Brain Mysteries
Veterans exposed to explosions who do not report symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) may still have damage to the brain's white matter comparable to veterans with TBI, according to researchers at Duke Medicine and the US Department of Veterans Affairs.
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 | Washington State University Vancouver research scientist Christine Portfors will study how the brain chemical dopamine influences hearing with support from the National Institutes of Health. The work may ultimately lead to better therapies for people with hearing loss and communication problems. ...> Full Article |
After a stroke, sufferers are often faced with the problem of severe movement impairment. Researchers at the Brain Research Institute of the University of Zurich have now discovered that the brainstem could play a major role in the recovery of motor functions. The projection of neurons from this ancient part of the brain into the spinal cord leads to the neural impulses needed for motion being rerouted.
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 | A new study from Aarhus University, Denmark, settles an important question about how social understanding is performed in the brain. The findings may help us to attain a better understanding of why people with autism and schizophrenia have difficulties with social interaction. ...> Full Article |
 | Kessler Foundation researchers have found that in MS, self-generation may be influenced by task meaningfulness during learning and memory. Also type of task affected memory. This is 1st controlled investigation that supports self-generation in cognitive rehabilitation. Published in January 2014 Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. Goverover et al: Task meaningfulness and degree of cognitive impairment: Do they affect self-generated learning in persons with multiple sclerosis? ...> Full Article |
Opiate abuse alter the activity of RGS9-2 protein needed for normal functioning of brain's reward system and unexpectedly also altered the threshold for pain relief and opioid tolerance.
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Researchers have determined that a small region of the hippocampus known as CA2 is essential for social memory, the ability of an animal to recognize another of the same species. A better grasp of the function of CA2 could prove useful in understanding and treating disorders characterized by altered social behaviors, such as autism, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. The findings, made in mice, were published today in the online edition of Nature.
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Join us for the CNS conference in downtown Boston, April 5-8. More than 1,500 scientists will be in attendance. See the latest research on memory, language, decision-making, and more -- including how schools can shape curricula to address specific cognitive skills, how our brains have developed to recognize faces and words, and the social factors that influence how we categorize people. The meeting will also include a public lecture about memory.
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 | The first study to compare brain function between humans and any non-primate animal shows that dogs have dedicated voice areas in their brains, just as people do. Dog brains, like those of people, are also sensitive to acoustic cues of emotion, according to a study in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on Feb. 20. ...> Full Article |
The next time you want to turn down the emotional intensity before making an important decision, you may want to dim the lights first.
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A new study provides evidence for what many people who experience headache have long suspected -- having more stress in your life leads to more headaches. The study released today will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26-May 3, 2014.
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Have you ever noticed that your best friends speak the same way? A new University of British Columbia study finds we prefer voices that are similar to our own because they convey a soothing sense of community and social belongingness.
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 | Brown University cognitive scientists have identified specific brain regions that work together to allow us to choose from among the options we store in working memory. Findings appear in the journal Neuron. ...> Full Article |
 | Seeing is believing, but smellizing -- a new term for prompting consumers to imagine the smell of a product -- could be the next step toward more effective advertising. Researchers came to this conclusion through four studies of products most of us would like to smellize: cookies and cake. ...> Full Article |
Watching video of simple tasks before carrying them out may boost the brain's structure, or plasticity, and increase motor skills, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 66th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, April 26-May 3, 2014. Brain plasticity is the brain's ability to flex and adapt, allowing for better learning. The brain loses plasticity as it ages.
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