Cortex News and Research

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For the first time, scientists watch neurons change in response to experience

Thanks to a new imaging system, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have gotten an unprecedented look into how genes shape the brain in response to the environment.

6 Aug 2006

Researchers identify earliest neuron in the embryonic human cerebral cortex

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the University of Oxford have identified the very first neurons in what develops into the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that makes humans human.

24 Jul 2006

Long term ibuprofen therapy given after brain injury worsens cognitive abilities

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that chronic ibuprofen therapy given after brain injury worsens cognitive abilities.

21 Jul 2006

Children of women who smoke during pregnancy can develop hearing problems

Scientists know that children of women who smoke during pregnancy can develop hearing-related cognitive deficits.

19 Jul 2006

Reading the words halitosis or jasmine activates the olfactory areas of the brain

There are words whose power to evoke sensations has become proverbial. Just hearing them brings to mind the image, sound or feeling of that little fragment of reality they refer to.

18 Jul 2006

Key deficiencies found in brains of people with autism

In a pair of groundbreaking studies, brain scientists at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have discovered that the anatomical differences that characterize the brains of people with autism are related to the way those brains process information.

13 Jul 2006

Researchers discover why brain areas fail to work together in autism

In people with autism, the brain areas that perform complex analysis appear less likely to work together during problem solving tasks than in people who do not have the disorder, report researchers working in a network funded by the National Institutes of Health.

12 Jul 2006

People with Parkinson disease can be apathetic without being depressed

People with Parkinson disease can be apathetic without being depressed, and apathy may be a core feature of the disease.

10 Jul 2006

Faulty molecule closely linked to Alzheimer's

A recent study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine identifies a faulty molecule in the brain found in cases of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

10 Jul 2006

How the brain rewires after lesions

Scientists from Bochum investigate the reorganizational capacity of the adult brain.

3 Jul 2006

Cell phones excite the brain but is that good or bad?

According to a new study the electromagnetic fields from cell phones excite the brain cortex adjacent to it and that possibly has implications for individuals with epilepsy, or other neurological conditions.

27 Jun 2006

Study shows how ADHD drugs Adderall, Ritalin and Dexedrine work in brain

Although millions depend on medications such as Ritalin to quell symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), scientists have struggled to pinpoint how the drugs work in the brain.

27 Jun 2006

Mild cognitive impairment: Evaluation with 4-T functional MR imaging

Memory loss associated with early Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be linked to altered activity in several areas of the brain, according to a study in the July issue of Radiology.

27 Jun 2006

Altered activity in receptor pair points to further complexity in schizophrenia pathology

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in collaboration with scientists at the City University of New York, have identified a striking dysregulation in neuronal receptor activity in the postmortem brain tissue from patients with schizophrenia.

18 Jun 2006

Resolution of uncertainty in prefrontal cortex

Whether finding your way through an unfamiliar neighborhood to a friend's house or deciding on a political candidate, your brain is adept at adapting.

9 Jun 2006

A core system for the implementation of task sets

Scientists have used data from scans of 183 subjects to identify brain areas that consistently become active in a variety of cognitive tasks, such as reading, learning a rhythm or analyzing a picture.

7 Jun 2006

Hyperscanning - a new approach to studying social interactions

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have mapped not only where trust forms in the brain but have also uncovered clues as to how humans represent themselves and others as physical responses in their brains.

7 Jun 2006

Activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex reflects multiple steps of future events in action plans

Studies in which monkeys were asked to manipulate computer cursors for fruit juice rewards have revealed that the brain's "executive" center plans behaviors not by specifying movements required for given actions, but rather the events that will result from those actions.

6 Jun 2006

Bipolar disorder causes children to misinterpret facial expressions

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered why children with bipolar disorder tend to be more aggressive and irritable and have poorer social skills than healthy children.

31 May 2006

Simple lifestyle changes may improve cognitive function and brain efficiency

A UCLA research study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry found that people may be able to improve their cognitive function and brain efficiency by making simple lifestyle changes such as incorporating memory exercises, healthy eating, physical fitness and stress reduction into their daily lives.

23 May 2006