Prefrontal Cortex Archives - Knowing Neurons

Mariella Careaga February 13, 2023 Amygdala, Emotion, Evolution, fMRI, Love, PET, Prefrontal Cortex, Reward, Reward pathway, Valentine’s Day

This Is Your Brain In Love

By Mariella Careaga Just like any other emotion, love has more to do with the brain than you might think. Among all emotions, love seems to have a special place… Read More

Brain Development Mental Health Science Policy

Vincent A Medina September 13, 2022June 5, 2023 Emotions, gun reform, Limbic system, maturation, policy regulation, Prefrontal Cortex, school shooting, worldwide policy

The Fatal Relationship Between Firearm Policy and Brain Development

By Vincent A Medina Gun deaths in the United States far exceed those of every other developed country in the world (Sam & Rupp, 2022). This has prompted frequent discussions… Read More

A sleeping brain on the left versus a brain lifting weights on the right. Illustrated by Rajamani Selvam.

Culture Big Ideas

Marco Travaglio September 4, 2019September 4, 2019 Dopamine, Insula, Limbic, Mesolimbic Pathway, Motivation, MRI, neurotransmitter, Nucleus accumbens, Prefrontal Cortex, Reward-Seeking Behavior, Ventral Tegmental Area

The Neuroscience of Motivation and How to Improve It

Motivation can be a hard thing to come by. Whether at home, at school or at work, most of us have been in a situation where we know exactly what… Read More

Brain Development Big Ideas Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Joel Frohlich February 6, 2018April 24, 2019 Angelman syndrome, Brain Disorders, Cure, Disorders, Happiness, Health, Lobotomy, mood, Mood Disorders, Neurodevelopment, Neurology, Neuroscience, Parenting, Prefrontal Cortex, Psychiatry, Treament, Wellbeing

Are children with Angelman syndrome really happy?

This post was updated on April 24, 2019 to incorporate feedback from parents. Names have been changed to protect anonymity. What is health? What is happiness? We generally imagine the… Read More

Big Ideas Consciousness Philosophy

DanielToker January 31, 2018February 3, 2018 Brain, brain-to-brain communication, Consciousness, Hive Mind, Integrated Information Theory, Memory, Neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Tononi

The emergence of a hive mind: Should we worry?

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he term “hive mind” refers to the apparent intelligence that emerges at the group level in some social species, particularly insects like honeybees and ants. An individual honeybee might not… Read More

Consciousness Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Yaïr Pinto January 10, 2018January 10, 2018 Consciousness, Gazzaniga, Learning, Memory, Neuroscience, Perception, Prefrontal Cortex, Research, Sperry, Split brain

When You Split the Brain, Do You Split the Person?

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he brain is perhaps the most complex machine in the Universe. It consists of two cerebral hemispheres, each with many different modules. Fortunately, all these separate parts are not autonomous… Read More

Weird Animal Brain Did You Know?Movement

Kayleen Schreiber October 2, 2017September 29, 2017 Brain, Brain Injury, Infographic, Knowing Neurons, Nature, Neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Research, Science, TBI, Traumatic brain injury

Weird Animal Brain: Woodpecker

Brain damage is a major concern for us humans – car accidents, football, falling backwards. It’s pretty easy to cause a concussion. Woodpeckers, however, pound away daily using much more… Read More

Neuroscience Technologies Big Ideas Neuroscience Art Sensation and Perception

Alexa Erdogan August 2, 2017August 2, 2017 Brain, CLARITY, Cortex, EEG, Fact, fMRI, Greg Dunn, Interview, Knowing Neurons, MRI, Neuroimaging, Neuron, Neurons, Neuroscience, Perception, Prefrontal Cortex, Research, Science

How Neuroimaging Changes Our View of Science & Humanity

Magritte’s comments on our fascination with the unknown rings true not just in artistic surrealism, but also in many of our scientific research endeavors. The human mind is continually fascinated… Read More

Brain Development Brain Basics Did You Know?Learning and Memory Sensation and Perception

Gabrielle Torre July 26, 2017June 23, 2022 Brain, Cortex, Development, EEG, Fact, fMRI, Knowing Neurons, Learning, Neuron, Neurons, Neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Reading, Research

Reading: The Brain’s Best Hijacker

What are you doing right now? I’m no psychic, but I can say for certain one thing that you’re doing: reading. You’re reading this sentence, word by word, and extracting… Read More

Neuroscience Art Did You Know?Interviews Sensation and Perception

Kayleen Schreiber July 19, 2017July 16, 2017 Art, Brain, Color, Consciousness, Cortex, Genetics, Interview, Knowing Neurons, Learning, Neuron, Neurons, Neuroscience, Perception, Prefrontal Cortex, Science

Self Reflected: The Best of Neuroscience and Art

The phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” seems especially true for scientists. What we study becomes not only intellectually beautiful, but also literally beautiful: the form is… Read More

Aging Did You Know?Learning and Memory Movement Neuro News

Kayleen Schreiber June 19, 2017June 30, 2017 Alzheimer’s disease, Brain, Cortex, DNA, Epigenetics, gene, Genetics, Infographic, Knowing Neurons, Learning, Memory, Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration, Neuron, Neurons, Neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Receptor, Research, Science

Bite-size Science: Epigenetics help protect the aging brain

Epigenetics change which genes are active and which are inactive. Research over the past few years has shown that these changes are important for protecting the brain from neurodegeneration and… Read More

Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders

Joel Frohlich February 15, 2017June 30, 2017 Basal ganglia, Hemiballismus, Nikola, obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, Prefrontal Cortex, Sam Harris, Tesla, Thalamus

What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

Our thoughts are often mysterious to us. You probably don’t know why you suddenly think about a Komodo dragon while sitting in traffic or Citizen Kane while shopping for groceries.… Read More

Did You Know?Learning and Memory Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders Philosophy

Caitlin Aamodt February 1, 2017April 18, 2019 Alternative, Bear, Berenstain, Berenstein, Caitlin Aamodt, Cat, Confabulation, Effect, Engram, Fact, Facts, False, fMRI, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Hippocampus, Kayleen Schreiber, Kazaam, Mandela, Memory, Parallel, Prefrontal Cortex, Reality, Reconsolidation, Schema, Schrodinger, Sinbad, Universe

Can Neuroscience Explain the Mandela Effect?

Would you trust a memory if it felt as real as all your others? And other people confirmed they remember it, too? What if the memory turned out to be… Read More

Neuroscience Technologies Did You Know?

Joel Frohlich January 4, 2017June 30, 2017 Brain, Broca, Cortex, DBS, Deep Brain Stimulation, depression, Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex, ECT, EEG, electroconvulsive therapy, Motor, Parkinson's, Parkinson's Disease, Prefrontal, Prefrontal Cortex, rDCS, Seizure, TMS, transcranial direct current stimulation, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Stimulating Neural Circuits with Magnetism

Brain stimulation might sound like some Frankensteinian demonstration from a Victorian science fair. But in reality, it is a contemporary technique making a huge impact in neuroscience by addressing a… Read More

Sensation and Perception Neuroscience Technologies Videos

Kayleen Schreiber September 7, 2016June 30, 2017 Audition, auditory, Contribute, Cortex, EEG, Hear, Hearing, Kayleen Schreiber, Knowing Neurons, Neuroscience, Prefrontal Cortex, Research, Science, Speech perception, Team

Meet our newest team member Kayleen Schreiber

We have someone new joining our team! She is a neuroscience PhD student at the University of Iowa, and she studies speech perception – but let’s let the animation she created… Read More

knowingneurons February 11, 2016March 5, 2017 ACC, Anterior cingulate cortex, Auditory cortex, Cingulate, Consciousness and Cognition, Cortical thickness, Default mode network, DMN, Farrugia, frontal cortex, Fronto-temporal network, GM, Gray matter, Heschl's gyrus, HG, Hippocampus, Imagery, Imagine, IMIS, INMI, Involuntary, involuntary musical imagery, Involuntary Musical Imagery Scale, Kelly Jakubowski, Lauren Stewart, Music, OFC, Orbitofrontal cortex, Parahippocampal cortex, Posterior Cingulate Cortex, Prefrontal Cortex, Rhodri Cusack, Teodora Stoica, Tunes stuck in your brain, Voxel-based morphometry

Digging Out the “Earworms:” Involuntary Musical Imagery Correlates with Cortical Structure

You don’t know you know this song, but you definitely know this song: “Hey Mickey you’re so fine, you’re so fine you…” Did the end of the lyric materialize in… Read More

Brain Basics Did You Know?Popular Articles Sensation and Perception Videos

Kate Fehlhaber February 10, 2016March 5, 2017 Amygdala, Anatomy, Auditory cortex, Brain, Cerebellum, Distracting, Dopamine, Emotion, Genius, Health, Hippocampus, Learning, Mozart, Music, Neuroanatomy, Neuroscience, Neurotranmistt, Nucleus accumbens, Prefrontal Cortex

This is Your Brain on Music

Did You Know?Sensation and Perception

Jenn Tribble January 21, 2016March 5, 2017 Ashley Madison, Coolidge effect, Dopamine, Dynamic Changes in Nucleus Accumbens Dopamine Efflux During the Coolidge Effect in Male Rats, Fiorino, Jennifer Tribble, Journal of Neuroscience, Mate, Mating, Mesolimbic, Monogamy, Motivation, Novely, Nucleus accumbens, Pathway, Pleasure, Prefrontal Cortex, Reward, Ventral Tegmental Area

A Tale of Monogamy and Dopamine

In a recent hack, private information from nearly 30 million users was leaked from Ashley Madison, a “dating” website intended to facilitate extramarital affairs. The sheer number of Ashley Madison… Read More

Smells Like Teen Synapses: A Look Inside Adolescent Brains and Behaviors

Aging Brain Development

knowingneurons November 18, 2015March 5, 2017 Adolescent, Adult, Dendrite, Dendritic spine, Development, Emotion, Mindfulness, Plasticity, Prefrontal Cortex, Ronald Dahl, Synaptogenesis, Teenager, Teens, Ventral striatum

Smells Like Teen Synapses: A Look Inside Adolescent Brains and Behaviors

“I would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child,… Read More

Did You Know?Neuroscience Technologies

Joel Frohlich October 21, 2015March 5, 2017 Brain, Brain mapping, Consciousness, Default mode network, DMN, fMRI, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Functional MRI, Graph, Graph Theory, Hubs, Leonhard Euler, Map, Neocortex, Network, Node, Phrenology, Place Cell, Prefrontal Cortex

Mapping Brain Connectivity Using Graph Theory

Have you ever wondered why the same brain regions are often implicated again and again in many tasks and behaviors? For instance, the prefrontal cortex is implicated in so many… Read More

Learning and Memory

knowingneurons April 22, 2015March 5, 2017 Amnesia, Cellular Pharmacology of Protein Kinase Mζ (PKMζ) Contrasts with Its in Vitro Profile: IMPLICATIONS FOR PKMζ AS A MEDIATOR OF MEMORY, Long-term memory, Memory, MMM, Molecular memory modification, PKMζ, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Prefrontal Cortex, protein kinase, PTSD, Safety, Teodora Stoica, Wu-Zhang

Memory Hack: Manipulating the Brain’s Memory Cache

Imagine having a memory that haunts you, sneaks into your daily thoughts and turns over on itself in your dreams. Escape seems impossible. Now imagine you are injected with a… Read More

Aging Learning and Memory Neuro News

Kate Fehlhaber January 21, 2015March 5, 2017 2014, Aging, Alzheimer’s disease, Dendrite, glutamate, Glutamatergic, Hippocampus, Long-term potentiation, LTP, Memory, Morrison, Neuroplasticity, Pereira, PNAS, Prefrontal Cortex, Riluzole, Spine

Keeping Memories Fresh by Keeping Glutamate In Check

We are another year older, perhaps a little wiser, and probably more forgetful. Indeed, making memories is quite a process in the brain: specific synaptic connections are strengthened and new… Read More

Brain Basics Did You Know?

knowingneurons April 9, 2014March 5, 2017 Adapt, Amygdala, Anatomy, Anterior cingulate, Brain, Dopamine, Emotions, Exercise, Focus, Hippocampus, Insula, Medial temporal lobe, Memory, Neuroanatomy, Nucleus accumbens, Orbitofrontal cortex, Prefrontal Cortex, Psychology, Resilience, Rewire, Striatum, Ventral Tegmental Area, Winning

Bet on your Brain: The Psychology of Winning

Brain Basics Did You Know?

knowingneurons March 13, 2014March 5, 2017 Amygdala, Anarchic Hand Syndrome, Brain, Face-recognition, Facts, Infographic, myelin, Neuroscience, Olfactory Receptor, Pain, Phantom Limb Pain, Prefrontal Cortex, Synesthesia, Temporal Lobe

10 Brain Facts

Did You Know?

Anita January 2, 2013March 5, 2017 New Year's Resolutions, PFC, Prefrontal Cortex, Ventromedial prefrontal cortex, vmPFC

A New Year. A New You.

Yesterday, millions of people across the world made New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, quit smoking, or follow their dreams. Chances are that this isn’t the first time they made… Read More