Did you know that the brain is much softer than we thought? The most complex organ of the human body is full of curiosities. See the most interesting of 2022
You know what happens to your brain when you exercise🇧🇷 Did you know there is a neurotransmitter that wakes up the brain up to 100 times a night🇧🇷 Science has focused on unraveling the mysteries of the most complex organ of the human body and in 2022 many curiosities about the brain have come to light here at canaltech🇧🇷 Let’s separate the most interesting ones!
- Exercise changes brain biology and protects mental health
- 10 mysteries of the brain that still intrigue science
The brain can “change” the taste of food
In February, Ohio State University scientists released a study stating that the the brain can “change” the taste of food if fooled🇧🇷 To achieve this, the team took packages of the same food (chocolate cookie) and applied three labels: “regular, factory”, “consumer complaints received” and “new and improved”.
Participants received one cookie from each group and then had to answer a satisfaction survey. Coincidentally, they only reported one bad experience (both in terms of taste and texture) with the cookies associated with consumer complaints, even though the product was exactly the same. This means we can trick the brain into believing it’s consuming something of lower quality, even though it’s literally the same thing.
Neurons “light up” when you hear someone singing
In March, a study published in the scientific journal Current biology pointed out that specific neurons in the auditory cortex fire when we hear someone sing🇧🇷 Researchers recorded brain activity that occurs in response to external stimuli, and realized that there is a population of neurons that responds to singing and, very close, there is another population that responds to instrumental .
The brain “reads” colors to the point of changing our mood and behavior
This year, scientists have raised a question: our brains use color as a visual cue to compensate for touchwhich is why it ends up playing such a significant role in our preferences and our behavior in general.
As for taste, when we see a food, we make assumptions and expectations about it before we even try it, because we’ve been trained to expect certain colors to lead to specific flavors. Additionally, studies show that 90% of our initial product reviews are based on color.
The brain spends its entire life trying to guess things
In August, a survey revealed this the brain is constantly trying to guess the next word, both while reading a book and listening to a speech. According to the study, for every word or sound, the brain makes detailed statistical expectations and ends up being extremely sensitive to the degree of unpredictability: The brain’s response is strongest whenever a word is unexpected in context.
The researchers say that, in practice, the brain does something comparable to speech recognition software, which is also constantly making predictions.
The human brain is so soft it can fall apart
The year 2022 closes with the discovery that the brain is softer than we thought, to the point of being compared to a gelatinous goo. The scientists comment that the representations we know of the brain are rigid, because the organ undergoes a process of conservation to increase the rigidity.
However, in nature, if the brain weren’t trapped by the skull, it would be a gelatinous substance. Expert theory points out that brain mass can collapse up to 10 times more easily than packing in expanded polystyrene. This means that stiffness is almost non-existent.
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Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
