A new study from Western’s renowned Brain and Mind Institute shows that when humans reach out and grab things, they do not rely on the same visual cues that are used to perceive an object’s size. Images of people and objects projected onto human eyes are constantly...
Neuroscience
Brain Study explores lasting impacts of COVID-19
Neuroscientists exploring the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the brain hope their newest study will provide answers for health-care professionals and improved care for millions of patients around the globe. The COVID-19 Brain Study looks to recruit 50,000 individuals...
Global study examines pregnancy and stress during COVID-19 pandemic
Pregnancies, at the best of times, are stressful. When the world is experiencing a global pandemic, human response to risk -- real or perceived -- is undoubtedly heightened. A new study from Western University will investigate how mothers are dealing with stress...
Despite social and employment benefits, bilingualism does not make you ‘smarter’
Being bilingual does not improve general mental ability, according to a new study conducted by a team of researchers at Western University’s renowned Brain and Mind Institute. More than 11,000 participants from around the world completed 12 online cognitive tests that...
New study of football players shows concussions have long-term effects on inhibition
World renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen and his team at Western University have developed a new strategy for predicting cognitive performance in Canadian university football players based on results from online surveys completed by the general population. The most...
Researchers solve mystery of Tuvan throat singing
An international research team has uncoupled the mystery of how Tuvan throat singers produce distinctive sounds in which you can hear two different pitches at once – a low rumble and a high whistle-like tone. Fascinated with how this form of throat singing, known as...
Neuroscience controversy resolved: The hippocampus is not just a GPS
It’s a controversy that goes back to a Nobel Prize winning idea that there is a specific part of our brain that acts as our Global Positioning System (GPS), responsible for knowing at any given time where we are in the world and how to navigate it. Recently,...
New study shows menstrual cycles have no effect on cognitive benefits of exercise
The majority of exercise neuroscience studies (64 per cent) have not included female participants due to the frequently held belief that hormonal fluctuations – linked to menstrual cycles – may lead to inconsistent results and preclude adequate recommendations for...
New study advances quest to better understand consciousness
In his landmark 2006 study, Western University’s renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen and his collaborators showed for the first time ever that functional neuroimaging can reveal conscious awareness in some patients who appear to be entirely vegetative and can even...
Cannabis study reveals how CBD offsets the psychiatric side-effects of THC
Researchers at Western University have shown for the first time the molecular mechanisms at work that cause cannabidiol, or CBD, to block the psychiatric side-effects caused by tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive chemical in cannabis. It has been...
Western University develops first-of-its-kind task-based map of the human cerebellum
It is the second largest part in the human brain and contains more neurons than any other. Tucked under the back of the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum is often overlooked when considering how the brain manages complex cognition such as language or problem solving....
Brain and Mind Institute study shows how fast human brains ‘see’ the world
A new study from Western University’s renowned Brain and Mind Institute shows how fast our brain makes sense of a world in which the images of people, places and things are constantly shrinking, expanding and changing on the retina at the back of our eyes. The...