H/T Jovany Raphael Listening closely isnt an easy task. In fact, when many people listen very intently, they tend to stop moving. A new study in Nature reveals why. Scientists at Duke University used a combination of electrophysiology, optogenetics and behavioral analysis to study the links between the motor cortex and the auditory cortex. The researchers found that when mice moved, some neurons in the auditory cortex showed reduced activity. Further examination revealed that this occurred because neurons from the motor cortex (pictured: green) projected into the auditory cortex (pictured: blue), which modulated the activity of the neurons in the latter region. The researchers believe that this dampening of activity occurs to help decrease attention to the sounds one is expected to make while moving and heighten awareness of other, unexpected noises.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 19:23:12 +0000
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