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Why do sports fans feel so emotionally invested in the game, reacting almost as if they were part of the game? According to new research, people constantly imitate whatever they are observing. This video segment, adapted from "NOVA ScienceNow," discusses the latest research on a system of neurons that plays a part in how people relate to each other. These neurons, known as mirror neurons, prime individuals to imitate what they see.
(Source: DCMP)
Hannah Laccarino, a graduate student in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, answers questions about the importance of brain cells. She also discusses what happens to the brain cells not used. Part of the "#askMIT" series.
What causes emotional responses when watching movies? It's all in the brain. Deeply emotional cinematic experiences are a product of mirror neurons. In this segment, host Trace Dominguez discusses the relationship between mirror neurons, empathy, and memory. Part of the "Uno Dos of Trace" series.
The heart is the most symbolic organ of the human body. Across history, it has been seen as the source of emotions and the center of human existence. However, by the seventeenth century, scientific understanding overturned historical ideas, and the heart was recognized merely as a mechanical pump. More recently, Professor David Paterson from the University of Oxford has been doing extensive research that challenges this view. He has discovered that the heart has millions of specialized neurons just like those that are in the brain. Neurons are the cells that give humans the ability to think. So what does their presence in the heart mean?
While the human brain and nervous system are wired with hundreds of billions of nerve cells, or neurons, sea slugs can get by with tens of thousands. Ironically, sea slugs reveal a lot about the chemistry of the human brain and nervous system. In fact, they are ideal as study subjects for research on learning, memory, and how neurons control behavior. With support from the National Science Foundation, analytical chemist Jonathan Sweedler and his team at the University of Illinois are working to develop new measurement tools that enable insights into the function of individual cells in the central nervous systems of slugs and other animals in order to uncover novel neurochemical pathways. Part of the National Science Foundation Series “Science Nation.”
Drug addiction is a disease of the brain, and teens are at the highest risk for acquiring this disease. Stephen Dewey and other leading scientists detail how drugs like heroin, nicotine, cocaine, and marijuana change the brain by altering the way it registers pleasure. Young recovering addicts describe how addiction involves intense craving for a drug and loss of control over its use.
Shows how the brain coordinates functions to make simple but lifesaving decisions. Provides an overview of how the cortex assesses incoming information, sends outgoing messages to the muscles, and stores "maps" of the world and the body. Also outlines how circuits of nerve cells operate in the brain and how individual nerve cells function.
Psychiatrist and author Dr. Norman Doidge travels across North America to meet some of the pioneering researchers who made revolutionary discoveries about the plasticity of the human brain. He also visits with people, once thought to have had incurable brain injuries, who are now living normal lives. Known in scientific circles as "neuroplasticity," this radical new approach to the brain provides an incredible way to bring the human brain back to life.
The connections between neurons in the brain are involved in everything humans do, and no one’s pattern is the same. Imagine the medical breakthroughs if doctors understood more about the brain’s circuitry. With support from the National Science Foundation, neuroscientist and psychiatrist Karl Deisseroth and his multidisciplinary team at Stanford University have developed a new imaging technology that essentially makes the brain transparent. They can then generate detailed 3-D images that highlight specific neuronal networks. Deisseroth has named this process “CLARITY.” Part of the National Science Foundation Series “Science Nation.”
Teachers often say to students, “Put your thinking caps on,” and one day, students might just do that for real. Vanderbilt University psychologist Geoffrey Woodman says that’s because scientists are being equipped with more and more tools they can use to better understand the brain, and now, they can even eavesdrop on individual neurons. Initial support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) allowed Woodman and his team at the Vanderbilt University Visual Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory to study memory and perception. Then, the researchers tested their theory that electrical stimulation of the medial frontal cortex can boost learning and improve decision-making. Part of the National Science Foundation Series “Science Nation.”
