Brain And Consciousness Research - January 2010 Archives

Relationship recall: Attachment style may affect memories of relationship events (1/31/2010)

It can be frustrating when our partners remember things differently than we do, but according to new research, they are not trying to be difficult, but personality may affect how they (and we) remember relationship events (such as discussions). Specifically, the way highly anxious and avoidant individuals remember certain events is based on their needs and goals for the relationship, but only if they were distressed when the memories were created. ...> Full Article

Driven to distraction: New study shows driving hinders talking (1/31/2010)

It is well known that having a conversation (for example on a cell phone) impairs one's driving. A new study indicates the reverse is also true: Driving reduces one's ability to comprehend and use language. ...> Full Article

Neuron connections seen in 3-D (1/30/2010)

A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, in Germany, led by the Spanish physicist Rubén Fernández-Busnadiego, has managed to obtain 3-D images of the vesicles and filaments involved in communication between neurons. The method is based on a novel technique in electron microscopy, which cools cells so quickly that their biological structures can be frozen while fully active. ...> Full Article

Brain responses during anesthesia mimic those during natural deep sleep (1/30/2010)

The brains of people under anesthesia respond to stimuli as they do in the deepest part of sleep -- lending credence to a developing theory of consciousness and suggesting a new method to assess loss of consciousness in conditions such as coma. ...> Full Article

Elevated brain levels of magnesium enhance learning and memory (1/29/2010)

New research finds that an increase in brain magnesium improves learning and memory in young and old rats. The study, published by Cell Press in the January 28 issue of the journal Neuron, suggests that increasing magnesium intake may be a valid strategy to enhance cognitive abilities and supports speculation that inadequate levels of magnesium impair cognitive function, leading to faster deterioration of memory in aging humans. ...> Full Article

Mind reading, brain fingerprinting and the law (1/29/2010)

What if a jury could decide a man's guilt through mind reading? What if reading a defendant's memory could betray their guilt? And what constitutes "intent" to commit murder? These are just some of the issues debated and reviewed in the inaugural issue of WIREs Cognitive Science, the latest interdisciplinary project from Wiley-Blackwell, which for registered institutions will be free for the first two years. ...> Full Article

First evidence that blueberry juice improves memory in older adults (1/28/2010)

Scientists are reporting the first evidence from human research that blueberries -- one of the richest sources of healthful antioxidants and other so-called phytochemicals -- improve memory. A report on the study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. ...> Full Article

Functional connection between hippocampus and cortex modulates anxiety (1/28/2010)

A new study demonstrates that cooperation between the hippocampus, best known for its critical role in learning and memory, and a principal downstream cortical target modulates anxiety-related behaviors in mice. The research, published by Cell Press in the January 28 issue of the journal Neuron, provides intriguing insight into how anxiety is processed in the brain and may help to explain what governs anxiety-related behaviors. ...> Full Article

Older brains make good use of 'useless' information (1/27/2010)

A new study has found promising evidence that the older brain's weakened ability to filter out irrelevant information may actually give aging adults a memory advantage over their younger counterparts. ...> Full Article

Scientists shed new light on walking (1/26/2010)

Researchers at the medical university Karolinska Institutet have created a genetically modified mouse in which certain neurons can be activated by blue light. Shining blue light on brain stems or spinal cords isolated from these mice produces walking-like motor activity. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, are of potential significance to the recovery of walking after spinal cord injury. ...> Full Article

Men feel less guilt (1/26/2010)

Although changing social and cultural contexts mean guilt has less power today than it once did, a new study has shown that in the West this emotion is "significantly higher" among women. The main problem, according to the experts, is not that women feel a lot of guilt (which they do), but rather that many males feel "too little". ...> Full Article

Small sounds, big deals: How do number sounds influence consumers? (1/26/2010)

Consumers remember the sounds of numbers in prices and associate certain sounds with value, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. ...> Full Article

Our memory of time is shortened when we believe products and events are related (1/25/2010)

When we believe two events are connected -- such as drinking caffeine and getting a burst of energy -- we tend to compress time, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. ...> Full Article

The human brain uses a grid to represent space (1/25/2010)

"Grid cells" that act like a spatial map in the brain have been identified for the first time in humans, according to new research by UCL scientists which may help to explain how we create internal maps of new environments. ...> Full Article

Want to convince? Use abstract rather than concrete language (1/24/2010)

When consumers talk to each other about products, they generally respond more favorably to abstract language than concrete descriptions, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. ...> Full Article

Moving through time (1/24/2010)

Thinking of the past or future causes us to sway backward or forward. ...> Full Article

Yoga reduces cytokine levels known to promote inflammation (1/23/2010)

Regularly practicing yoga exercises may lower a number of compounds in the blood and reduce the level of inflammation that normally rises because of both normal aging and stress, a new study has shown. The study, done by Ohio State University researchers and just reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, showed that women who routinely practiced yoga had lower amounts of the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in their blood. ...> Full Article

How does an outfielder know where to run for a fly ball? (1/22/2010)

To test three theories that might explain an outfielder's ability to catch a fly ball, researcher Philip Fink, Ph.D., from Massey University in New Zealand and Patrick Foo, Ph.D., from the University of North Carolina at Ashville programmed Brown University's virtual reality lab, the VENLab, to produce realistic balls and simulate catches. The team then lobbed virtual fly balls to a dozen experienced ball players. ...> Full Article

Memory molecule, deja vu (1/22/2010)

Recent studies reestablish the importance to memory processes of calpain, a protease first hypothesized to play a crucial role in memory 25 years ago. ...> Full Article

Study reveals wanted objects are seen as closer (1/22/2010)

If we really want something, that desire may influence how we view our surroundings. ...> Full Article

Video gamers: Size of brain structures predicts success (1/22/2010)

Researchers can predict your performance on a video game simply by measuring the volume of specific structures in your brain, a multi-institutional team reports this week. ...> Full Article

Team finds neural thermostat keeps brain running efficiently (1/21/2010)

Our energy-hungry brains operate reliably and efficiently while processing a flood of sensory information, thanks to a sort of neuronal thermostat that regulates activity in the visual cortex, Yale researchers have found. ...> Full Article

Low socioeconomic status affects cortisol levels in children over time (1/21/2010)

Given the importance of identifying risk factors for such diseases early in life, a new study in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, looked at the relationship between low SES and cortisol in children over a 2-year period. The researchers hypothesized that living in a low SES environment would increase cortisol trajectories over time. ...> Full Article

Scientists map brain pathway for vocal learning (1/20/2010)

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have identified neurons in the songbird brain that convey the auditory feedback needed to learn a song. Their research lays the foundation for improving human speech, for example, in people whose auditory nerves are damaged and who must learn to speak without the benefit of hearing their own voices. This work is the first study to identify an auditory feedback pathway in the brain that is harnessed for learned vocal control. ...> Full Article

Consumers have mixed reactions to puffery in advertising (1/20/2010)

According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers don't always react positively to persuasion tactics that have nothing to do with the product (what the authors refer to as "puffery"). ...> Full Article

Face recognition ability inherited separately from IQ (1/20/2010)

Recognizing faces is an important social skill, but not all of us are equally good at it. Some people are unable to recognize even their closest friends (a condition called prosopagnosia), while others have a near-photographic memory for large numbers of faces. Now a twin study by collaborators at MIT and in Beijing, China, shows that face recognition is heritable, and that it is inherited separately from general intelligence or IQ. ...> Full Article

Why we can't always find what we're looking for (and sometimes find what isn't there) (1/19/2010)

When people look for things that are rare, they aren't all that good at finding them. And it turns out that the reverse is also true: When people look for something common, they will often think they see it even when it isn't there. ...> Full Article

Scent of a woman: Men's testosterone responses to olfactory ovulation cues (1/19/2010)

Women around the world spend billions of dollars each year on exotic smelling perfumes and lotions in the hopes of attracting a mate. However, going "au natural" may be the best way to capture a potential mate's attention: Men who smelled shirts of ovulating women subsequently had higher levels of testosterone than men who smelled shirts worn by non-ovulating women, suggesting that testosterone levels may be responsive to smells indicating when a woman is fertile. ...> Full Article

Research finds 'noisiest' neurons persist in the adult brain (1/18/2010)

MIT neuroscientists have discovered that when it comes to new neurons in the adult brain, the squeakiest wheels get the grease. ...> Full Article

To see or not to see (1/18/2010)

Weizmann Institute scientists find a burst of neural activity at the transition between not seeing and seeing, revealing a clear threshold that must be crossed for perception to occur. ...> Full Article

Why some brains are more vulnerable to stress and resistant to antidepressants (1/17/2010)

A new study provides insight into the molecular characteristics that make a brain susceptible to anxiety and depression and less likely to respond to treatment with antidepressant medication. The research, published by Cell Press in the Jan. 14 issue of the journal Neuron, may lead to more effective strategies for treating depression, a major health concern throughout the world. ...> Full Article

Siblings play formative, influential role as 'agents of socialization' (1/17/2010)

Laurie Kramer, a professor of applied family studies at the University of Illinois, says that what we learn from our siblings when we grow up has -- for better or for worse -- a considerable influence on our social and emotional development as adults. ...> Full Article

Got cognitive activity? It does a mind good (1/16/2010)

If you don't have a college degree, you're at greater risk of developing memory problems or even Alzheimer's. Education influences lifelong memory performance and risk for dementia, and those with a college degree possess a cognitive advantage over their less educated counterparts in middle and old age. A national study from Brandeis University published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry shows that those with less schooling can compensate by doing mental exercises such as word games, puzzles, reading and lectures. ...> Full Article

Research adds to evidence that autism is a brain 'connectivity' disorder (1/15/2010)

Studying a rare disorder that also causes autism in 25-50 percent of affected patients, new research at Children's Hospital Boston supports the emerging idea that autism results from disrupted brain "connectivity" causing improper information flow. These abnormalities might be reversible with rapamycin or rapamycin-like drugs, which the studies researchers will be bringing to clinical trial later this year. ...> Full Article

Observation about how nervous system learns and encodes motion could improve stroke recovery (1/14/2010)

Bioengineers have taken a small step toward improving physical recovery in stroke patients by showing that a key feature of how limb motion is encoded in the nervous system plays a crucial role in how new motor skills are learned. The Harvard-based study about the neural learning elements responsible for motor learning may help scientists design rehabilitation protocols in which motor adaptation occurs more readily, potentially allowing for a more rapid recovery. ...> Full Article

Self-control is contagious, study finds (1/14/2010)

A new University of Georgia study has revealed that self-control -- or the lack thereof -- is contagious. ...> Full Article

Scientists crack brain's codes for noun meanings (1/13/2010)

Two hundred years ago, archaeologists used the Rosetta Stone to understand the ancient Egyptian scrolls. Now, a team of Carnegie Mellon University scientists has discovered the beginnings of a neural Rosetta Stone. By combining brain imaging and machine learning techniques, neuroscientists Marcel Just and Vladimir Cherkassky and computer scientists Tom Mitchell and Sandesh Aryal determined how the brain arranges noun representations. Understanding how the brain codes nouns is important for treating psychiatric and neurological illnesses. ...> Full Article

Research shows disconnect between brain regions in ADHD (1/13/2010)

Two brain areas fail to connect when children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder attempt a task that measures attention, according to researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain and M.I.N.D. Institute. ...> Full Article

Brain imaging may help diagnose autism (1/13/2010)

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) process sound and language a fraction of a second slower than children without ASDs, and measuring magnetic signals that mark this delay may become a standardized way to diagnose autism. While more work remains to be done, this pattern of delayed brain response may be refined into the first imaging biomarker for autism. ...> Full Article

Seeing with your hands? Hand amputation may result in altered perception around the hands (1/12/2010)

The space within reach of our hands -- where actions such as grasping and touching occur -- is known as the "action space." New research indicates that amputation of the hand results in distorted visuospatial perception (i.e., figuring out where in space objects are located) of the action space. These findings suggest that losing a hand may shrink the action space on the amputated side, leading to permanent distortions in spatial perception. ...> Full Article

'Weekend effect' makes people happier regardless of their job, study says (1/12/2010)

From construction laborers and secretaries to physicians and lawyers, people experience better moods, greater vitality and fewer aches and pains from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, concludes the first study of daily mood variation in employed adults. And that "weekend effect" is largely associated with the freedom to choose one's activities and the opportunity to spend time with loved ones, the research found. ...> Full Article

Study investigates immune system alterations in the brain (1/11/2010)

Using laboratory mice that had been bred to have brain changes similar to Alzheimer's disease, scientists were able to reduce two characteristic features of the disease by modifying the mice's immune systems with a special peptide related to the myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells and nerve fibers. As a result, anti-inflammatory cells were recruited from the blood into the brain, dampening the local inflammatory response. ...> Full Article

Discovery of a new molecular mechanism that guides visual nerves towards the brain (1/10/2010)

The laboratory of Dr. Frederic Charron, a researcher at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montreal, has discovered a new molecular mechanism that permits the guidance of visual nerves towards the brain. Their findings have been published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience. The research was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Tomomi Shimogori from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, in Japan. Pierre Fabre, a doctoral student in Dr. Charron's research unit, is the article's first author. ...> Full Article

Silencing brain cells with yellow and blue light (1/9/2010)

Neuroscientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a powerful new class of tools to reversibly shut down brain activity using different colors of light. When targeted to specific neurons, they could potentially lead to new treatments for abnormal brain activity associated with disorders including chronic pain, epilepsy, brain injury and Parkinson's disease. ...> Full Article

Worldwide study finds few gender differences in math abilities (1/8/2010)

Girls around the world are not worse at math than boys, even though boys are more confident in their math abilities, and girls from countries where gender equity is more prevalent are more likely to perform better on mathematics assessment tests, according to a new analysis of international research. ...> Full Article

A silly pat on the head helps seniors remember daily med, study suggests (1/7/2010)

Doing something unusual, like knocking on wood or patting yourself on the head, while taking a daily dose of medicine may be an effective strategy to help seniors remember whether they've already taken their daily medications, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis. ...> Full Article

2 sides of the same coin: Speech and gesture mutually interact to enhance comprehension (1/6/2010)

Your mother may have taught you that it's rude to point, but according to new research, gesturing may actually help improve communication. These findings suggest that when gesture and speech convey the same information, they are easier to understand than when they convey different information. In addition, these results indicate that gesture and speech form an integrated system that helps us in language comprehension. ...> Full Article

Women's bodies and minds agree less than men's on what's sexy (1/5/2010)

Women's minds and genitals respond differently to sexual arousal, whereas in men, the responses of the body and mind are more in tune with each other, according to Assistant Professor Meredith Chivers, from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, and her international collaborators. Their meta-analysis of the extent of agreement between subjective ratings and physiological measures of sexual arousal in men and women is published online this week in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. ...> Full Article

Judge not lest ye be judged? (1/3/2010)

The past year has been marked by a series of moral transgressions by powerful figures in political, business and celebrity circles. New research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University explores why powerful people -- many of whom take a moral high ground -- don't practice what they preach. ...> Full Article

Scientists discover a controller of brain circuitry (1/2/2010)

By combining a research technique that dates back 136 years with modern molecular genetics, a Johns Hopkins neuroscientist has been able to see how a mammal's brain shrewdly revisits and reuses the same molecular cues to control the complex design of its circuits. ...> Full Article

Sleeping off childhood? (1/1/2010)

Prof. Avi Sadeh of Tel Aviv University's Department of Psychology suggests that changes in children's sleep patterns are evident just before the onset of physical changes associated with puberty. He counsels parents and educators to make sure that pre-pubescent children get the good, healthy sleep that their growing and changing bodies need. ...> Full Article

Researchers find clues to why some continue to eat when full (1/1/2010)

New research in mice by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists suggest that ghrelin might also work in the brain to make some people keep eating "pleasurable" foods when they're already full. ...> Full Article