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Breathing pattern may help predict 'when' people begin voluntary action

Have you ever gone ahead and eaten that piece of chocolate, despite yourself?

6 Feb 2020

Unique neuron that computes like a compass identified

It's 5 p.m. as you leave the parking garage at work, but you realize you have no idea which way to turn to travel home. You know where you are and what street your house is on--it's just that you can't remember how to get there.

5 Feb 2020

Sleep duration linked to cognitive and mental health in children

Depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior and poor cognitive performance in children is effected by the amount of sleep they have researchers from the University of Warwick have found.

4 Feb 2020

Study identifies brain and social factors underlying racial, ethnic disparities in pain

In her Social and Cultural Neuroscience Lab at the University of Miami, assistant professor of Psychology Elizabeth Losin investigates the mechanisms underlying racial and ethnic disparities related to pain and pain treatment.

3 Feb 2020

Regular aerobic exercise could enhance cognitive functions in adults at risk for Alzheimer’s

Individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) because of family history or genetic predisposition who engaged in six months of aerobic exercise training improved their brain glucose metabolism and higher-order thinking abilities (e.g., planning and mental flexibility) called executive function; these improvements occurred in conjunction with increased cardiorespiratory fitness.

3 Feb 2020

Reduced scar formation in the central nervous system

Neural stem and progenitor cells, from the so-called subventricular zone, can help to repair a brain damaged by central nervous system disorders.

3 Feb 2020

Researchers examine abnormal neuron activity in Rett syndrome

The brain undergoes dramatic change during the first years of life. Its circuits readily rewire as an infant and then child encounters new sights and sounds, taking in the world and learning to understand it. As the child matures and key developmental periods pass, the brain becomes less malleable--but certain experiences create opportunities for parts of the adult brain to rewire and learn again.

29 Jan 2020

Findings shed new light on how striatum processes information to plan, execute movements

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped how different nerve cells in the brain area striatum process information to plan and execute our movements at just the right time and with the right vigour. The results, presented in the journal Cell Reports, show that different cell types in the striatum receive signals from completely different parts of the cerebral cortex and thus respond to different types of information.

28 Jan 2020

Non-invasive electrostimulation of the vagus nerve improves memory in mice

Researchers at UPF are testing a new non-invasive method of stimulating the vagus nerve in mice that improves their memory.

28 Jan 2020

Sound and movement are processed simultaneously in the brain, mice study suggests

New insight on how information relating to sound and movement is processed in the brain has been published today in the open-access journal eLife.

28 Jan 2020

Prescription drug bumetanide could help treat autism

A new drug called bumetanide, which is used to treat edema, shows promise in treating some symptoms of autism in young children, while not showing significant adverse effects. The study was published in January 2020 in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

26 Jan 2020

A small region of the brain represents all our emotions

The entire set of our emotions is topographically represented in a small region of the brain, a 3 centimeters area of the cortex, report scientists in a study conducted at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy.

24 Jan 2020

Hot flashes associated with decreased verbal memory

If you're having difficulty identifying the right word to express yourself clearly or remembering a story correctly, you may blame menopause.

23 Jan 2020

Childhood adversity and violence exposure can alter the brain

Childhood adversity is a significant problem in the US, particularly for children growing up in poverty.

17 Jan 2020

Researchers identify how certain areas of the brain respond to ADHD drug

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is a neurobiological disorder characterized by symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity.

17 Jan 2020

Amblyopia treatment may need to be revised, research suggests

When University of California, Irvine neurobiologist Carey Y.L. Huh, Ph.D., set her sights on discovering more about amblyopia, she brought personal insight to her quest. As a child, Huh was diagnosed with the condition, which is often called "lazy eye."

17 Jan 2020

Brain parasite makes rodents unafraid of cats, other predators

Cats have the power to control the minds of rodents, through a brain parasite called Toxoplasma gondii. The pathogen exerts a strange mind control on rodents that make them lose their fear of cats and become easier to catch.

15 Jan 2020

Alcohol dependence results in remodeling of functional architecture in rodent’s brain

Employing advanced technologies that allow whole brain imaging at single-cell resolution, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that in an alcohol-dependent mouse model, the rodent brain's functional architecture is substantially remodeled.

14 Jan 2020

Protein SV2A levels could explain poor neuronal connections in schizophrenia

A team of researchers have found that persons with schizophrenia may have lower levels of certain specific proteins that show up on their brain scans. This could help as diagnostic tools, say experts. The new study titled, “Synaptic density marker SV2A is reduced in schizophrenia patients and unaffected by antipsychotics in rats”, is published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Communications.

14 Jan 2020

Overactivation of neuroimmune gene leads to schizophrenia-like changes in mice

Excessive activity of an immune system gene previously linked to schizophrenia reproduces neural and behavioral aspects of the disease in mice, according to a new study publishing on January 14 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Ashley Comer and Alberto Cruz-Martín of Boston University and colleagues.

14 Jan 2020