By John Roach, contributor
Introduction
Does political bias distort rational thought? Can we teach ourselves compassion? Is technology overload rewiring our brains? These are some of the questions scientists are pursuing in the quest to understand how and why our noggins do what they do. Click around on the interactive road map above to get an understanding for the lay of the land inside your head and then click the \"Next\" arrow at the top of the page to learn about eight insights gleaned from brain science research."; Tech_BrainScience[i++] = new Array("","Brain scans highlight political bias","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060124/060124_debate_hmed_2p.hmedium.jpg","","Image: Elah Fortress ruins", "", "", "", "", "", "Jim Bourg", "Reuters file", "273", "368", "#000000", "", "", "", ""); Tech_BrainScience[i-1].body = "
Are your political views backed by reason? If you're a staunch Republican or Democrat, they're probably not. Areas of the brain associated with reason are hardly active when dedicated partisans explain away contradictory statements made by their preferred candidates, according to brain imaging research. Instead, the areas active in these situations are those associated with emotion and conflict resolution, says Drew Western, a psychology researcher at Emory University who collected data for the study during the 2004 campaign between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry, shown here. Western used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to see what areas of dedicated partisans' brains lit up when confronted with their candidates' contradictory statements.";
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Chimpanzees, well-known as humans' closest relatives, share a similar brain pattern with humans when it comes to communicating with spoken and signed language. No, chimps can't hold court in a discussion about the nuances of language, but the same area of their brain (Broca's) lights up as it does in humans when they call or gesture to a person for food. Researchers said the findings suggest the neurobiological foundations of human language may have been present in the common ancestor of modern humans and chimpanzees.
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Human smarts appear to be related to how well information flows between different regions of the brain, posits a theory on the nature of intelligence. A review of 37 brain imaging studies on the matter revealed that brain areas related to smarts are the same areas related to attention, memory and language – functions that are concentrated in the frontal and parietal lobes. The Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory suggests intelligence depends on how efficiently these areas of the brain work together to process information. This image shows the areas of the brain identified as key to intelligence.";
Tech_BrainScience[i++] = new Array("","Compassion meditation increases ability to feel empathy","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080327/080327-dalai-lama-hmed-10a.hmedium.jpg","","Image: Dead Sea scrolls ", "", "", "", "", "right", "Raveendran", "AFP - Getty Images", "273", "406", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
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Exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, shown here, travels the world with a message of compassion. Can this trait be learned? Brain imaging research suggests the answer is yes. Experts in the art of compassion meditation, which focuses the mind on feelings of well being and benevolence for others, had a stronger response in regions of the brain associated with empathy than did novices when confronted with the emotional sounds of a distressed woman and a baby crying. According to the researchers, the results suggest that through training, people can develop skills that promote happiness and compassion.";
Tech_BrainScience[i++] = new Array("","Jazz musicians' shut down inhibitions during improvisation","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/brill-090123-journalpone-9a.hmedium.jpg","","Image: sarcophagus", "", "", "", "", "", "", "Courtesy PLoS ONE", "273", "406", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
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Jazz musicians turn off their inhibitions and crank up the creativity to pull off their unique improvised riffs, according to researchers who used fMRI to study the brain activity of accomplished musicians. To make the finding, the researchers created the specially-designed, metal-less keyboard, shown here, for the musicians to play inside the brain scanner, which is essentially a giant magnet. Analysis of the scans shows that during improvisations, the part of the brain associated with self-censoring shut down while a region associated with self-expression revved up. The research gets at the neurological underpinnings of the almost trance-like state jazz artists enter during spontaneous jam sessions, says study leader Charles Limb at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.";
Tech_BrainScience[i++] = new Array("","Searching the Web increases brain function","
Brain activity from Internet search
October 06, 2008
Functional MRI brain scans show how searching the Internet dramatically engages brain neural networks (in red). The image on the left displays brain activity while reading a book; the image on the right displays activity while engaging in an Internet search.","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/HealthPhoto%5B1%5D.hmedium.jpg","","Image: drainage channel", "", "", "", "", "", "", "UCLA Newsroom", "192", "423", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
Tech_BrainScience[i-1].body = "
Old folks, take note: Googling is good for you. Yup. It turns out that typing a query into a search box and then poring over the results to decide what link to click stimulates the brain in ways that book reading fails to accomplish. Or so say researchers who used fMRI technology to study the brains of 55 to 75 year olds as they read books and searched the Internet. Web savvy Internet searchers showed increased brain activity when searching the Web. However, the same did not apply to novice Internet users, perhaps because they didn't quite grasp the strategies needed for a successful search. In this image, the brain on the right is doing an Internet search, the one on the left is reading a book.";
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Is excessive use of the Internet, smart phones, and video games rewiring the brains of today's youth? Some scientists are beginning to think so. For example, Gary Small, a psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles, postulates the extraordinary amount of time young people spent engaged with digital technologies has weakened brain circuits involved in face-to-face communication such as the ability to interpret body language during a conversation. Tech-savvy 19-year-old John Rowe, shown here, says his social skills are just fine – but that's because he also maintains an active offline existence. \"You can't just give up on having normal friends that you see on a day-to-day basis,\" he told the Associated Press.";
Tech_BrainScience[i++] = new Array("","Institute aims for 3-D atlas of human brain","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080312/080312-coslog-brain1-hmed-1130a.hmedium.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "right", "", "Allen Institute for Brain Science", "273", "396", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
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With the backing of software billionaire Paul Allen, a Seattle-based institute bearing his name aims to create a 3-D genetic atlas of the human brain. The project, which may be completed in about four years, will serve as a road map that allows scientists to study how brain genes regulate activity and emotion. Breakthroughs may include treatments for spinal cord injuries and autism. The project builds on research at the Allen Institute for Brain Science that includes a genetic atlas of the mouse brain, which is similar to the human brain. This image shows a cross section of a mouse brain. Red and green indicate cells where types of gene expression are active. The atlas is already being harnessed for a range projects including one on the effects of sleep deprivation. ";
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