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New way to understand how transcranial magnetic stimulation can give relief for severe depression

A group of UK scientists have found a way of understanding how transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can give relief to severely depressed patients. TMS is used as an alternative to Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT), but it is not known how it achieves its therapeutic effect. Understanding how it works may open the door to better, more targeted treatment for depression and other conditions.

31 Aug 2015

Study shows food craving may be hard-wired into the brain of overweight patients

An international group of researchers have found that food craving activates different brain networks between obese and normal weight patients.

31 Aug 2015

Cholinergic neurons in basal forebrain broadcast message throughout the cerebral cortex

When a large combat unit, widely dispersed in dense jungle, goes to battle, no single soldier knows precisely how his actions are affecting the unit's success or failure. But in modern armies, every soldier is connected via an audio link that can instantly receive broadcasts - reporting both positive and negative surprises - based on new intelligence. The real-time broadcasts enable dispersed troops to learn from these reports and can be critical since no solider has an overview of the entire unit's situation.

28 Aug 2015

Consumers willing to pay 30% more for Fair Trade products, study finds

Products labeled with a Fair Trade logo cause prospective buyers to dig deeper into their pockets. In an experiment conducted at the University of Bonn, participants were willing to pay on average 30 percent more for ethically produced goods, compared to their conventionally produced counterparts.

28 Aug 2015

Aphantasia: A condition that describes people born with diminished visual imagery ability

If counting sheep is an abstract concept, or you are unable to visualise the faces of loved ones, you could have aphantasia - a newly defined condition to describe people who are born without a "mind's eye".

28 Aug 2015

Study shows how difficulty making good decisions can make certain people vulnerable to suicide

Not even close to every person who faces challenges or lives with severe depression commits suicide. Some people are more vulnerable than others.

27 Aug 2015

Study provides insight into how the ability to inhibit an action affects attention and memory

You're driving on a busy road and you intend to switch lanes when you suddenly realize that there's a car in your blind spot. You have to put a stop to your lane change -- and quickly. A new study by Duke University researchers suggests that this type of scenario makes a person less likely to remember what halted the action -- for example, the make and model of the car in the blind spot.

27 Aug 2015

Research reveals why older adults who undergo general anesthesia experience postoperative delirium

Newly published research from the Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine explains why up to half of older adults who undergo general anesthesia develop postoperative delirium - the sudden onset of confusion, aggression or agitated behavior that could progress to dementia. The findings indicate that older patients who are undergoing surgery may benefit from a less-potent, slower-acting anesthetic.

26 Aug 2015

Brief exposure to sudden sounds or mild trauma can form long-term memories

Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found how even brief exposure to sudden sounds or mild trauma can form permanent, long-term brain connections, or memories, in a specific region of the brain. Moreover, the research team, working with rats, says it was able to chemically stimulate those biological pathways in the locus coeruleus -- the area of the brain best known for releasing the "fight or flight" hormone noradrenaline -- to heighten and improve the animals' hearing.

25 Aug 2015

Repetitive sacral root magnetic stimulation can reduce frequency of nighttime bedwetting

Bedwetting, or nocturnal enuresis, causes distress in children and young adults, as well as for their parents or caregivers. The causes are not fully understood and there may be both physiological and psychological components to the condition. In a new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, researchers report that repetitive sacral root magnetic stimulation (rSMS) can reduce the frequency of nighttime bedwetting and improve quality-of-life for sufferers.

24 Aug 2015

Preference-based decisions become less stable when information flowing between brain regions gets disrupted

Some people find it difficult to make decisions. In a new study, neuroeconomists from the University of Zurich now reveal that the intensity of the communication between different regions of the brain dictates whether we are indecisive or not.

21 Aug 2015

Maltreated children experience more intense emotions than their peers

Children who have been abused or exposed to other types of trauma typically experience more intense emotions than their peers, a byproduct of living in volatile, dangerous environments.

21 Aug 2015

Temporary postnatal visual deprivation induces permanent auditory responses in the brain's visual area

A brief period of postnatal visual deprivation, when early in life, drives a rewiring of the brain areas involved in visual processing, even if the visual restoration is completed well before the baby reaches one year of age, researchers at the University of Trento, McMaster University, and the University of Montreal revealed today in Current Biology.

21 Aug 2015

Scientists discover special brain mechanism that can retrieve unconscious memories

Some stressful experiences - such as chronic childhood abuse - are so overwhelming and traumatic, the memories hide like a shadow in the brain.

18 Aug 2015

Scientists identify where the brain records time and place of real-life memories

For the first time, scientists have seen evidence of where the brain records the time and place of real-life memories. Results showed that the similarity of the brain activation patterns when memories were recalled was an indicator of the breadth of space and time between the actual events.

18 Aug 2015

Study uses fMRI scans to examine neural substrates of moral cognition in healthcare decision making

Areas of the brain associated with social and moral disgust are triggered when healthcare funding is split unequally, researchers from the UK and Australia have found.

18 Aug 2015

New research identifies cause of disruption in brain's communication channels linked to psychiatric disorders

New research has identified the mechanisms that trigger disruption in the brain's communication channels linked to symptoms in psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia. The University of Bristol study, published today [17 Aug] in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, could have important implications for treating symptoms of brain disorders.

18 Aug 2015

MGH papers reveal the way anesthetics affect brains of older patients and children

Recent Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigations into the neurobiology underlying the effects of general anesthesia have begun to reveal the ways different anesthetic agents alter specific aspects of the brain's electrical signals, reflected by EEG (electroencephalogram) signatures. While those studies have provided information that may lead to improved techniques for monitoring the consciousness of patients receiving general anesthesia, until now they have been conducted in relatively young adult patients.

14 Aug 2015

Researchers identify novel brain network that plays wide role in memory and learning processes

One of the more heartbreaking realities of Alzheimer's is the moment when a loved one struggling with the disease no longer fully recognizes a family member or close friend who is caring for them.

13 Aug 2015

Study sheds light on what motivates people to trust

Trust matters whether it's love, money or another part of our everyday lives that requires risk, and a new study by a Dartmouth brain researcher and his collaborators sheds light on what motivates people to make that leap of faith.

12 Aug 2015

Cortex News and Research

New way to understand how transcranial magnetic stimulation can give relief for severe depression

Study shows food craving may be hard-wired into the brain of overweight patients

Cholinergic neurons in basal forebrain broadcast message throughout the cerebral cortex

Consumers willing to pay 30% more for Fair Trade products, study finds

Aphantasia: A condition that describes people born with diminished visual imagery ability

Study shows how difficulty making good decisions can make certain people vulnerable to suicide

Study provides insight into how the ability to inhibit an action affects attention and memory

Research reveals why older adults who undergo general anesthesia experience postoperative delirium

Brief exposure to sudden sounds or mild trauma can form long-term memories

Repetitive sacral root magnetic stimulation can reduce frequency of nighttime bedwetting

Preference-based decisions become less stable when information flowing between brain regions gets disrupted

Maltreated children experience more intense emotions than their peers

Temporary postnatal visual deprivation induces permanent auditory responses in the brain's visual area

Scientists discover special brain mechanism that can retrieve unconscious memories

Scientists identify where the brain records time and place of real-life memories

Study uses fMRI scans to examine neural substrates of moral cognition in healthcare decision making

New research identifies cause of disruption in brain's communication channels linked to psychiatric disorders

MGH papers reveal the way anesthetics affect brains of older patients and children

Researchers identify novel brain network that plays wide role in memory and learning processes

Study sheds light on what motivates people to trust

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