How Bilingual Brains Work: Cross-language Interplay and an Integrated Lexicon
An international team of researchers led by scientists from the HSE University have examined the interplay of languages in the brains of bilinguals. Using EEG data of Russian-English bilinguals, the authors were the first to demonstrate nearly instant and automatic detection of semantic similarity between words belonging to their two languages, suggesting the existence of an integrated bilingual lexicon in which words are activated in parallel in both languages. The study findings are published in Cortex.
HSE Neural Interface Technology to Be Introduced in Hospitals
The Federal Brain and Neural Technology Centre at the Federal Medical and Biological Agency is launching the Laboratory of Medical Neural Interfaces and Artificial Intelligence for Clinical Applications, which has been created by employees of HSE University. Read below to find out about the Laboratory and its objectives.
Russian Researchers Assessed the Likelihood of Sleep Disorders after COVID-19
A team of researchers from the HSE Centre for Cognition and Decision Making and the Central State Medical Academy conducted a study on sleep disorders, mood and fatigue after COVID-19. These factors are interrelated and the researchers recommend a comprehensive approach to treat the problem effectively. The work was published in the journal Neuroscience and Behavioral Psychology.
Foreign Languages Slow Down Brain Ageing
Medical advances are causing a gradual increase in average life expectancy. However, this comes at a price, as the number of cases of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases grows with age. Researchers from HSE University (Russia) and Northumbria University (UK) have found that bilingualism can slow down and mitigate the course of age-related changes in the human brain. The study was published in Frontiers in Psychology.
Unconscious Perception of Sounds: We Hear Differences Even without Listening
Neurobiologists from HSE University and the RAS Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology proved that the human brain unconsciously distinguishes between even very similar sound signals during passive listening. The study was published in Neuropsychologia.
Two Worlds of Residents: Car Owners Look at Shared Urban Courtyards Differently from Pedestrians
Researchers from HSE University and St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPSUACE) used eye tracking to study how residents who own cars and those who don’t look at the shared courtyards of multistorey apartment buildings. The study was published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening.
Brain Stimulation May Facilitate Rehabilitation of Children with Arthrogryposis
HSE academics joined researchers from the Turner Scientific Research Institute for Children's Orthopaedics to study how the brains of children with arthrogryposis control elbow flexion after muscle transplantation. They found that in such patients, more motor neuron activity occurs, which means that the start of a new movement requires more effort from the brain. The paper ‘Feasibility and Challenges of Performing Magnetoencephalography Experiments in Children with Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita’ was published in Frontiers in Pediatrics.
International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology to Look at How Fake News Affects Human Behaviour
The mega-grant allocated by the Russian government to the International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, has been extended for 2022-23. The laboratory was founded two years ago and is headed by Iiro Jaaskelainen, a leading neurobiologist from Finland. Laboratory Head Vasily Klucharev spoke to the HSE News Service about the results the lab has already achieved and the prospects for the next two years.
Cortex Suppression Resolves Motivation Conflict in Favour of Prosociality
HSE University researchers have found that if cortical excitability is suppressed, the conflict between self-interest and prosocial motivations is resolved in favour of the latter—but only in cases when this conflict is really present.
‘The Human Brain Has Always Fascinated Me’
Alexios Kouzalis, from Cyprus, is a first-year PhD student at the HSE University School of Psychology. We talked with Alexis about his reasons for coming to HSE Moscow, his achievements and his observations on life in the Russian capital.