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POPSRejoice! Websurfing is good for old brains! "Researchers tested out 24 volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half were experienced Web searchers, the other half had no experience. The participants performed Web searches and book-reading tasks while undergoing MRI scans. All of the participants showed significant brain activity during the book-reading tasks. But there was a major difference between the groups when doing the Internet searches, according to a UCLA press release. "While all the participants demonstrated the same brain activity that was seen during the book-reading task, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in the frontal, temporal, and cingulate areas of the brain, which control decision-making and complex reasoning." So while we, the digerati, may end up easily distracted, fat due to physical inactivity, and in chronic pain due to gadget-related repetitive stress injuries...at least we'll be more likely to keep our wits about us."
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POPSLearning From Mistakes Only Works After Age 12, Study Suggests "There is also an area of the brain that responds strongly to positive feedback: the basal ganglia, just outside the cerebral cortex. The activity of this area of the brain does not change. It remains active in all age groups: in adults, but also in children, both eight-year-olds and twelve-year-olds."
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POPSChandelier Cells Unveil Human Cognition "By triggering specific chandelier cells, the authors were able to elicit a precisely timed chain of electrical events in the neocortex. Additionally, the authors found that the synaptic pathways between chandeliers and pyramid cells are incredibly strong – much stronger than has been recorded previously in other mammals. This suggests that humans do possess different types of cells, and that our higher cognition isn't due to having larger cells. Although chandelier cells have been found in other species, they are more complex in humans. This raises the possibility that there are many things which attribute to higher cognition – different types of cells, and a complex circuitry, perhaps. This study by Tamas, et al, furthers the search for the answers to higher cognition, and more fully opens the door to questions of how our brains compare to those of other species."
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POPSSeven Cues for Possible Lies
2. Speech Disturbances – When we lie, we force our brain to pretend: that the lie is true, that the truth is a lie and simultaneously remember, that the real truth is that each is the other. Are you confused? So is your brain when you lie. The process of deception taxes our cognitive capability to think efficiently, so when we are lying, we will pause longer and speak slower than normal and often experience speech disturbances that serve as gap fillers. These include, but are not limited to, ah, er, um, ug, hum, etc. You should train yourself to be alert for deception when you hear this kind of verbal cue. 3. Incongruent behavior – When our words and our body language don’t agree, our communication is said to be incongruent. For example, imagine that you ask a salesman if he can assure your delivery will be on time. If he explains how certain he is about it being on time while also shaking his head (as if non-verbally saying “no”), he is incongruent. When this sort of incongruency o
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