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Researchers discover reason why men outperform women on spatial tasks

Men consistently outperform women on spatial tasks, including mental rotation, which is the ability to identify how a 3-D object would appear if rotated in space.

17 Dec 2008

Cause found for abnormal muscle constrictions in dystonia

Dystonia is a neurological disorder characterized by involuntary abnormal muscle constrictions.

17 Dec 2008

Why seniors forget negative events

It turns out there's a scientific reason why older people tend to see the past through rose-coloured glasses.

16 Dec 2008

Numbing drugs can have profound and long-term negative effects

A large proteomics study on the brains of newborn mice provides more evidence that numbing drugs often used in obstetric or pediatric medicine can have profound and long-term negative effects, even after minimal exposure.

12 Dec 2008

Researchers find inherited genetic variation in nicotine addiction

A new study from the Abramson Cancer Center and Department of Psychiatry in the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine shows that smokers who carry a particular version of a gene for an enzyme that regulates dopamine in the brain may suffer from concentration problems and other cognitive deficits when abstaining from nicotine - a problem that puts them at risk for relapse during attempts to quit smoking.

10 Dec 2008

Researchers explore neural mechanisms behind responsibility and punishment

A new study reveals that humans use different neural mechanisms for determining criminal responsibility and assigning an appropriate punishment.

10 Dec 2008

Amblyopia treatment times could be drastically reduced

Amblyopia is thought to affect up to 2.5 per cent of people and accounts for around 90 per cent of all children's eye appointments in the UK. Occlusion therapy - patching the normal eye for lengthy periods to 'train' the affected eye - is the main treatment for amblyopia.

10 Dec 2008

New insights into cell division

Biologists have discovered a mechanism that is critical to cytokinesis -- nature's completion of mitosis, where a cell divides into two identical daughter cells.

5 Dec 2008

Stress-related disorders affect brain's processing of memory

Researchers using functional MRI (fMRI) have determined that the circuitry in the area of the brain responsible for suppressing memory is dysfunctional in patients suffering from stress-related psychiatric disorders.

3 Dec 2008

Robotic help for stroke patients

Research scientists using a novel, hand-operated robotic device and functional MRI (fMRI) have found that chronic stroke patients can be rehabilitated, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

3 Dec 2008

Brains of low-income children function differently from brains of high-income kids

University of California, Berkeley, researchers have shown for the first time that the brains of low-income children function differently from the brains of high-income kids.

3 Dec 2008

Breakthrough in strategy used to develop new pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia

In one of the first instances of targeted drug design in psychiatric treatment, University of Pittsburgh researchers have found an experimental agent that shows promise in addressing working memory impairments that occur in schizophrenia.

1 Dec 2008

Aging brain easily distracted

Canadian researchers have found more evidence that older adults aren't able to filter out distracting information as well as younger adults.

25 Nov 2008

Scientists discover that blocking a neuropeptide receptor decreases nicotine addiction

The study was published in an online Early Edition issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , the week of November 24.

24 Nov 2008

Neurons in adult brain can remodel their connections

In work reported in the Nov. 24 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) , Elly Nedivi, associate professor of neurobiology at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and colleagues found that a type of neuron implicated in autism spectrum disorders remodels itself in a strip of brain tissue only as thick as four sheets of tissue paper at the upper border of cortical layer 2.

24 Nov 2008

Neurotic individuals more comfortable with clear negative information than uncertainty

Some individuals would rather receive clear negative information than deal with ambiguity or uncertainty, according to new research out of the University of Toronto.

20 Nov 2008

Brain reorganizes to compensate for loss of vision

A new study from Georgia Tech shows that when patients with macular degeneration focus on using another part of their retina to compensate for their loss of central vision, their brain seems to compensate by reorganizing its neural connections.

20 Nov 2008

Cognitive training may benefit 'Baby Boomers'

Posit Science Corporation researcher, Dan Tinker, presented evidence at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Conference in Washington, DC this week indicating that cognitive training may benefit Baby Boomers.

19 Nov 2008

Computational model provides insight into function of brain's visual cortex

Computational neuroscientists at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a computational model that provides insight into the function of the brain's visual cortex and the information processing that enables people to perceive contours and surfaces, and understand what they see in the world around them.

19 Nov 2008