Neuroscience

How the brain encodes warm and cool

Researchers from the Max Delbrück Center have found a region of the brain that is responsible for our perception of temperature when we touch things. The paper, which appears in Nature, reports the discovery of a "thermal ...

Neuroscience

Hearing is believing: Sounds can alter our visual perception

Perception generally feels effortless. If you hear a bird chirping and look out the window, it hardly feels like your brain has done anything at all when you recognize that chirping critter on your windowsill as a bird.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Too much motivation affects our decision-making

In a good or a bad mood, focused or distracted, our internal states directly influence our perceptions and decision-making. While the role of motivation on the performance of behavioral tasks has been known for more than ...

Neuroscience

Why are sounds not perceived under anesthesia?

The purpose of anesthesia is to put the brain into an unconscious state in which stimuli such as sounds are not perceived. In this state, the neurons in the auditory cortex are still stimulated by sounds, but the latter are ...

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