How do actors memorise their lines?

Michael Boyd of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the famous neuroscientist Dr Oliver Sacs compare notes to find out how actors are able to perform the complex feat of remembering not only their lines, but also where to go on the stage and what emotions to portray.   read article

How colour coding may reveal the workings of the brain

Professor Jeff Lictman of Harvard University has developed a technique for painting brain cells with different fluorescent colours to show what happens in the brain in the case of certain mental disorders. He call the resultant coloured images "Brainbows".  read article

Atkins diet can damage your memory

A study at the University of Massachusetts has found that low-carbohydrate diets can lead to a reduction in memory performance after just one week.  read article

Found - the gene that controls brain size

Scientists in Edinburgh have identified a gene that controls the size of the human brain and body. The team studied families who have members with Seckel syndrome, a condition which retards growth in the womb leading to short stature and markedly reduced brain size, known as microcephaly.  read article

Addicts' brains struggle with big decisions

A study by Charlotte Boettiger of the University of North Carolina has concluded that the brains of alcoholics and drug addicts "may not fully process the long-term consequences of their choices".  read article

Misspeak

Following the recent cases of Carol Thatcher and Jeremy Clarkson, we consider why it is that people who should be on their guard and should know better often slip up and say inappropriate things.   read article

Could Facebook be a risk to your mental health?

During an interview with the Daily Mail the eminent neurologist Baroness Susan Greenfield suggested that social networking sites could be damaging our children's mental health and actually "rewiring" their brains.  read article

Is "Baby Brain" all in the Mind?

Many mothers, including Kate Winslet and Myleene Klass, claim to have suffered from 'baby brain' or 'preg head', a condition characterised by lapses in memory and befuddled thinking. In this article we look at three studies, all of which appear to contradict one another.  read article

Are love and hate the same?

Even though the emotions of hate and love both seem to be all-consuming passions, hatred is more calculating and deliberate in its actions and responses. New research shows that the brain's "love" and "hate" circuits share identical structures and demonstrates that intensity of hatred can be measured.  read article

God in the Brain

Since we know which parts of the brain are used when we speak, listen or even learn, it must be possible to determine which parts of the brain are used in religious belief. If we can determine that, it may be possible to answer the question how we believe? And perhaps even why we believe?  read article

Learning from mistakes

An "early warning signal" from the lower region of the brain is now known to help us avoid repeating previous mistakes - not just consciously analysing what went wrong.  read article

Curvy women are more intelligent

Some interesting research has emerged that implies that curvy women may have a higher IQ than leaner, less curvaceous women, that their children will be smarter too and that men are attracted to them due to the process of natural selection.  read article

The case for more women in business

Various commentators have argued that businesses are moving from the left-brained logic of the past towards an environment in which they need to connect with their customers, employees and shareholders at a more emotional level. If this is true, does it follow that women have a natural advantage over men?  read article

Use it or lose it

It is now generally accepted that regular mental stimulation can reduce the risk of people developing neurological degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's in later life, but does it also follow therefore that cleverer people are less likely to suffer from dementia?   read article

Management, Leadership and the Whole-Brained Approach

Sir Martin Sorrell once said: "I can't remember which is which, whether it's left brain or right brain: but one is quantitative and one is qualitative and getting the balance between the two is critically important."  read article

What is really going on inside the heads of children?

We are all familiar with the physical changes a person goes through as they mature from being a baby through to an adult, what is less well known is that the brain grows, develops and changes at the same time.  read article

What is thinking?

People generally see thinking as a process; something that should be done in a certain way – their way. In reality, we all process information in different ways, which is why people can draw different conclusions from the same information. So what is thinking and why is it that we think differently?  read article

Empathy and expression - an amazing finding!

Have you even noticed how people tend to copy the facial expressions and body language of the people they are with? Read on to find out why.  read article

Anxiety, fear and safety

Scientists have recently discovered that just as humans have neural circuits that alert us to danger, we also have circuits that respond to safety and that it is these circuits that create a sense of wellbeing and happiness.  read article

Over-loaded brains and shorter attention-spans

In our media-rich, 7x24 society our brains are bombarded with more information than at any time in history. The question is whether all this data is beneficial, in stimulating our brains, or detrimental, by causing constant distractions and shortening our attention-span. It would appear that currently the jury is out.  read article

Eyes in the back of your head

A number of cases have recently come to light of people who are blind and yet can recognise the emotions in an expression, judge the size of objects without touching them and navigate their way around an obstacle course without touching the obstacles.  read article

Sleeping your way to the top

Did you know that on average we are sleeping 2 hours a night less than we were in the 1960s and that this reduction in sleep could be damaging to the economy?  read article

The Political Brain

Research prompted by an off-hand remark by actor Colin Firth has found that the brains of Conservatives are physically different to those of people who support the Labour Party.  read article

Brain Fitness and "Cognitive Reserve"

It is well known that exercise is an important element in keeping our bodies fit and healthy, but strangely, research suggests that although physical exercise will improve our emotional state, it does nothing to make our brains any healthier, for this we need a different sort of fitness regime.  read article

Neurological Dominance and Recruitment

Is there a role for the subject of Neurological Dominance in recruitment? And if so, how should it be used? In this article Alistair Schofield explains how he has used the subject for this purpose in several organisations.  read article

Selective Hearing

And finally, the news you've all been waiting for - it turns out that there is a medical reason why we sometimes don't hear the important things that our husbands or wives tell us. But be very careful how you use this information, as we only 'tune out' sounds that we regard as irrelevant!  read article

Groupthink and the fear of standing alone

In the eyes of the law adults are individuals, capable of making their own decisions and responsible for their own actions. But evidence suggests that people in groups have the potential for becoming embroiled in a form of Group psychosis, where their actions and behaviour is directed more by the group than by themselves.  read article

Yawning cools your brain

Yawning is a strange thing - we do it when we are tired or when we are bored; we even tend to do it simply because someone else has yawned. The biological explanation was that the purpose of yawning is to re-oxygenate our blood, but new research suggests that it may also serve to cool our brains.  read article