Cognitive Science

The latest breakthroughs, innovations, and cool happenings at the cutting edge of the world of cognitive science. Updated daily.

Aphantasia and hyperphantasia: exploring imagery vividness extremes

The vividness of imagery varies between individuals. However, the existence of people in whom conscious, wakeful imagery is markedly reduced, or absent entirely, was neglected by psychology until the recent coinage of ‘aphantasia’ to describe this phenomenon. ‘Hyperphantasia’ denotes the converse – imagery whose vividness rivals perceptual experience. Around 1% and 3% of the population […]

Published on March 28, 2024

Two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis of 91 circulating inflammatory protein levels and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

IntroductionAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease with poorly understood pathophysiology. Recent studies have highlighted systemic inflammation, especially the role of circulating inflammatory proteins, in ALS.MethodsThis study investigates the potential causal link between these proteins and ALS. We employed a two-sample Mendelian Randomization(MR) approach, analyzing data from large-scale genome-wide association studies to explore the […]

Published on March 27, 2024

suMRak: a multi-tool solution for preclinical brain MRI data analysis

IntroductionMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is invaluable for understanding brain disorders, but data complexity poses a challenge in experimental research. In this study, we introduce suMRak, a MATLAB application designed for efficient preclinical brain MRI analysis. SuMRak integrates brain segmentation, volumetry, image registration, and parameter map generation into a unified interface, thereby reducing the number of […]

Published on March 26, 2024