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A study using epilepsy patients undergoing surgery has given neuroscientists an opportunity to track in unprecedented detail the movement of a thought through the human brain, all the way from inspiration to response. The findings, published in 2018, confirmed the role of the prefrontal cortex as the coordinator of complex interactions between different regions, linking our perception with action and serving as what can be considered the "glue of cognition". Previous efforts to measure the passing of information from one area to the other have relied on processes such as electroencephalography (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which, while...

They say the first step is admitting you have a problem. I think many readers of this article will respond with outrage, and many will see it says things they already knew to be true—and I think these two groups will largely overlap. The most powerful obstacle to confronting a destructive addiction is denial, and collectively we are in denial about pornography. Since it seems somehow relevant, let me state at the outset that I am French. Every fiber of my Latin, Catholic body recoils at puritanism of any sort, especially the bizarre, Anglo-Puritan kind so prevalent in America. I...

Liars' brains 'are not the same'   A deceitful person's brain is different, the study suggests Habitual liars' brains differ from those of honest people, a study says.A University of Southern California team studied 49 people and found those known to be pathological liars had up to 26% more white matter than others. White matter transmits information and grey matter processes it. Having more white matter in the prefrontal cortex may aid lying, the researchers said, But the British Journal of Psychiatry said there were likely to be more differences in the brains of liars. Manipulative behaviourParticipants were volunteers...

<p>BOSTON -- Dressed in crimson robes and matching running shoes, the Dalai Lama stood out amid the tweed-wearing academics last weekend at MIT, yet the Tibetan leader was hardly out of place.</p> <p>The 68-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has said many times that if he hadn't been fated to be a monk, he surely would have been an engineer. He has had a lifelong fascination with science and a natural curiosity for understanding the way things work.</p>