Does your dog have social skills?

A study suggests that viewing the owner’s face works as a positive social reinforcement for dogs. Learn more about this and other surprising results about “man’s best friend”.

Paper published in high impact journal Molecular Psychiatry

In the scope of the research project 427/14 - Gliogenesis control of brain neuroplasticity, neurophysiology and cognitive function, supported by the BIAL Foundation, and carried out by the principal investigador Luísa Pinto, from the School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, it was published the paper Hippocampal cytogenesis abrogation impairs inter-regional communication between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex and promotes the time-dependent manifestation of emotional and cognitive deficits in the high impact journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Analysis of individual variability in eye movements

Maurizio Corbetta and Andrea Zangrossi, team members of the research project 361/18 - When style matters: do oculomotor fingerprint and brain dynamics explain visual exploration and memory strategies?, analyze individual variability in eye movements when healthy participants view images of natural scenes.

Is brain activity different when reading direct vs. indirect speech quotes?

Bo Yao, researcher at the University of Manchester, published in the journal NeuroImage the latest findings of project 284/18 - Testing a neurophysiological model of inner speech processing, supported by the BIAL Foundation, in the paper Reading direct speech quotes increases theta phase-locking: Evidence for cortical tracking of inner speech? “Growing evidence shows that theta-band (4–7 Hz) activity in the auditory cortex phase-locks to rhythms of overt speech. Does theta activity also encode the rhythmic dynamics of inner speech? Previous research established that silent reading of direct speech quotes (e.g., Mary said: “This dress is lovely!”) elicits more vivid inner speech than indirect speech quotes (e.g., Mary said that the dress was lovely).