Tag «research projects»

In an experiment involving 15 healthy men, scientists at HSE University investigated how different phases of the cardiac cycle influence the excitability of the motor cortex when participants viewed either their own photograph or the faces of strangers. The researchers found that when participants looked at their own image, the brain’s response to signals from the heart was weaker, meaning that the influence of cardiac activity on the motor cortex decreased. This finding came contrary to expectations, as self-focused attention was thought to enhance the brain's sensitivity to internal bodily signals. The study has been published in Frontiers in Signal Processing.

Around one-third of Russians (31.3%) rarely eat out or buy ready-made meals. The core group of active consumers—those who eat out or purchase prepared food almost every day or several times a week—accounts for only about 9% of the population. These are the findings of a study conducted by the HSE Institute for Social Policy. According to the researchers eating out is no longer a marker of high social status in Russia.

Scientists at HSE MIEM have proposed a mathematical model explaining how interactions between societies can influence their stability. Based on the classical theory of evolutionary games, the study reveals an unexpected effect: even a weak informational influence of one society on another can cause one society to remain stable while the other exhibits chaotic behaviour among its individual members. The study has been published in the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos.

Researchers at the HSE Centre for Language and Brain have developed a new digital tool for assessing children's phonological processing skills—the ZARYA (Sound Analysis of the Russian Language) test battery. It is the first standardised application in Russia designed to provide a fast and reliable assessment of children's ability to distinguish speech sounds, retain them in working memory, and perform phonemic analysis. The app runs on Android tablets and smartphones and is available for download from RuStore. Details of the test validation have been published in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

Psycholinguists from the Centre for Language and Brain at HSE University–St Petersburg have shown that words that are frequently misspelled are processed more slowly by readers, even when presented with the correct spelling. The researchers confirmed this effect for the first time using Russian-language materials and found that response speed is most strongly linked to how confidently individuals can distinguish the correct spelling of a word from an incorrect one. The study has been published in The Mental Lexicon.

Chemists from HSE University have discovered a way to carry out a reductive addition reaction without using an external reducing agent. Instead, the required 'resource' is supplied by the aldehyde itself, one of the reaction participants. This approach helps prevent unwanted side reactions, reduces toxicity, and simplifies the production and synthesis of organic molecules, including those used in the manufacture of medicines. The study has been published in Journal of Catalysis.

Researchers from the Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre at HSE University conducted the first-ever systematic review of studies on the specifics of emotion-from-motion perception in autism. The review showed that differences found between autistic and non-autistic individuals are largely associated with the experimental design and the types of tasks given to study participants. The review findings have been published in Research in Autism.

Researchers from HSE MIEM and IPKON RAS have developed a new mathematical monitoring model that can identify the source of hazardous underground vibrations in real time. The technology could help reduce the risk of damage to buildings, roads, and other infrastructure located near quarries and mining sites. The paper has been published in Russian Mining Industry.