Not just a virtue: the evolution of self-control

Cognitive Archeology is developing as an important discipline that has serious contributions to Cognitive Science. The question of how the human brain and mind evolved is very significant. Unfortunately, since the cognitive revolution, the question of evolution has not been taken up by many interdisciplinary scholars. Thomas Wynn's work has been very significant in illuminating many aspects of not just brain's evolution but the evolution of cognition and its components.

Genetically informative study of the relationship between neuronal dynamics and cognitive functions

A powerful way to investigate the source of individual differences in various characteristics is genetically informative study. Starting from classical twin designs it nowadays incorporates not only quantitative genetics, but molecular genetics as well. In neuroscience genetically informative design can help to disentangle different factors underlying the relationship between neuronal dynamics and cognitive functions.

No identification of abrupt onsets that capture attention: evidence against a unified model of spatial attention

Many studies have reported that spatial attention can be involuntarily captured by salient stimuli such as abrupt onsets. These involuntary shifts are often assumed to have the same effects on feature extraction as voluntary shifts: there are two different ways of moving the same attentional mechanism. According to this unified model of spatial attention, all shifts of attention should enhance the identification of attended objects. We directly tested this assumption using compatibility effects in a series of spatial cueing experiments.

Externally induced frontoparietal synchronization modulates network dynamics and enhances working memory performance

Cognitive functions such as working memory (WM) are emergent properties of large-scale network interactions. Synchronisation of oscillatory activity might contribute to WM by enabling the coordination of long-range processes. However, causal evidence for the way oscillatory activity shapes network dynamics and behavior in humans is limited. Here we applied transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to exogenously modulate oscillatory activity in a right frontoparietal network that supports WM.

The ambiguity of Libet’s intention reports: behavioral and EEG correlates

In the notable study (Libet, Gleason, Wright, & Pearl, 1983) it was shown that movement-preparatory brain activity precedes the reported time of conscious intention to move, which questions the causal role of human being’s decisions in initiating their actions. However, since the study was published, a lot of criticism has been addressed towards it. Thus, Dominik et al. (2017) provided behavioral evidence that the intention reports used in the study of Libet (1983) are invalid, being rather inferred by a participant than truly perceived.

VII International school for young scientists 'Active and passive methods of brain research'

Many important discoveries have been made in the field of functional and morpho-physiological brain mapping. These discoveries significantly expand our understanding of how the brain works. Modern technologies, such as TMS, TES, and EEG, efficiently evaluate the role of the various structures of the brain in specific cognitive domains and promote understanding of the complex work of the whole brain.

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