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Silence Can Be Heard

by Medindia Content Team on Jan 11 2006 12:56 PM

Scientist proved that the brain is always alert even if there is no sound (silence). The brain is activated in people when they are listening out for a sound.

Pierre Fonlupt and Julien Voisin conducted the research at Inserm, France's national research institute. He studied the brain activity of 11patients who were at rest with the help of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. It showed that they were actually listening to silence and also listen for the possibility of a sound.

The participants were informed that they would hear a sound in the left or the right ear. When the participants were listening to hear the sound in silence their brain (auditory cortex) was activated on the opposite side to were they were told that they would hear a sound.

The auditory cortex always remains activate when the participants are exposed to real sounds. Also two areas in the front of the brain were also activated which was associated with hearing of sounds.

He concluded by saying that this study was on of the kinds, which showed that the brain was in the activated stage when the participants were actually waiting in silence for the sound to be heard.

The researchers hope this study may help other scientist to reveal the truth about the function of the brain and aid in treatment modalities for patients suffering from attention deficit disorders. Further studies have to be conducted understand the mechanism of the functioning of the brain and the role it plays during attention.

Dr Katya Rubia working at the Institute of Psychiatry also agreed that these studies are a boon in finding the treatment options and in studying the diseases such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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She says that the participants can be trained to focus their brain activity and thereby help in combating the disorder.


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