Instead, there was increased activity in the next-door part of the brain that deals with inanimate, or non-face objects.

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In fact what happened was increased activity in three areas of the frontal and parietal cortex, some of which are better known for their involvement in rational thought.

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Increased activity was helped by a combination of low mortgage rates and rising prices, encouraging builders to believe they can make a profit on sales, demand for new homes and jobs growth.

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Significantly increased hippocampal LTP activity was only recorded in the enriched-environment mice, possibly because exploring novel objects provided both physical exercise and cognitive stimulation, researchers said.

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The team, led by professor of psychiatry J Christian Gillin, was surprised at the increased activity in direct correlation to the person's sense of sleepiness.

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Union Pacific was no different but increased coal mining activity in Powder River Basin region situated in parts of Wyoming and Montana could reverse the slide in coal freight volumes for the company.

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Among the non-epileptic children, brain activity in an area called the cortex increased when the contrast in the flicker was 20% - the difference between grey and white.

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All participants showed increased activity in the frontal lobes of the brain when the information given was better than expected, indicating active processing of the information to recalculate an estimate.

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The ONS said that beyond the effect of ticket sales, it was hard to put an exact figure on the Olympic effect, although it cited increased hotel and restaurant activity in London as well as strength from employment agencies.

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