Futurity.org » University of Oregon

Brain readily spots grammatical errors

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:56:31 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — Neuroscientists have captured hard evidence that people detect and process grammatical errors with no awareness of doing so.

Participants in the study—native-English speaking people, ages 18-30—had their brain activity recorded using electroencephalography, from which researchers focused on a signal known as the event-related potential (ERP).

This noninvasive technique allows for the capture of changes in brain electrical activity during an event. In this case, events were short sentences presented visually one word at a time.

More women skip periods for convenience

Matt Cooper-Oregon — Thu, 09 May 2013 16:09:22 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — A large number of women deviate from the instructions on birth control pills to delay or skip monthly menstruation—not to avoid symptoms, but for convenience, new research suggests.

As research indicates reducing the occurrence of menstruation has been found to be safe and can even be beneficial, women are increasingly using hormonal contraceptives to alter bleeding cycles—but they are learning about the option from nonmedical sources.

Social change shows up in preteen brain

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:46:56 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — New research reveals which brain regions are active as kids on the brink of adolescence consider their identity and social status.

In a study of 27 neurologically typical children who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at ages 10 and 13, activity in the brain’s ventromedial prefrontal cortex increased dramatically when the subjects responded to questions about how they view themselves.

Study: Give animals credit for shaping society

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:06:38 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — Animals don’t get their due for their role in sculpting human societies throughout history, argue sociologists.

Animals are more than pets or domesticated creatures bended to human needs, say Richard York of the University of Oregon and Philip Mancus of the College of the Redwoods in Crescent City, California.

That idea has been slowly emerging in sociology, which focuses on the origin, development, organization, and functioning of human society. In 2002, the American Sociological Association created the section “Animals & Society” as a response to new interest in the relationships of humans and non-human animals.

Sleeping babies respond to angry voices

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:04:43 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — Infants respond to their parents’ angry tone of voice, even when they’re sleeping, new research suggests.

Babies’ brains are highly plastic, allowing them to develop in response to the environments and encounters they experience. But this plasticity comes with a certain degree of vulnerability—research shows that severe stress, such as maltreatment or institutionalization, can have a significant, negative impact on child development.

Ancient tectonic plate still under California

Kevin Stacey-Brown — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:05:21 +0000

BROWN (US) — The discovery of “fossil” slabs of the Farallon oceanic plate under California could lead to new questions about the geology of North America.

A large mass of cool, dehydrated material 100 kilometers beneath central California is a surviving slab of the Farallon oceanic plate. Most of the Farallon plate was driven deep into the Earth’s mantle as the Pacific and North American plates began converging about 100 million years ago, eventually coming together to form the San Andreas fault.

Roller derby rivals mix team microbiomes

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:12:12 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — When roller derby players slam into each other, the opposing teams mingle their distinct bacterial communities.

Human skin is home to countless microorganisms that we can’t see, but these microbes help to define who we are. These invisible passengers—known as the skin microbiome—contribute to health in such ways as educating the immune system, protecting people from pathogens, and mediating skin disorders.

In a new study, University of Oregon researchers investigated how the skin microbiome is transmitted between players in a contact sport, using roller derby as their model system.

When colleges betray students after sexual assault

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:17:27 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — A study of female college students finds that those who felt betrayed by an institution they trusted after reporting a sexual assault suffered more from anxiety and other post-traumatic effects.

Of the 345 female university students involved in the study, almost 68 percent (233) of them had experienced at least one unwanted sexual experience in their lifetime. Of those, 46 percent also experienced “betrayal” by the institution involved.

Health care costs more for least ‘activated’

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:31:59 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — Patients with the motivation, knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage their own health have better health outcomes and incur fewer health care costs.

The new study shows that patients with the lowest level of “activation”—that is, those most lacking in the skills and confidence to be actively engaged in their health care—had average costs that were from 8 percent to 21 percent higher compared to patients with the highest level of activation.

To get ‘in the zone’ for music, meditate first

Jim Barlow-Oregon — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:12:02 +0000

U. OREGON (US) — People seem to get more out of music if they’ve engaged in mindfulness meditation beforehand, even if it’s a piece they’ve heard many times in the past.

College music students exposed to brief mindfulness meditation before hearing a passage from a familiar opera engaged with the music as if they were “in the zone,” says Frank Diaz, a professor of music education at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance.

In a study appearing online ahead of publication in Psychology of Music, he reports a rise of focused engagement for students who listened to a 10-minute excerpt of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Boheme” after listening to a 15-minute recording of a segment produced by the Duke University Center for Mindfulness Research.