Are psi researchers more like lay believers or sceptics?

A study shows that academics who work with psi differ from lay psi individuals, but not from sceptics, in actively open-minded thinking.

Could the healthcare provider's nonverbal behaviour modulate pain reports and placebo effects?

The effects of the nonverbal behaviour of healthcare providers on pain reports and placebo effects may differ in healthy males and females.

To what extent do the boundaries of our body seem to fade during focused-attention meditation?

An experimental study revealed that a 15-minute focused-attention meditation session blurred the boundary between the self and the environment.

Nuno Grande Doctoral Scholarship 2024 has a winner

Leonardo Moço was the winner of the third edition of the Nuno Grande Doctoral Scholarship (BDNG) with a research project on haemato-oncology.

How does our brain organize past memories?

Episodic memory allows us to mentally relive moments from the past, retrieving details such as what happened, where, and when. However, the way we recall these events can vary, highlighting different aspects of the experience. Studies indicate that cued recollection simultaneously activates two essential brain networks: the DMN (Default Mode Network) and the FPCN (Frontoparietal Control Network). An investigation led by Matteo Frisoni analysed whether different memory dimensions – details of objects and characters, spatial layouts, temporal sequences, and verbal dialogues – are processed in specialized sub-regions within these networks and whether this differentiation influences recall performance. The results showed that the FPCN exhibited common activation for all memory dimensions, while the DMN revealed more pronounced specialization, especially in its posterior regions. Additionally, it was found that greater functional specificity within these networks was associated with better memory performance. The research also revealed an asymmetry in the DMN, with greater activation in the left hemisphere for all dimensions except the temporal, while the FPCN maintained balanced activation between hemispheres. This study offers a new perspective on how the brain organizes and optimizes our ability to recall past experiences. This study was supported by the BIAL Foundation, in the scope of the research project 384/20 - Schema-based temporal memory in parietal cortex (SCHETEMP), and published in the journal NeuroImage, in the article Specialization for different memory dimensions in brain activity evoked by cued recollection - ScienceDirect.

Why do some people remember their dreams and others don't?

Dreams are like windows into the mind, reflecting daily memories, beliefs, and concerns, while playing an essential role in learning, memory consolidation, and even our mental and physical health. Although almost everyone dreams, the ability to recall these experiences varies greatly from person to person. Research led by Giulio Bernardi sought to better understand this phenomenon by analysing the factors that influence dream recall. To do this, the team used a multimodal database that collected dream reports, personal characteristics, and cognitive, psychometric, and neurophysiological measures. The results point to three main factors that determine whether a person wakes up with the memory of the dream experience: attitude towards dreams, tendency to mind-wander, and sleep patterns. Additionally, the ability to recall dream details depends on resistance to interference and age. Interestingly, similar sleep patterns seem to favour both dreams with content and so-called "white dreams" - those we know we had, but whose content escapes us. This suggests that white dreams are real experiences, whose memories simply disappear upon waking. This study reinforces the idea that dreams are shaped by individual and momentary factors, opening new perspectives to understand their connection with memory and the human mind. This study was supported by the BIAL Foundation, in the scope of the research project 91/20 - Mentation report analysis across distinct states of consciousness: A linguistic approach, and published in the journal Communications Psychology - Nature, in the article The individual determinants of morning dream recall | Communications Psychology.