Vision Involves a Bit of Hearing, Too

Choosing a user name starting with a letter appearing earlier in the alphabet is just one scientifically vetted way to increase the odds of turning an online encounter into a first date. Christopher Intagliata reports 

High-calorie and exceedingly pleasurable foods appear to change rat brain rewards circuitry, causing the rodents to continue to seek such fare. Erika Beras reports 

Parkinson’s patients derived more benefits from a salt solution they were told was an expensive drug than from the same solution when it was described as being cheap medication. Karen Hopkin reports 

The resonant properties of your skull can amplify some frequencies and dampen others—and, in some cases, affect your hearing. Christopher Intagliata reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

It’s thought that about 15% of us are affected by tinnitus, and despite its potentially debilitating impact on mental health and quality of life, there isn’t any cure for the condition. Madeleine Finlay speaks to John, who has used CBT techniques to learn to live well with his ti ... Show More

Have you ever been convinced you heard a voice -- shout, a whisper, someone speaking directly to you -- only to turn around and realize no one was there? This experience is more common than we might comfortably imagine. For millennia, people who heard voices in their heads were c ... Show More

New research finds they fly around on noise-cancelling wings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 

Claudia Hammond finds out how neuroscientists are understanding musical hallucinations by looking at the brains of those who experience them. Tim Griffiths and Vicky Williamson talk about their research into musical imagery and what it reveals about the workings of the brain and ... Show More

In this episode:00:47 The brain-computer interfaces that help restore communicationPeople with certain neurological conditions can lose the ability to speak as a result of facial paralysis. This week, two teams demonstrate the potential of devices called brain-computer interfaces ... Show More

Stephen Bax talks about his paper on eye-tracking and what it can tell us about how successful readers go about processing items and texts in reading tests. 

Many people listen to music for hours every day, and often near bedtime in the hope of a good night’s sleep. But if you can’t get the tune out of your head could this be counter-productive? In new research, neuropsychologist Michael Scullin of Baylor University has looked at the ... Show More