Scientific American reports on a couple of interesting recent studies. Apparently schizophrenics aren't fooled by certain optical illusions, indicating there may be some dysfunction in their contextual processing. This may explain why schizophrenics sometimes misunderstand other people's actions.

The second study looked at activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (an area of the brain involved in regulating emotion) in women at different times of their menstrual cycle. It seems that those women who do not suffer premenstrual mood swings show changing patterns of activity that may reflect the region's ability to compensate for hormonal changes.