The neural basis of stuttering has to do with the integration of auditory information with speech-production commands. Previous studies show that stutterers’ produce a weaker-than-normal compensatory response while processing auditory feedback during speech. In this study they manipulated auditory feedback in order to see if weak compensatory responses are due to problems hearing feedback or using feedback. What they found is that stutterers’ have no difficulty hearing feedback, which narrows…See More

The journal Nature reports that expectation of a sensory event can increase the speed and accuracy we perceive it [ link ]. “Animals are not passive spectators of the sensory world in which they live. In natural conditions they often sense objects on the bases of…See More

This garden universe vibrates complete. Some we get a sound so sweet. Vibrations reach on up to become light, and then thru gamma, out of sight. Between the eyes and ears there lay, the sounds of color and the light of a sigh.  ~   Moody Blues A recent study shows that baboons can learn to tell the difference between word and non-word strings […See More

Conscious experience is a bell jar shaped by historical and environmental forces. What we call ‘ordinary experience’ is fashioned by exposure during early childhood and a sensory-network that has evolved over eons of earthly habitation. Recent findings published in the journal Proceeding of the Academy of Sciences help support my bell jar theory. They show that the sensory world is tuned by exposure early in life. Children growing up in cultures where their diets don’t offer much in the way of…See More

Writing has been shown to replace ruminating. Ruminating is generally thought of as mental activity devoted to replaying past traumatic experience. It is a well-known contributor to clinical depression. That’s why writing workshops are often included in the treatment of depression. However, ruminating over future events, such as taking a high-stakes exam or something, can be equally disruptive. In this case, ruminating often leads to “choking” where students perform more poorly than expected…See More

Success at math is often more about focusing attention and screening distractions (caused by threat and anxiety) ..than it is about activating areas of the brain actually involved with math calculation. Sian Beilock (University of Chicago) reports: “We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to separate anticipatory neural activity from what’s occurring while performing math. Increased activity in frontoparietal regions of the cortex, involved with focusing attention and suppressing anxiety,…See More