Brain And Consciousness Research - February 2010 Archives

Neuroscientists find brain system behind general intelligence (2/28/2010)

A collaborative team of neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology, the University of Iowa, the University of Southern California, and the Autonomous University of Madrid have mapped the brain structures that affect general intelligence. The study, to be published the week of Feb. 22 in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, adds new insight to a highly controversial question: what is intelligence, and how can we measure it? ...> Full Article

A midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity (2/27/2010)

If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter. ...> Full Article

Mild traumatic brain injury, not so mild after all (2/26/2010)

Douglas Smith, M.D., director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair and professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will present information on the molecular mechanism at play in mild TBI (mTBI), commonly called concussions. Although mTBI affects over one million people each year in the United States, it is generally ignored as a major health issue. ...> Full Article

Brain implant reveals the neural patterns of attention (2/26/2010)

A paralyzed patient implanted with a brain-computer interface device has allowed scientists to determine the relationship between brain waves and attention. Characteristic activity patterns known as beta and delta oscillations have been observed in various regions of the brain since the early 20th century, and have been theoretically associated with attention. The unique opportunity to record from human motor cortex allowed University of Chicago researchers to investigate this relationship more thoroughly than ever before. ...> Full Article

Reading to kids a crucial tool in English language development (2/25/2010)

Poring over the works of Dr. Seuss, the adventures of the Bernstain Bears or exploring the worlds of Hans Christian Andersen with a child has always been a great parent-child bonding exercise. But, according to George Georgiou, a University of Alberta professor in educational psychology, it is instrumental for English-speaking children if they are to acquire the language skills, particularly comprehension, essential to their future reading ability. ...> Full Article

In learning, the brain forgets things on purpose (2/25/2010)

Scientists have known that newly acquired, short-term memories are often fleeting. But a new study in flies suggests that kind of forgetfulness doesn't just happen. Rather, an active process of erasing memories may in some ways be as important as the ability to lay down new memories, say researchers who report their findings in the Feb. 19 issue of the journal Cell, a publication of Cell Press. ...> Full Article

What is in-store slack? Consumers often plan for unplanned purchases (2/24/2010)

Those unplanned grocery purchases may not be so unplanned after all. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, shoppers often expect to buy a certain number of unplanned items, and most have a pretty good idea of how much they'll spend on them. ...> Full Article

Genes responsible for ability to recognize faces (2/24/2010)

The ability to recognize faces is largely determined by your genes, according to new research at UCL. ...> Full Article

Bilingual babies: The roots of bilingualism in newborns (2/23/2010)

According to new findings, infants born to bilingual mothers (who spoke both languages regularly during pregnancy) exhibit different language preferences than infants born to mothers speaking only one language. These results suggest that bilingual infants, along with monolingual infants, are able to discriminate between the two languages, providing a mechanism from the first moments of life that helps ensure bilingual infants do not confuse their two languages. ...> Full Article

Researchers report internal and environmental factors trigger unique brain activity in teens (2/23/2010)

While the otherworldly behavior of teenagers is well documented, University of Pittsburgh researchers have taken a significant step toward finally unraveling the actual brain activity that can drive adolescents to engage in impulsive, self-indulgent, or self-destructive behavior. ...> Full Article

The role of sleep in brain development (2/22/2010)

Marcos Frank, Ph.D., associate professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will present information on early brain development and the importance of sleep during early life when the brain is rapidly maturing and highly changeable. ...> Full Article

What the brain values may not be what it buys (2/22/2010)

New brain-imaging research shows it's even possible to predict how much people might be willing to pay for a particular face. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center found that as participants were watching a sequence of faces, their brains were simultaneously evaluating those faces in two distinct ways: for the quality of the viewing experience and for what they would trade to see the face again. ...> Full Article

Neuroscientists reveal new links that regulate brain electrical activity (2/21/2010)

Investigators in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary have made a major breakthrough in our understanding of nerve impulse generation within the brain. Brain cells communicate with each other by firing electrical impulses, which in turn rely upon special ion channels that are positioned at strategic locations in their membranes. This exciting, new foundational research was published this week in the prominent journal Nature Neuroscience. ...> Full Article

Lack of morning light keeping teenagers up at night (2/20/2010)

The first field study on the impact of light on teenagers' sleeping habits finds that insufficient daily morning light exposure contributes to teenagers not getting enough sleep. "As teenagers spend more time indoors, they miss out on essential morning light needed to stimulate the body's 24-hour biological system, which regulates the sleep/wake cycle," reports Mariana Figueiro, Assistant Professor and Program Director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Lighting Research Center and lead researcher on the new study. ...> Full Article

Scientists image brain at point when vocal learning begins (2/20/2010)

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center imaged living juvenile songbird brains at the moment the brains heard a tutor's mating song. Instead of staying plastic and dynamic after hearing the song, the bird's neurons snapped into a framework nearly immediately, surprising the researchers. Some birds were unable to learn or learn it well, indicating they were past their prime learning window. ...> Full Article

Building fit minds under stress (2/19/2010)

A University of Pennsylvania-led study in which training was provided to a high-stress U.S. military group preparing for deployment to Iraq has demonstrated a positive link between mindfulness training, or MT, and improvements in mood and working memory. ...> Full Article

Teaching a foreign language? Best teach in the accent of the listener (2/18/2010)

Perception of second language speech is easier when it is spoken in the accent of the listener and not in the "original" accent of that language, shows a new study from the University of Haifa. The study was published in the prestigious Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. ...> Full Article

People with anxiety disorder less able to regulate response to negative emotions, study shows (2/17/2010)

People with generalized anxiety disorder, or GAD, have abnormalities in the way their brain unconsciously controls emotions. That's the conclusion of a new Stanford University School of Medicine study, and the study authors say the findings could open up new avenues for treatments and change our understanding of how emotion is regulated in everyday life. ...> Full Article

Selective brain damage modulates human spirituality (2/16/2010)

New research provides fascinating insight into brain changes that might underlie alterations in spiritual and religious attitudes. The study, published by Cell Press in the Feb. 11 issue of the journal Neuron, explores the neural basis of spirituality by studying patients before and after surgery to remove a brain tumor. ...> Full Article

fMRIs reveal brain's handling of low-priority ideas (2/15/2010)

Brain networks that allow individuals to put social decisions on the back burner are impacted by genetics, a new study indicates. This capability has been shown to be abnormal in a number of psychiatric disorders. ...> Full Article

Brain study offers insight into causes of autism (2/14/2010)

Scientists are a step closer to understanding how abnormalities in brain development might lead to autism and behavioral disorders. ...> Full Article

Brain scans track hoop fans' happy memories (2/13/2010)

In a novel study that used historical tape of a thrilling overtime basketball game between Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, brain researchers at Duke have found that fans remember the good things their team did much better than the bad. ...> Full Article

Hand has role in how we see objects in space (2/12/2010)

We know exactly where an object is when we say it is "within the reach of our hand." But if we don't have a hand, can we still see the object just where it is? ...> Full Article

Researchers find how brain hears the sound of silence (2/12/2010)

A team of University of Oregon researchers have isolated an independent processing channel of synapses inside the brain's auditory cortex that deals specifically with shutting off sound processing at appropriate times. Such regulation is vital for hearing and for understanding speech. ...> Full Article

Underdogs have more motivation? Not so fast, study says (2/11/2010)

Members of a group or team will work harder when they're competing against a group with lower status than when pitted against a more highly ranked group, according to a new study. The results run contrary to the common belief that underdogs have more motivation because they have the chance to 'knock the higher-status group down a peg.' ...> Full Article

Chocoholic mice fear no pain (2/10/2010)

Ever get a buzz from eating chocolate? A study published in the open access journal BMC Neuroscience has shown that chocolate-craving mice are ready to tolerate electric shocks to get their fix. ...> Full Article

Patients 'unafraid' to gamble highlight role of amygdala in decision-making (2/10/2010)

Two patients with rare lesions to the brain have provided direct of evidence of how we make decisions -- and what makes us dislike the thought of losing money. ...> Full Article

Morality research sheds light on the origins of religion (2/10/2010)

The details surrounding the emergence and evolution of religion have not been clearly established and remain a source of much debate among scholars. Now, an article published by Cell Press in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences on Feb. 8 brings a new understanding to this long-standing discussion by exploring the fascinating link between morality and religion. ...> Full Article

Study maps the effects of acupuncture on the brain (2/9/2010)

New research from the University of York and the Hull York Medical School about the effects of acupuncture on the brain may provide an understanding of the complex mechanisms of acupuncture and could lead to a wider acceptability of the treatment. ...> Full Article

Depressed people feel more gray than blue (2/9/2010)

People with anxiety and depression are most likely to use a shade of gray to represent their mental state. Researchers writing in the open-access journal BMC Medical Research Methodology describe the development of a color chart, the Manchester Color Wheel, which can be used to study people's preferred pigment in relation to their state of mind. ...> Full Article

Pay it forward: Elevation leads to altruistic behavior (2/8/2010)

Seeing someone perform a virtuous deed (especially if they are helping another person), makes us feel good -- a positive, uplifting emotion, known as "elevation." New findings suggest that elevation may lead to helping behavior: participants who viewed an uplifting TV clip spent almost twice as long helping a research assistant than participants who saw a neutral TV clip or a comedy clip. ...> Full Article

Melatonin precursor stimulates growth factor circuits in brain (2/8/2010)

N-acetylserotonin, the immediate precursor to melatonin, activates the same growth circuits in the brain as BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). The results have implications for how some antidepressants function and suggest that the molecules and pathways involved in mood regulation and circadian rhythms are intertwined. ...> Full Article

New brain research: Hunger for stimulation driven by dopamine in the brain (2/7/2010)

Our need for stimulation and dopamine's action upon the brain are connected, which explains why people who constantly crave stimulation are in danger of addictive behavior such as drug abuse and gambling. ...> Full Article

Brain dopamine receptor density correlates with social status (2/7/2010)

People have typically viewed the benefits that accrue with social status primarily from the perspective of external rewards. A new paper in the Feb. 1 issue of Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier suggests that there are internal rewards as well. ...> Full Article

Alterations in the brain's reward system related to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (2/7/2010)

Until now, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder was related to alterations in the brain affecting attention and cognitive processes. Researchers at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital for the first time have discovered anomalies in the brain's reward system related to the neural circuits of motivation and gratification. ...> Full Article

Why the mirror lies (2/6/2010)

Researchers at UCLA have determined that the brains of people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a psychiatric condition that causes them, wrongly, to believe they appear disfigured and ugly, have abnormalities in processing visual input when it comes to examining their own face. Further, they found that the same systems of the brain are overactive in BDD and in obsessive-compulsive disorder, suggesting a link between the two. ...> Full Article

Seeing the brain hear reveals surprises about how sound is processed (2/5/2010)

Neurobiologists at the University of Maryland have discovered information about how the brain processes sound that challenges previous understandings of the auditory cortex. Their research shows our brains are a lot more chaotic than previously thought, and that this might be a good thing. ...> Full Article

Uncorrelated activity in the brain (2/4/2010)

Interconnected networks of neurons process information and give rise to perception by communicating with one another via small electrical impulses known as action potentials. In the past, scientists believed that adjacent neurons synchronized their action potentials. However, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany said in a current report in the journal Science that this synchronization does not happen. ...> Full Article

Memory failing? You may be at higher risk for stroke (2/3/2010)

People who experience memory loss or a decline in their thinking abilities may be at higher risk of stroke, regardless of whether they have been diagnosed with dementia, according to a new study published in the Feb. 2, 2010, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ...> Full Article

Ginkgo herbal medicines may increase seizures in people with epilepsy (2/3/2010)

Restrictions should be placed on the use of Ginkgo biloba -- a top-selling herbal remedy -- because of growing scientific evidence that Ginkgo may increase the risk of seizures in people with epilepsy and could reduce the effectiveness of anti-seizure drugs, a new report concludes. The article appears in ACS' monthly Journal of Natural Products. ...> Full Article

Right-handed and left-handed people do not see the same bright side of things (2/3/2010)

Despite the almost universal association of the right with life, right, positive and good things, and the left with death, inadequacy, negative and bad things, recent researches show that left-handed people hold the opposite association. A professor from the UGR has carried out a review of the bibliography on this subject in an article recently published in Ciencia Cognitiva: Revista Electrónica de Divulgación. ...> Full Article

A mind at rest strengthens memories, researchers find (2/2/2010)

Our memories are strengthened during periods of rest while we are awake, researchers at New York University have found. The findings, which appear in the latest issue of the journal Neuron, expand our understanding of how memories are boosted -- previous studies had shown this process occurs during sleep, but not during times of awake rest. ...> Full Article

Losing sleep, losing brain? (2/2/2010)

Chronic and severely stressful situations, like those connected to depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, have been associated with smaller volumes in "stress sensitive" brain regions, such as the cingulate region of the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, a brain region involved in memory formation. ...> Full Article

Recognition of facial expressions is not universal (2/1/2010)

Caucasians and Asians don't examine faces in the same way, according to new research. PhD student Caroline Blais, of the Universite de Montreal Department of Psychology, has published two studies on the subject: one in Current Biology and the other in PLoS One. ...> Full Article

Everybody laughs, everybody cries: Researchers identify universal emotions (2/1/2010)

Here's a piece of research that might leave you tickled: laughter is a universal language, according to new research. The study, conducted with people from Britain and Namibia, suggests that basic emotions such as amusement, anger, fear and sadness are shared by all humans. ...> Full Article

Brain scientists extend map of fear memory formation (2/1/2010)

Draw a map of the brain when fear and anxiety are involved, and the amygdala looms large. But scientists have now extended the brain's fear map to include the prelimbic cortex. Researchers found that mice lacking a critical growth factor in the prelimbic cortex have trouble remembering to fear electric shocks. The discovery could help improve diagnosis and treatment for anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias. ...> Full Article