The Virtual Brain Web Atlas by the Human Brain Project offers a beautiful way to explore the anatomy of brain regions and brain functions.

Feel free to enjoy this interactive 3D model to learn much about our brains and our minds!

About the Human Brain Project:

The Human Brain Project aims to put in place a cutting-edge research infrastructure that will allow scientific and industrial researchers to advance our knowledge in the fields of neuroscience, computing, and brain-related medicine. The 10-year Project began in 2013 and directly employs some 500 scientists at more than 100 universities, teaching hospitals, and research centres across Europe.

Other interactive 3‑D anatomical brain atlases available HERE.

Does music facilitate or impair cognitive task performance? It depends…

Does Music Boost Your Cognitive Performance? (Scientific American):

“Music makes life better in so many ways. It elevates mood, reduces stress and eases pain. Music is heart-healthy, because it can lower blood pressure, reduce heart rate and decrease stress hormones in the blood. It also connects us with others and enhances social bonds. Music can even improve workout endurance and increase our enjoyment of challenging activities … But is listening to music the smart choice for students who want to optimize their learning?

A new study by Manuel Gonzalez of Baruch College and John Aiello of Rutgers University suggests that for some students, listening to music is indeed a wise strategy, but for others, it is not. The effect of music on cognitive functioning appears not to be “one-size-fits-all” but to instead depend, in part, on your personality—specifically, on your need for external stimulation. People with a high requirement for such stimulation tend to get bored easily and to seek out external input. Those individuals often do worse, paradoxically, when listening to music while engaging in a mental task. People with a low need for external stimulation, on the other hand, tend to improve their mental performance with music … Before students decide to slip in their earbuds, though, they should carefully consider both their musical selection and the nature of the task.”

The Human Brain Project Study

More than meets the ear: Investigating how music affects cognitive task performance (Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied)

From the abstract: Researchers have documented various (sometimes conflicting) effects of music on cognitive task performance, and have highlighted several mechanisms through which these effects may occur (e.g., arousal, mood, attention). To further understand these effects, we consider interactions between music-based, task-based, and performer-based characteristics. Specifically, we drew from the distraction-conflict theory of social facilitation and research on boredom proneness to hypothesize that music—along with its complexity and volume—facilitates simple task performance and impairs complex task performance, and that one’s preference for external stimulation (a dimension of boredom proneness) moderates these effects. We tested our hypotheses in a laboratory experiment, in which participants completed cognitive tasks either in silence or with music of varying complexity and volume. We found that (1) music generally impaired complex task performance, (2) complex music facilitated simple task performance, and (3) preference for external stimulation moderated these effects. Therefore, the data suggest that music’s effects on task performance depend on the music, the task, and the performer.

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