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Brain's motor cortex can directly turn down hearing

When we want to listen carefully to someone, the first thing we do is stop talking. The second thing we do is stop moving altogether. This strategy helps us hear better by preventing unwanted sounds generated by our own movements.

28 Aug 2014

Study provides neural explanation for why some skills are easier to learn than others

Learning is easier when it only requires nerve cells to rearrange existing patterns of activity than when the nerve cells have to generate new patterns, a study of monkeys has found. The scientists explored the brain's capacity to learn through recordings of electrical activity of brain cell networks.

27 Aug 2014

Unusual neural links between brainstem and injured cingulums following aneurysmal SAH

The cingulum is an important pathway for cholinergic innervation for the cerebral cortex. Many studies have reported connections between the cholinergic nuclei, especially between the cholinergic nuclei in the basal forebrain and those in the brainstem via the fornix and thalamus.

27 Aug 2014

Researchers show how neurons respond to sequences of familiar objects

The world grows increasingly more chaotic year after year, and our brains are constantly bombarded with images.

26 Aug 2014

Researchers endow mice with greater touch sensitivity by striking brain rhythm

By striking up the right rhythm in the right brain region at the right time, Brown University neuroscientists report in Nature Neuroscience that they managed to endow mice with greater touch sensitivity than other mice, making hard-to-perceive vibrations suddenly more vivid to them.

25 Aug 2014

Subcortical brain regions play key role in memorization process during sleep

According to researchers at the University of Montreal, the regions of the brain below the cortex play an important role as we train our bodies' movements and, critically, they interact more effectively after a night of sleep.

22 Aug 2014

People with ADHD often find difficult to make optimal decisions

Which shirt do we put on in the morning? Do we drive to work or take the train? From which takeaway joint do we want to buy lunch? We make hundreds of different decisions every day.

22 Aug 2014

Children and adolescents with autism have surplus of synapses in brain

Children and adolescents with autism have a surplus of synapses in the brain, and this excess is due to a slowdown in a normal brain "pruning" process during development, according to a study by neuroscientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC).

22 Aug 2014

Amygdala stimulates stress responses in adults, say researchers

In contrast to evidence that the amygdala stimulates stress responses in adults, researchers at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University have found that the amygdala has an inhibitory effect on stress hormones during the early development of nonhuman primates.

21 Aug 2014

Shuganjieyu capsule effectively reverses depressive by increasing neurotrophic factor

Shuganjieyu capsule has been approved for clinical treatment by the State Food and Drug Administration of China since 2008. In the clinic, Shuganjieyu capsule is often used to treat mild to moderate depression.

21 Aug 2014

Higher-fit children have more compact white-matter tracts in the brain than lower-fit peers

A new study of 9- and 10-year-olds finds that those who are more aerobically fit have more fibrous and compact white-matter tracts in the brain than their peers who are less fit. "White matter" describes the bundles of axons that carry nerve signals from one brain region to another. More compact white matter is associated with faster and more efficient nerve activity.

19 Aug 2014

Researchers uncover role of epigenetic changes in Alzheimer's disease

A team led by researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School and King's College London has uncovered some of the strongest evidence yet that epigenetic changes in the brain play a role in Alzheimer's disease.

19 Aug 2014

Study to explain how brain reorganizes itself as children learn math facts

As children learn basic arithmetic, they gradually switch from solving problems by counting on their fingers to pulling facts from memory. The shift comes more easily for some kids than for others, but no one knows why.

18 Aug 2014

Finding may explain why people with schizophrenia have difficulty achieving real-world goals

People with schizophrenia struggle to turn goals into actions because brain structures governing desire and emotion are less active and fail to pass goal-directed messages to cortical regions affecting human decision-making, new research reveals.

18 Aug 2014

NIH-funded study explores how thalamic reticular nucleus influences consciousness

Ever wonder why it's hard to focus after a bad night's sleep? Using mice and flashes of light, scientists show that just a few nerve cells in the brain may control the switch between internal thoughts and external distractions.

16 Aug 2014

Findings may help identify teens who are at risk for dangerous behaviors in the future

According to the CDC, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for adolescents. Compared to the two leading causes of death for all Americans, heart disease and cancer, a pattern of questionable decision-making in dire situations comes to light in teen mortality.

16 Aug 2014

Bioengineers create 3D brain-like tissue to study chemical and electrical changes

Bioengineers have created three-dimensional brain-like tissue that functions like and has structural features similar to tissue in the rat brain and that can be kept alive in the lab for more than two months.

12 Aug 2014

Schizophrenia-linked genetic variations and the developing brain: an interview with Prof. Guo-li Ming

How much is currently known about what happens in the developing brain that puts people at risk of schizophrenia?

11 Aug 2014

Study shows noticeable differences in brain function across the day for older adults

Older adults who are tested at their optimal time of day (the morning), not only perform better on demanding cognitive tasks but also activate the same brain networks responsible for paying attention and suppressing distraction as younger adults, according to Canadian researchers.

7 Aug 2014

UCSF researchers identify novel molecular features within the developing human brain

UC San Francisco researchers have identified cells' unique features within the developing human brain, using the latest technologies for analyzing gene activity in individual cells, and have demonstrated that large-scale cell surveys can be done much more efficiently and cheaply than was previously thought possible.

7 Aug 2014

Cortex News and Research

Brain's motor cortex can directly turn down hearing

Study provides neural explanation for why some skills are easier to learn than others

Unusual neural links between brainstem and injured cingulums following aneurysmal SAH

Researchers show how neurons respond to sequences of familiar objects

Researchers endow mice with greater touch sensitivity by striking brain rhythm

Subcortical brain regions play key role in memorization process during sleep

People with ADHD often find difficult to make optimal decisions

Children and adolescents with autism have surplus of synapses in brain

Amygdala stimulates stress responses in adults, say researchers

Shuganjieyu capsule effectively reverses depressive by increasing neurotrophic factor

Higher-fit children have more compact white-matter tracts in the brain than lower-fit peers

Researchers uncover role of epigenetic changes in Alzheimer's disease

Study to explain how brain reorganizes itself as children learn math facts

Finding may explain why people with schizophrenia have difficulty achieving real-world goals

NIH-funded study explores how thalamic reticular nucleus influences consciousness

Findings may help identify teens who are at risk for dangerous behaviors in the future

Bioengineers create 3D brain-like tissue to study chemical and electrical changes

Schizophrenia-linked genetic variations and the developing brain: an interview with Prof. Guo-li Ming

Study shows noticeable differences in brain function across the day for older adults

UCSF researchers identify novel molecular features within the developing human brain

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