to study the potentially beneficial influence of mind wandering on information processing occurred to us during the COVID pandemic, when we had plenty of time to mind wander,' says Péter Simor, lead author of the recent study and a psychology researcher at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. Study participants practiced a simple task in which they pressed keyboard buttons corresponding to the direction of arrows that lit up on a screen. But there were patterns hidden within the task that the participants were unaware of—and they learned these patterns without consciously noticing them. The researchers found that when participants reported letting their minds wander, they adapted to the task's hidden patterns significantly faster. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. 'This is an exciting and important piece of work, especially because the authors opted for a nondemanding task to check how [mind wandering] would affect performance and learning,' says Athena Demertzi, a cognitive and clinical neuroscientist at the University of Liège in Belgium. Previous related research focused more on long and demanding tasks, she says—on which zoning out is typically shown to have a negative effect. But the results are not clear-cut, says Jonathan Smallwood, a psychology researcher at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. 'I don't think that this means the spontaneous mind-wandering episodes themselves cause implicit learning to occur,' he says. 'Rather both emerge at the same time when people go into a particular state.' Neither Smallwood nor Demertzi was involved in the new study. Simor, who studies sleep, was interested in whether participants' mind wandering displayed any neural hallmarks of dozing off. Using electroencephalogram recordings, the team showed that in those test periods, participants' brains produced more of the slow waves that are dominant during sleep. Perhaps, the researchers say, mind wandering is like a form of light sleep that provides some of that state's learning benefits. To better understand whether mind wandering might compensate for lost sleep, Simor and his colleagues next plan to study narcolepsy and sleep deprivation. 'We know that people spend significant amounts of time not focused on what they are doing,' Smallwood says. 'The authors' work is important because it helps us understand how reasonably complex forms of behavior can continue when people are focused on other things—and that even though our thoughts were elsewhere, the external behavior can still leave its mark on the person.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists Find That Lucid Dreaming Is Actually A New State Of Consciousness
After analyzing many previous studies on lucid dreaming, researchers have defined it as a state that differs significantly from both REM sleep and wakefulness. The awareness of dreaming during a lucid dream is now thought to come from shifts in brain wave activity undergone by several parts of the brain, including the right central lobe, parietal lobe and precuneus. Lucid dreams were also found to have effects similar to psychedelics like LSD. Have you ever had a dream in which you realized you were dreaming? When you become conscious of the fact that you are dreaming, you can take advantage of that knowledge and manipulate the dream. If you want to do something that is physically impossible in the real world, such as flying, you can leap into the air and take flight. Someone who realizes they are trapped in a nightmare can convince themselves to wake up. The state known as lucid dreaming is an unquestionably surreal one, and it just got even more so. A team of researchers—led by Çağatay Demirel from the Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging at Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands—has discovered that lucid dreaming has now been found to be a state of consciousness separate from both wakefulness and REM sleep (the state usually associated with dreams), and is in fact associated with its own unique type of brain activity. They published a study on their findings in the Journal of Neuroscience. 'This research opens the door to a deeper understanding of lucid dreaming as an intricate state of consciousness by pointing to the possibility that conscious experience can arise from within sleep itself,' Demirel said in a press release. To identify what sets lucid dreaming apart from the rest of sleep, he and his team pulled previous studies—in which brain activity was measured with EEG sensors—together into what is now the most extensive dataset in this field of sleep research. The researchers then compared brain activity patterns for wakefulness, REM sleep, and lucid dreaming to find that that the eerie self-awareness experienced in lucid dreams has a connection to the electrical rhythms in neurons known as brain waves. Perception and memory processing in the lucid dreaming state were found to be different from non-lucid REM sleep. The consciousness of existing in a dream was associated with with beta waves in the right temporal lobe (which controls spatial awareness and nonverbal memory) and parietal lobe (which controls the sense of touch and self-perception). Beta waves are a type of high-frequency electromagnetic activity in the brain involved in conscious thought processes like solving problems or making decisions. Our consciousness is dominated by beta waves when we are awake. This might explain why there is so much cognitive control in lucid dreams. Dreamers deep in REM sleep have no sense of control over factors like thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, but those in lucid dreaming states do. Demirel also linked gamma waves with lucid dreaming. These are the fastest brain waves, which become visible on an EEG at times when the brain is especially alert and focusing on something. When lucid dreaming begins, gamma waves increase in the right precuneus, which is involved in self-referential thinking—thoughts about ourselves and our lives. When we are awake, we often drift into this type of thinking when our minds wander. Maybe the most mind-bending thing about lucid dreams is that they are, according to the study, similar in the brain to the effects of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and ayahuasca. These types of psychedelic experiences are also associated with the precuneus, whose activity is modified when waking imagery is seen despite having closed eyes (something usually only experienced with psychedelics). Interestingly, however, lucid dreams may even go a few experiential steps past psychedelics. 'While psychedelics often lead to a dissolution of ego and decreased self-referential processing […] lucid dreams may actually harness elements of self-awareness and control,' Demirel and his team said in the study. So if you're capable of lucid dreaming, you're in for an awesome trip. You Might Also Like Jennifer Garner Swears By This Retinol Eye Cream These New Kicks Will Help You Smash Your Cross-Training Goals
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Lucid Dreaming Is a New State of Consciousness, Scientists Find
After analyzing many previous studies on lucid dreaming, researchers have defined it as a state that differs significantly from both REM sleep and wakefulness. The awareness of dreaming during a lucid dream is now thought to come from shifts in brain wave activity undergone by several parts of the brain, including the right central lobe, parietal lobe and precuneus. Lucid dreams were also found to have effects similar to psychedelics like LSD. Have you ever had a dream in which you realized you were dreaming? When you become conscious of the fact that you are dreaming, you can take advantage of that knowledge and manipulate the dream. If you want to do something that is physically impossible in the real world, such as flying, you can leap into the air and take flight. Someone who realizes they are trapped in a nightmare can convince themselves to wake up. The state known as lucid dreaming is an unquestionably surreal one, and it just got even more so. A team of researchers—led by Çağatay Demirel from the Donders Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging at Radboud University Medical Center, the Netherlands—has discovered that lucid dreaming has now been found to be a state of consciousness separate from both wakefulness and REM sleep (the state usually associated with dreams), and is in fact associated with its own unique type of brain activity. They published a study on their findings in the Journal of Neuroscience. 'This research opens the door to a deeper understanding of lucid dreaming as an intricate state of consciousness by pointing to the possibility that conscious experience can arise from within sleep itself,' Demirel said in a press release. To identify what sets lucid dreaming apart from the rest of sleep, he and his team pulled previous studies—in which brain activity was measured with EEG sensors—together into what is now the most extensive dataset in this field of sleep research. The researchers then compared brain activity patterns for wakefulness, REM sleep, and lucid dreaming to find that that the eerie self-awareness experienced in lucid dreams has a connection to the electrical rhythms in neurons known as brain waves. Perception and memory processing in the lucid dreaming state were found to be different from non-lucid REM sleep. The consciousness of existing in a dream was associated with with beta waves in the right central lobe (which controls spatial awareness and nonverbal memory) and parietal lobe (which controls the sense of touch and spatial awareness). Beta waves are a type of high-frequency electromagnetic activity in the brain involved in conscious thought processes like solving problems or making decisions. Our consciousness is dominated by beta waves when we are awake. This might explain why there is so much cognitive control in lucid dreams. Dreamers deep in REM sleep have no sense of control over factors like thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, but those in lucid dreaming states do. Demirel also linked gamma waves with lucid dreaming. These are the fastest brain waves, which become visible on an EEG at times when the brain is especially alert and focusing on something. When lucid dreaming begins, gamma waves increase in the right precuneus, which is involved in self-referential thinking—thoughts about ourselves and our lives. When we are awake, we often drift into this type of thinking when our minds wander. Maybe the most mind-bending thing about lucid dreams is that they are, according to the study, similar in the brain to the effects of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and ayahuasca. These types of psychedelic experiences are also associated with the precuneus, whose activity is modified when waking imagery is seen despite having closed eyes (something usually only experienced with psychedelics). Interestingly, however, lucid dreams may even go a few experiential steps past psychedelics. 'While psychedelics often lead to a dissolution of ego and decreased self-referential processing […] lucid dreams may actually harness elements of self-awareness and control,' Demirel and his team said in the study. So if you're capable of lucid dreaming, you're in for an awesome trip. You Might Also Like Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss? Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50
