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Researchers identifiy brain circuit that appears crucial in converting short-term memories into long-term memories

The circuit links the major learning-related area of the brain to another region that governs the brain's higher functions.

6 Oct 2004

Portion of the brain devoted to vision may play a prominent role in processing the spoken word in blind people

The findings yield important information about the brain's ability to compensate for lost function. The study appears in the October 3, 2004 online issue of Nature Neuroscience1 and in the journal's November issue.

4 Oct 2004

What you see is not always what you get with binocular rivalry

It is common to say 'I can't believe my eyes' when surprised by what we see. Recent scientific evidence suggests that we have a right to be sceptical and that what we see depends in no small part on what we expect to see.

26 Sep 2004

Immunoglobulins may help patients with Alzheimer’s

Immunoglobulins which are already being used to treat multiple sclerosis may also be able to help patients with Alzheimer’s. This, at least, is the finding of a pilot study on five patients at the University of Bonn.

20 Sep 2004

Researchers get a grip on marijuana

Now researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine are a step closer to understanding how the drug's active ingredients - tetrahydrocannabinol and related compounds, called cannabinoids - may exert their effects.

16 Sep 2004

New research into stimulus-related ear differences from birth may provide improved methods for newborn hearing tests

Researchers have known since the 1950s that humans process speech and tone sounds in different sides of the brain.

10 Sep 2004

Gray matter in brain associated with language processing among people with a family history of dyslexia

Italian researchers have observed significant reductions of gray matter volume in areas of the brain associated with language processing among people with a family history of dyslexia in comparison with controls with no reading problems.

24 Aug 2004

Relationship between brain chemical messenger glutamate and schizophrenia traits

Researchers at the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have identified a relationship between a small section of one gene, the brain chemical messenger glutamate, and a collection of traits known to be associated with schizophrenia.

15 Aug 2004

Gene responsible for management of glutamate is a promising candidate in determining risk for schizophrenia

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health have identified a relationship between a small section of one gene, the brain chemical messenger glutamate, and a collection of traits known to be associated with schizophrenia.

11 Aug 2004

Scientists have turned procrastinating primates into workaholics by temporarily suppressing a gene in a brain circuit involved in reward learning

Using a new molecular genetic technique, scientists have turned procrastinating primates into workaholics by temporarily suppressing a gene in a brain circuit involved in reward learning. Without the gene, the monkeys lost their sense of balance between reward and the work required to get it, say researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health .

11 Aug 2004

Scientists have tricked subjects in an experiment into believing that a rubber hand was part of their own body

The findings about the brain’s awareness of its own body will hopefully lead to better understanding of disorders of self-perception, as for example in brain-damaged patients who no longer recognise their own limbs after stroke, or amputees who still experience pain from limbs that are no longer there.

10 Aug 2004

Premature babies grow up to have a portion of the brain smaller than normal

Kids on a playground can be hard to tell apart. But those who were born significantly preterm may be struggling with a hidden handicap that sets them apart from their peers: specific areas of the brain that are smaller than normal, even years later.

9 Aug 2004

Overactive brain circuit brings on depression

A brain imaging study by the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found that an emotion-regulating brain circuit is overactive in people prone to depression – even when they are not depressed.

5 Aug 2004

New hereditary spastic paraplegia research

In work reported this week, researchers have taken our understanding of HSP to a new level with the development of an animal model for the disease.

13 Jul 2004

Study shows that in older age, myelin insulation breaks down, resulting in a decline in the speed and efficiency of our brain

UCLA neuroscientists using a new MRI analysis technique to examine myelin sheaths that insulate the brain's wiring report that as people age, neural connections that develop last degenerate first.

12 Jul 2004

Having a good time can strengthen different centres in the brain and help it grow healthy brain cells

Dr Ian Reid, professor of mental health at the University of Aberdeen, told delegates that for many years psychiatrists believed that poor mental health was just caused by imbalances in various brain chemicals.

10 Jul 2004

Prosthetic devices operated by brain activity

In the July 9 issue of the journal Science, California Institute of Technology neuroscientists Sam Musallam, Brian Corneil, Bradley Greger, Hans Scherberger, and Richard Andersen report on the Andersen lab's success in getting monkeys to move the cursor on a computer screen by merely thinking about a goal they would like to achieve, and assigning a value to the goal.

8 Jul 2004