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How Artificial Intelligence is Beginning to Sense and Perceive
Visual and auditory neuroscience has been used more frequently in the new age of technology. We can see it being used when Facebook automatically identifies our faces in tagged photos or when Siri finally figures out that we want the weather for today and not asking to call your mom. Artificial intelligence is now crossing […]
Why Are You Copying Me?
Ever notice someone, friend or stranger, subconsciously mimic your behavior during a conversation? Ever notice yourself doing the same? If so, you may be wondering why this happens. Inside your brain, there are specific neurons called “mirror neurons,” and research from over the past decade suggests that these neurons could possibly be responsible for our […]
Anhedonia: Understanding the Lack of Feeling
The inability to feel pleasure from any kind of activity that is normally enjoyed by the individual is present in many psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and depression. The Greeks named this symptom ‘anhedonia.’ From music, eating, playing and even sex, anhedonia can cause those who have it to feel no pleasure from those […]
The Power of Exercise
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most terrifying things that can happen to a person and their family. Troubles brought about by old age are trying enough, but the added deficits and severe neural injury caused by AD make a once highly functioning, caring, and involved family member a stranger to their loved ones. […]
Would You Go Skydiving?
If you like to skydive or participate in other dangerous, adrenaline-inducing activities such as extreme sports or doing drugs, you may be someone who is easily bored or impulsive. People who demonstrate “novelty seeking” behavior tend to prefer new or unexpected experiences. Studies show that these new experiences release pleasure chemicals, or dopamine, in the brain, […]
Blinded By Our Beliefs?
Nearing the end of this election season, we can see the great divide between Trump supporters and Hillary supporters. Both sides of the election show a great deal of unwavering support for their candidates. We can see that these supporters remain uncritical and unfazed when either candidate is involved with a scandal. What if there was science […]
Is this Real Life or Virtual Reality?
In recent years, many new technologies have been aiming to make virtual reality a thing of the present rather than just a vision. Defining virtual reality as experiencing an illusion different from that of the present, achieving virtual reality immersion has always been a goal of ours starting from the 1800s. No actual machine was […]
Morally Speaking…
In some situations, we end up surprising ourselves by how we act. These are the moments when we act automatically without thinking. It is as if we really didn’t know what was going to happen. We have different narratives running through our minds, even without our conscious awareness. Underlying these narratives are complex networks of […]
The Mystery of Oxytocin
What exactly is oxytocin? You may have heard it referred to before as the “love hormone,” since it is commonly associated with good feelings and emotions, but in truth, oxytocin serves as both a complex hormone and neurotransmitter, producing a variety of responses particularly in the brain. The oxytocin that affects behavior is produced in […]
Emotion Learning Computers: The Path to Artificial Intelligence
Reading and responding to emotions often tends to be a very humanistic thing to do. To be able to understand how one is thinking and how one will respond appropriately, typically is what many would regard as making people human. Recently however, researchers have found that computers may be able to read a person’s body […]