Category: Brain research

Affective Neuroscience, Blog, Brain research, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Consumer Behavior, EEG research, Emotional Brain, Neurotechnology, Scientific Research, Uncategorized

What Can (and Can’t) the Brain Tell Us About Our Digital Emotions?

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In recent years, brain-based metrics have become increasingly popular across digital health, marketing, and immersive technologies. Neuro and biometric thecniques such EEG, GSR, eye tracking and facial coding are no longer confined to labs—they’re now being used to test everything from meditation apps to virtual retail experiences. But amidst this neuro-data boom, one fundamental question still lacks a clear answer:

How far can neurophysiological data truly go in helping us understand emotions—especially in digital environments?

Continue reading “What Can (and Can’t) the Brain Tell Us About Our Digital Emotions?” →
Affective Neuroscience, Blog, Brain research, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, EEG research, Emotional development, Infants cognitive development, Infants research, Neurotechnology, Uncategorized

Unveiling the Marvels of Infant Social and Cognitive Development: A Day in the Babylab

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Welcome to the fascinating world of infant social and cognitive development, where the boundless curiosity and innate potential of our youngest explorers come to life. If you feel curiosity, join us on a captivating journey as we delve into the depths of the babylab, where groundbreaking research led by Dr. Cristina Ioana Galusca at University of Grenoble-Alpes, uncovers the intricacies of these budding minds.

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Affective Neuroscience, Blog, Brain Computer Interfaces, Brain research, Cognitive Neuroscience, EEG research, Mind-Reading, Neurotechnology, Scientific Research

Mind-Reading Technologies: Navigating Certainties, Uncertainties, and Future Prospects

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Advancements in mind-reading technologies have been rapidly progressing across various fields of research. Presently, these technologies have the capability to accurately capture, analyze, and interpret neural signals in real-time. This post will delve into the mechanisms utilized by current brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to decipher thoughts, while summarizing the latest scientific advances, the potential applications and some ethical uncertainties emerging from these neurotechnologies.

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Blog, Brain research, EEG research, Neurotechnology, virtual reality

The human brain in a virtual environment: what can we expect?

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Virtual reality has been a part of our culture for decades. This technology began in the late 1950s, with a first device called “Sensorama” that consisted of a booth with a swivel chair that projected stereoscopic images. Today, Virtual Reality has been massively developed as a promising technology increasingly present in our lives. But, how does the use of this technology influence the way the brain perceives information? Based on the latest neuroscientific research, this article addresses the key changes our brain implements to learn and handle information virtual environments.

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Affective Neuroscience, Blog, Brain research, Cognitive Neuroscience, EEG research, Emotional Brain, Sleep research

Dreaming: A peculiar form of cognitive activity

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Dreams are a complex phenomenon that most people experience during sleep. They are characterized by a series of thoughts, images, and emotions that are felt and recalled sometimes with high vividness. Such activity is associated with the so-called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep phase, which entails a separate phase from the no-REM (NREM) sleep cycle. Brainwave activity linked to REM sleep resembles that of the waking brain making it hard to distinguish between them. Recently, new research has found for the first time a novel brain pattern that allows predicting when someone is dreaming and even the content of dreams. In this post, you will get to know better what is going on in the brain when you dream and the purpose of dreaming.

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Blog, Brain research, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, EEG research, Emotional Brain

Binaural Beats as Brain Enhancers: is there any Scientific Proof?

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Maybe you have heard of binaural beats, a soundwave stimulus that has spread across the internet for having positive effects on mood and cognition. Binaural beats are auditory illusions that occur when presenting two tones with a slight frequency mismatch to each ear separately. Some evidence support that such acoustic stimulation can train the brain signals, altering both, specific brainwaves and connectivity patterns. Other evidence indicates just placebo effects suggesting no better benefits than monoaural beat stimuli. Today, the assumed exceptional effects of binaural beats on human emotion and cognition remain still unclear. Regardless of such discrepancies, what is the scientific evidence of its claimed effects on the human brain?

Continue reading “Binaural Beats as Brain Enhancers: is there any Scientific Proof?” →
Blog, Brain research, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Eating behavior, Emotional Brain

Food Preferences: How the Brain Drives our Eating Behavior

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You probably have noticed that after the intake of certain types of food and drinks, you experience a change in your mood or even a boost in your mental activity. Food intake is not only a basic human need but a reward for most people. When we eat, our brain responds instantly to the taste and smell of food as well as other sensory properties like visual appearance. Although our food choices mainly depend on homeostatic factors, there are other internal states referred to as psychological “drivers”, also playing an important role in many of our daily eating decisions. Such motivational drivers are expressed when your brain triggers goal-directed actions to consume food even without feeling hunger. While it is true that feeling hungry is not a voluntary decision, whether and how to satisfy or not hunger it is indeed voluntary. In that process, the brain handles multiple aspects of food stimuli even those that you are not aware of.

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Blog, Brain research, Cognitive Neuroscience, EEG research, Neurostimulation, Neurotechnology

Neurotechnology: where we are and where we are going?

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Today,  advance “brain-reading” technology makes increasingly possible to access an individual’s mental activiy. Although it may sound a bit scary, the reality is that scientists from different  fields are already working with sophisticated technologies to “decipher” the bases human thoughts in real-time. Control a computer, move an artificial arm, or obtain knowledge of individuals´ mood and thoughts are just few examples of the advances of neurotechnology. Very recently last summer, Tesla founder Elon Musk, presented to the big public an implantable brain device capable of reading users’ minds. 

One interesting question is why “mind-reading” technology could be necessary for our lives? Leaving aside ethical issues, should we worry if modern neurotechnology can figure out what we are thinking? Continue reading “Neurotechnology: where we are and where we are going?” →