How phones ring a bell in your head

The instant you hear a cellphone ring, your brain reacts in a unique way - if the ringtone matches that of your own phone. New Scientist reports.

Anja Roye of the University of Leipzig in Germany and colleagues recorded the text-alert tones of 12 volunteers, then played them all the tones, at the same volume and in a random order, while recording their neural activity via scalp electrodes.

... Brain areas linked to hearing and memory retrieval lit up when participants heard their own ringtone or the one they were assigned.

Related, sort of:

-- When you hear ringing and there's no one there

-- Fiddler Tim O'Brien sings about phantom phone call syndrome

-- Phantom vibration syndrome

emily | 9:36 AM | News, Buzz, Reports and Studies |
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