Brain training is a hot topic. It’s a million-dollar business and its popularity is still increasing. We have been interested in increasing people’s intelligence since the study of intelligence, but computerized brain training is a relatively new invention. Continue reading
Category Archives: Neuropsychology
The Brain’s Reward System: Is Dopamine the Only ‘Feel Good’ Chemical?
Much evidence has associated dopamine with the brain’s reward system. For this reason, dopamine has been called the “feel good” or pleasure chemical. Stimulation of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, makes us feel good. Continue reading
Posted in Learning, Neuropsychology
Tagged addiction, brain, dopamine, experiment, reward system
Study: Smiling Makes You More Attractive
A study by Golle, Mast & Lobmaier (2013) shows how emotional expressions of happiness influence the judgment of attractiveness. Continue reading
Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Personalities: Fact or Fiction?
A new study by Nielsen and colleagues (2013) examined this by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The authors obtained data from fMRI reports of 1011 individuals between the ages of 7 and 29. These fMRI reports revealed the individuals’ resting brain activity. Continue reading
Posted in Neuropsychology
Manual Experience With an Object Shapes Its Meaning
The sensorimotor-based theories posit that the brain becomes activated in the same brain regions when people perceive and interact with an object, and when they store its meaning. Therefore, having an experience with an object should shape its meaning (Yee et al., 2013). Continue reading
Posted in Neuropsychology
How Your Mood Influences Your Cognitive Functioning
A literature review by Mitchell & Phillips (2007) examined how positive and negative moods influence people’s cognitive functioning, or more specifically, executive functions.
The Impact of Serotonin on Social Behaviors
The impact of the neurotransmitter serotonin on the brain functioning is extensive, and the treatment of a number of psychological disorders involves serotonin in some way or another. Continue reading
Posted in Moral, Neuropsychology
Tagged antisocial, fairness, prosocial, serotonin, violence
The Effects of Glutamate in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Anxiety disorders are some of the most frequent psychological disorders, and the processes involved in fear conditioning seem to be the same across species, i.e. the same neural structures may be involved. Continue reading