Summary: Study finds that the fusiform face area is active when blind people touch 3D models of faces.
August 26, 2020
Source: Anne Trafton | MIT News Office
Archives
Constructing Odor Objects in the Brain
Summary: Study reveals how varying odors are perceived similarly in different individuals.
August 18, 2020
Source: RIKEN
Why the Brain Is Programmed to See Faces in Everyday Objects
Summary: Face pareidolia, the phenomenon of seeing facelike structures in inanimate objects, is a perceptual phenomenon that occurs when sensory input is processed by visual mechanisms that have evolved to extract social content from human faces.
August 14, 2020
Source: University of New South Wales
Key brain region was “recycled” as humans developed the ability to read
Summary: Part of the visual cortex dedicated to recognizing objects appears predisposed to identifying words and letters, a study finds.
August 4, 2020
Source: Anne Trafton | MIT News Office
Greater Excitability in Social Brain Regions of Autistic Men Compared to Women
Summary: Males with autism have atypically enhanced excitation in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This area of the brain is associated with social cognition and self-reflection. Autistic women showed a more intact mPFC response, which was associated with a better ability to camouflage social difficulties in real-world settings.
August 4, 2020
Source: eLife
Ila Fiete studies how the brain performs complex computations
Summary: The MIT professor takes a mathematical approach to exploring memory, navigation, and other neural functions.
July 28, 2020
Source: Anne Trafton | MIT News Office
Scientists Observe Learning Processes Online in the Brain
Summary: Repeatedly administered tactile simulation over a sustained period of time alters neural processing of the hand area in the brain. The observable changes over time illustrate neuroplasticity and shed new light on the process of learning.
July 21, 2020
Source: RUB
MG53 suppresses interferon-β and inflammation via regulation of ryanodine receptor-mediated intracellular calcium signaling
Summary: TRIM family proteins play integral roles in the innate immune response to virus infection. MG53 (TRIM72) is essential for cell membrane repair and is believed to be a muscle-specific TRIM protein. Here we show human macrophages express MG53, and MG53 protein expression is reduced following virus infection.
17 July 2020
Source: Nature Communications
Signs of Covid-19 may be hidden in speech signals
Summary: Processing vocal recordings of infected but asymptomatic people reveals potential indicators of Covid-19.
July 8, 2020
Source: Kylie Foy | Lincoln Laboratory
https://news.mit.edu/2020/signs-covid-19-may-be-hidden-speech-signals-0708
Sniffing out smell: How the brain organizes information about odors
Summary: Neuroscientists describe for the first time how relationships between different odors are encoded in the brain. The findings suggest a mechanism that may explain why individuals have common but highly personalized experiences with smell, and inform efforts better understand how the brain transforms information about odor chemistry into the perception of smell.
July 2, 2020
Source: Harvard Medical School
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200702144119.htm