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Stories by Michele Solis

We Learn Faster When We Aren’t Told What Choices to Make

The way we decide may even give insight into delusional thinking

October 1, 2020 — Michele Solis

How Human Brains Are Different: It Has a Lot to Do with the Connections

Different mammals demonstrate common patterns in brain connections. But our own species has a few twists of its own

July 7, 2020 — Michele Solis

Unsupervised Habits Reign in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

A lack of control in the brain’s executive regions may allow repetitive behaviors to run amok

May 3, 2015 — Michele Solis

Make Your New Year's Resolutions Stick

Setbacks are inevitable but there are ways to cope with them and meet your goals

December 31, 2014 — Michele Solis

Learn Faster with Messy Moves

People whose movements are more variable pick up new motor skills more quickly

August 3, 2014 — Michele Solis

Neuroscientists Identify a Brain Signature of Pain

Brain scanning homes in on a neural signature for physical pain

September 10, 2013 — Michele Solis

Small Talk Can Improve Health

Social isolation, not loneliness, is linked with earlier death

September 2, 2013 — Michele Solis

Video Games May Treat Dyslexia

Honing visual attention boosts reading ability

August 1, 2013 — Michele Solis

Oxytocin, the Love Hormone, Also Keeps People Apart

A hormone that promotes social attraction also helps men keep their distance

June 1, 2013 — Michele Solis

Rational Thought Can Override a Generous Intuition

Our instinct is to give, until we think about it logically

March 31, 2013 — Michele Solis

Enhancing the Brain's Flexibility Could Unseat Addiction

Restoring the brain's flexibility may help addicts act on their desire to quit

March 27, 2013 — Michele Solis

Personality Traits Correlate with Brain Activity

Patterns of brain activity reflect our character

April 14, 2012 — Michele Solis

City Living Can Heighten Social Stress

Urban dwellers are more likely to have overactive emotional centers in the brain

December 13, 2011 — Michele Solis

How Partners Prevent Addiction

Prairie voles in monogamous relationships respond less to drugs

November 21, 2011 — Michele Solis

Mindful Medicine

How meditation relieves the subjective experience of pain

September 5, 2011 — Michele Solis

Written All over His Face: Rare Condition Offers Clues to How We Read Emotions

People who feel what they see offer clues about how we read emotions and empathize

July 4, 2011 — Michele Solis

A Thinking Person's Diet

Imagining the act of eating can trick you into eating less

May 3, 2011 — Michele Solis

With the Changing of the Seasons: Dopamine and Mood Cycles

Higher levels of dopamine in fall and winter could explain yearly mood cycles

April 7, 2011 — Michele Solis

Revulsion Arising: Different Forms of Disgust Create Distinctive Physiological Signatures

Our innards differentiate between types of disgust

February 10, 2011 — Michele Solis

Something to Sniff at: A New Device That Could Help Severely Paralyzed People

A new device allows paralyzed people to communicate with their noses

November 1, 2010 — Michele Solis

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