Researchers Can Now Implant False Memories Into People's Brains

Japanese researchers have developed a trick to implant false visions into people’s brains, altering the way they experience the world and potentially even the way they think. Describing the new technique in the journal Current Biology, the scientists reveal how they were able to achieve this effect without actively engaging with their subjects’ thoughts, instead prompting them to unwittingly warp their own sense of perception.
Speaking to Stat, lead researcher Takeo Watanabe explained that this simple brainwashing exercise could one day lead to new treatments for cognitive disorders such as depression and autism. By provoking people to rewire their own brains, he hopes to help patients strengthen certain healthy connections and erase other less desirable ones.

Tease your brain!

Hallucinations may actually be caused by folds in the brain

Imagine hearing a voice that screams, “You’re no good at this and you’re going to fail every exam” but not knowing where it came from. Or suddenly seeing a poisonous snake slithering towards you. Even if you’ve never had a hallucination – a sensory event that is experienced as real, despite having no material world cause – it’s easy to imagine how frightening they can be.
Despite advances in brain imaging technology, we still have a limited understanding of the biological processes behind hallucinations. But new research has discovered that a key region of the brain, the paracingulate sulcus, may underlie the experience. This delivers a glimmer of insight into why some people are more likely to hallucinate and provides a neural target for treatments that aim to tackle such terrifying experiences.
When someone has a hallucination, the basic problem is that they fail to distinguish between real events and those created by the imagination. As a result, hallucinations have been described as an impairment in “reality 
monitoring”.

Use your brain!

Practising music improves the symmetry of the brain.

If you think music is good for you then a little practice is even better. Get to learn the effect that a couple of hours of practice a day have on your brain by reading the lines below.

How does the brain retain information?

5 Logic problems to put your brain in work.

Below are listed several problems that need some logic to be solved.

1. MILK JUGS

A milkman has two empty jugs: a three gallon jug and a five gallon jug.

How van he measure exactly one gallon without wasting any milk?

2.SOCKS AND SHOES

You are in the dark and in the floor there are six shoes of three colors, and a heap of twenty four socks, black and brown. How many socks and shoes must you take into the light to be certain that you have a matching pair of socks and a matching pair of shoes?

3.TWIN BROTHERS

Suppose there are twin brothers; one which always tells the truth and one which always lies.

What single yes/no question could you ask to either brother to figure out which is which?

4.CUT THE CAKE

How is it possible to cut a traditional circular cake into 8 equal size pieces, with only 3 cuts?

5.FOUR DIGIT NUMBER

What is the four digit number in which the first digit is one third the second, the third is the sum of the first and the second, and the last is three times the second.

The Science of Storytelling

The impact of smartphone thumbing on your brain

Almost like a new drug, our addiction to using our smartphones is having a profound effect on our brains. Whether we’re texting, posting on Facebook, or playing Angry Birds, the way we’re repetitively using our fingers and thumbs on the smooth surface of a touch screen is causing certain areas of our brains to become bigger. In other words, we’re experiencing heightened brain activity that rewires sensory processing when our fingertips and thumbs are touched, a phenomenon known as “brain plasticity” in which the brain adapts to learning new things.