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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Mind Scans"
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YOU MAY BE HAVING A "WHERE'S WALDO?" MOMENT... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A FRIEND IN A CROWDED ROOM, ARE YOU LIKELY TO SCAN THE ROOM--MOVING FROM FACE TO FACE? OR, WOULD YOU, INSTEAD, TAKE IN THE WHOLE SCENE--HOPING THAT YOUR FRIEND'S FACE WILL POP OUT AT YOU? IF YOU SAID THAT YOU WOULD "SCAN THE ROOM", NEUROSCIENTISTS AT M-I-T WOULD LIKELY AGREE--BASED ON A NEW STUDY. THE RESEARCHERS MONITORED THE BRAIN-ACTIVITY OF MONKEYS WHO WERE GIVEN THE TASK OF FINDING A CERTAIN TILTED, COLORED BAR ON A COMPUTER-SCREEN FILLED WITH MANY COLORED BARS. RATHER THAN LOOKING AT THE BIG PICTURE, THE MONKEYS SHIFTED THEIR ATTENTION, IN SEQUENCE--LIKE A MOVING SPOTLIGHT THAT JUMPED FROM LOCATION TO LOCATION. THE TEAM FOUND THAT THE "SPOTLIGHT" SHIFTED FOCUS 25-TIMES, PER SECOND--AND THAT THE SHIFTING WAS REGULATED BY BRAIN-WAVES. IT SEEMS THAT THESE WAVES MAY PROVIDE A CLOCK THAT TELLS THE BRAIN WHEN TO SHIFT ITS ATTENTION FROM ONE STIMULUS TO ANOTHER; THEY MIGHT ALSO KEEP DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE BRAIN ON THE SAME PAGE, AT THE SAME TIME--MUCH LIKE HOW COMPUTERS USE AN INTERNAL CLOCK TO SYNCHRONIZE THE DIFFERENT COMPONENTS INSIDE. THE SCIENTISTS SAY THAT--IF WE COULD FIND WAYS TO DIRECT BRAIN-WAVES--IT COULD BE OF IMMENSE HELP TO PATIENTS WITH A-D-D; IT MAY EVEN SPEED UP THE COGNITIVE-POWERS OF THE BRAIN. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
