NewScientist The Last Word - Tag 'brain' details

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Do our brains need time to 'warm-up' to tasks?

When bored, I play a simple game on my computer matching balls of a similar colour in rows of five. Successful matches are removed from the 9x9 grid adding to the score - there are many variations of such games. If I start at zero and continue uninterrupted with the game until I lose, my score is much greater than if I start, then take a break and then continue with the game. What is happening here? Does my brain become 'trained' to the task thus knowing what is going to be expected of it in advance; perhaps 'honing' its assessment of the next task? Conversely, if I take a break, does the brain need to 'warm-up' again before an optimum level of judgement is reached and is this behaviour seen in other repetitive tasks? In driving for example, though we may feel tired on a long journey, the brain may well be functioning better before we take a rest than afterwards.

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Asked by Pixelpics
on 2010-01-04 13:57:22

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: humanbody, brain, Thoughtprocesses.

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Where did the myth that people only use 10% of their brains come from?
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Asked by jellybeans8888
on 2009-11-29 20:57:02

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: brain.

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Eyeborg

I've heard from a few sorces that we can now input computational images into the eye. The sources didn't go into much detail on how to do this, but I am buessing that they figured out how visual images are processed through our Optical Nerve, and - after some lengthy reasearch - were able to imitate these electrical nerve pulses and hook up a wire directly into the part of the brain which processes images.

Is this right, and if so, then why does it work? Shouldn't the patient feel some sort of electrical current flowing throught their brain? Why does the patient's brain recieve the image as if it were a normal image from out eyes?

(1 vote) average rating:4

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Asked by Asxz
on 2009-11-29 05:51:33

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: technology, humanbody, brain, camera, eye, visible, electrici.

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How does the body get electrical energy from food?

In common parlance, one would say the body 'burns' food, and, indeed, we are warm creatures due to some kind of exothermic reaction(s) inside us, yet our muscles and brain work on electrical impulse. Is this the most efficient conversion of heat to useful energy we know of, or is the electrical energy converted from chemical potential energy somewhere?

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Asked by Cifer
on 2009-11-04 09:41:31

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: Food, electricity, brain, energy, heat, body, muscle, Bodytemperature, electrical, metabolism.

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At what age can the average baby acknowledge themselves as person?
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Asked by murphy114
on 2009-11-01 13:54:51

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: brain, human, baby, pyscology.

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Since your brain has no pain receptors, when you get 'brainache', what hurts?
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Asked by greenfred
on 2009-10-21 01:26:36

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: brain, headaches.

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Is the internet self-aware, or could it become so?
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Asked by andrewmcloughlin
on 2009-10-12 23:52:27

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Categories: Technology.

Tags: brain, internet.

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Why we can remember and forget something? Why we can remember and forget somehing? Is brain created to forget the information? Is the information totally erased or we only couldn't remember it but it is still there? How to remember something and will always remember it forever?
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Asked by hermawan
on 2009-09-25 06:23:33

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Categories: Human Body.

Tags: humanbody, brain, psychology.

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Do animals suffer from mental illness?

We constantly read about autism rates, schizophrenia rates, depression etc in the human world. And many of us think we can identify stress or depression in zoo animals, or even our pets on occasion. But have there ever been any studies into serious mental illnesses in animals?

What would happen to a chimapnzee suffering from schizophrenia in the wild? Are these just human diseases or is it likely monkeys, horses, cows, hedgehogs etc also suffer from psychoses or neuroses?

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Asked by jdurston
on 2009-09-22 12:43:04

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Categories: Animals.

Tags: animals, brain, schizophrenia, mentalillness.

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Mental Link? The human brain has some unbelievable features, but is there any scientific explanation when two people frequently say the same words at the same time or perform the same action in synchrony without meaning to, as if there was a "link" between the minds?
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