The Neuroscience of Pain On a foggy February morning in Oxford, England, I arrived at the John Radcliffe Hospital, a shiplike nineteen-seventies complex moored on a hill east of the city center, for the express purpose of being hurt. I … Continue reading The queen of pain
We’ve located the part of the brain which understands social interactions The ability to quickly detect and recognise the purpose of a social interaction is as indispensable today as it would have been to our ancient ancestors – but how … Continue reading Measuring social interactions
The Chill of Fear A copse can beckon, with its dappled leaves and songbird trills. But linger past twilight, and tree, bush, and animal assume different dimensions. Trunks thicken and loom, bushes snatch at clothing, and the rustlings and skitters … Continue reading Fear factors
The Loneliest Neuron There it lives, the loneliest neuron. The neuron that lies furthest from the outside world. Furthest from the inputs from your senses; furthest from the outputs to your muscles. It will never know the taste of a … Continue reading Brain building
This is your brain on art If you think about it, having a great time at the theater defies logic in many ways. We’re surrounded by strangers, bombarded with unusual images and often faced with a wordless language of symbols. … Continue reading Entertained in a crowd
Unraveling the hidden systems of the brain If no one has any strenuous objections, I’d like to tell you about some work we’ve just had published. Oh, you do? OK, read this instead: it’s an alleged academic miserably failing to … Continue reading The hidden brain
Unreliability of fMRI Emotional Biomarkers Brain responses to emotion stimuli are highly variable even within the same individual, and this could be a problem for researchers who seek to use these responses as biomarkers to help diagnose and treat disorders … Continue reading Biases in fMRI studies
