Brain And Consciousness Research Archives Page 16

Internists Say They Prescribe Placebos On Occasion (1/7/2008)

In the first study examining American physicians' use of placebos in clinical practice in the 21st Century, 45 percent of Chicago internists report they have used a placebo at some time during their clinical practice researchers report in the January issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine. ...> Full Article

How to imbue products with symbolic meaning (1/7/2008)

Many people pay silly money to wear a particular logo or a designer brand. Of course, a designer outfit doesn't keep you any warmer or dryer than an unbranded one, but functionality is only part of the story. Designer products say something about you - you are a trendy, sexy or sophisticated person. Brands help us to express who we think we are and who we want to be. ...> Full Article

Bullies target teenagers unable to express emotion (1/6/2008)

Youngsters with specific language impairment (SLI) are unable to verbally express their feelings and find it difficult to understand what others are saying due to a developmental problem with their language. However they show no physical signs of the disorder, have otherwise normal intellectual ability and do enjoy socialising, so often appear to other people as just 'unusual'. This can lead to them being ostracised or even attacked by their peers. ...> Full Article

Ethnicity Predicts How Gene Variations Affect Response to Schizophrenia Medications (1/6/2008)

Different variations in the same gene influence how well different ethnic groups, and people within the same ethnic group, respond to various antipsychotic medications, report NIMH-funded researchers. If confirmed, their findings could one day help clinicians predict which medication is most likely to help a patient, based on his or her genetic makeup. ...> Full Article

Novel mechanism for long-term learning identified by researchers (1/5/2008)

Practice makes perfect - or at least that's what we're told as we struggle through endless rounds of multiplication tables, goal kicks and piano scales - and it seems, based on the personal experience of many, to be true. That's why neuroscientists have been perplexed by data showing that at the level of individual synapses, or connections between neurons, increased, repetitive stimulation might actually reverse early gains in synaptic strength. Now, neuroscientists from Carnegie Mellon University and the Max Planck Institute have discovered the mechanism that resolves this apparent paradox. The findings are published in the Jan. 4 issue of Science. ...> Full Article

Why some depressed girls can't smell the roses (1/5/2008)

Can't smell the roses? Maybe you're depressed. Smell too much like a rose yourself? Maybe you've got the same problem. Scientists from Tel Aviv University recently linked depression to a biological mechanism that affects the olfactory glands. It might explain why some women, without realizing it, wear too much perfume. ...> Full Article

Study Identifies Where Thoughts Of Familiar Objects Occur Inside the Human Brain (1/4/2008)

Experts Trained Algorithm To Extract Patterns From Participants' Brain Activation Scans ...> Full Article

Bright Light Therapy Eases Bipolar Depression for Some (1/4/2008)

Bright light therapy can ease bipolar depression in some patients, according to a study published in the journal Bipolar Disorders. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic studied nine women with bipolar disorder to examine the effects of light therapy in the morning or at midday on mood symptoms. ...> Full Article

Anti-Alzheimer's Mechanism In Omega-3 Fatty Acids Found (1/3/2008)

It's good news that we are living longer, but bad news that the longer we live, the better our odds of developing late-onset Alzheimer's disease. ...> Full Article

Daily alcohol use causes changes in sexual behavior in adult male flies (1/3/2008)

A team of researchers at Penn State has used an insect model to reveal, for the first time, a physiological basis for the effect of alcohol on male sexual behavior, including increased sexual arousal and decreased sexual inhibition. ...> Full Article

For women, marital distress means less relief from stress (1/2/2008)

That's the suggestion from a new UCLA study that tracked levels of cortisol, a key stress hormone, among 30 Los Angeles married couples involved in one of our age's trickiest juggling acts - raising kids when both parents work full time. ...> Full Article

Some Antipsychotic Drugs May Be Missing Their Mark (1/2/2008)

Drugs that treat depression, schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions and that target a particular protein on brain cells might not be triggering the most appropriate response in those cells, new research suggests. ...> Full Article

Orphaned Children Show Higher Intelligence And Fare Better In Foster Care Than In Institutions (12/31/2007)

Newly published research in the journal Science confirms that institutionalized orphans placed into foster care have much better intellectual development than those who remain behind. The authors say the results have implications for countries "grappling with how best to care for abandoned, orphaned and maltreated young children." ...> Full Article

Mutation may cause inherited neuropathy (12/31/2007)

Mutations in a protein called dynein, required for the proper functioning of sensory nerve cells, can cause defects in mice that may provide crucial clues leading to better treatments for a human nerve disorder known as peripheral neuropathy, which affects about three percent of all those over age 60. ...> Full Article

Public Policy Fails to Address the Effects of Media Violence on Children (12/30/2007)

Highly publicized events such as school shootings arouse public interest in the effects of media violence exposure on children, yet there is still considerable public debate about whether to take this issue seriously. A recent article in Social Issues and Policy Review summarizes the research on the effects of media violence and convincingly demonstrates the profound influence that media violence is having in our society. ...> Full Article

Predictors of Teen Suicide Focus of Research Effort (12/30/2007)

Researchers investigate suicide trigger mechanisms ...> Full Article

Study Finds Family Environment Critical To Child's IQ (12/29/2007)

The quality of caregiving a child receives within the first two years of life directly affects brain development and IQ, according to a study by a team of researchers from Tulane and other universities. ...> Full Article

Stimulating Muscles May Improve Musician's Dystonia (12/29/2007)

Therapy that stimulates the hand muscles may help treat the condition called musician's dystonia, a movement disorder that causes muscles spasms in musicians, according to a study published in the December 26, 2007, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. ...> Full Article

New method enables scientists to see smells (12/28/2007)

Animals and insects communicate through an invisible world of scents. By exploiting infrared technology, researchers at Rockefeller University just made that world visible. With the ability to see smells, these scientists now show that when fly larvae detect smells with both olfactory organs they find their way toward a scented target more accurately than when they detect them with one. ...> Full Article

Experts Debate the Role of Psychology in Interrogations (12/28/2007)

The involvement of psychologists in interrogations is a subject of great interest among practicing psychologists, researchers, policy advocates and interrogators. There are greatly varying opinions about what role psychologists should play in interrogation settings. For example, at last summer's meeting of the American Psychological Association in San Francisco, representatives of the APA Council of Representatives voted against banning participation of psychologists, and in favor of adopting an alternative resolution. ...> Full Article

Unsupervised children are more sociable and more active (12/27/2007)

Youngsters who are allowed to leave the house without an adult are more active and enjoy a richer social life than those who are constantly supervised, according to a study conducted at UCL and reported in a special edition of the journal Built Environment (19th December). ...> Full Article

Study Examines Why Americans are Addicted to Sports (12/27/2007)

Ticket prices for professional sporting events are lower than conventional economic theory would predict. One possible explanation for this anomaly is that lower ticket prices encourage attendance at future games, thanks to habit formation or "addictive" behavior among fans. A new study published in Contemporary Economic Policy examines this behavior among American and Korean baseball fans, and finds that this theory successfully predicts this behavior in American (but not Korean) baseball fans. It suggests that this habit formation may be rooted in the basic interaction of culture and human nature. ...> Full Article

Scientists Identify Brain Abnormalities Underlying Key Element of Borderline Personality Disorder (12/26/2007)

Using new approaches, an interdisciplinary team of scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City has gained a view of activity in key brain areas associated with a core difficulty in patients with borderline personality disorder-shedding new light on this serious psychiatric condition. ...> Full Article

Why the web tells us what we already know (12/26/2007)

The Internet is not the fountain of all knowledge, despite the plethora of information available at your fingertips. ...> Full Article

Ethical questions regarding use of brain-enhancing drugs debated (12/26/2007)

The use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by ill as well as healthy individuals is the subject of a commentary published this week in Nature. ...> Full Article

New Studies Illuminate the Computational Power of Neurons (12/25/2007)

Scientists have found that individual neurons have more computational power and contribute more to behavior than previously thought. The researchers used light to activate individual neurons in living mice and showed that even short bursts of activity in a few neurons can influence learning and decision making. ...> Full Article

Humor Develops From Aggression Caused By Male Hormones, Professor Says (12/25/2007)

Humor appears to develop from aggression caused by male hormones, according to a study published in the Christmas issue of the British Medical Journal. ...> Full Article

Study suggests some brain injuries reduce the likelihood of post-traumatic stress disorder (12/25/2007)

A new study of combat-exposed Vietnam War veterans shows that those with injuries to certain parts of the brain were less likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The findings, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Naval Medical Center, suggest that drugs or pacemaker-like devices aimed at dampening activity in these brain regions might be effective treatments for PTSD. ...> Full Article

GABA receptor - a memory bane? (12/24/2007)

When fruit flies lack a receptor for the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma aminobutyric acid, their ability to learn or remember is enhanced, the first time scientists have been able to induce this effect in the insects, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears today in the journal Neuron. ...> Full Article

Sleep chemical central to effectiveness of deep brain stimulation (12/24/2007)

A brain chemical that makes us sleepy also appears to play a central role in the success of deep brain stimulation to ease symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease and other brain disorders. The surprising finding is outlined in a paper published online Dec. 23 in Nature Medicine. ...> Full Article