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Severe trauma affects kids' brain function

The first study to examine brain activity patterns in severely traumatized children showed their brains function differently than those of healthy children, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

27 Jul 2007

Women more prone to brain damage from alcohol abuse than men

Alcoholism has traditionally been considered a male disease because there are many more alcoholic males than females.

27 Jul 2007

Study links brain anatomy to the ability to learn a second language in adulthood

Think you haven't got the aptitude to learn a foreign language, New research led by Northwestern University neuroscientists suggests that the problem, quite literally, could be in your head.

26 Jul 2007

Resisting peer pressure all in the brain

The capacity to resist peer pressure in early adolescence may depend on the strength of connections between certain areas of the brain, according to a study carried out by University of Nottingham researchers.

26 Jul 2007

Research sheds light on synesthesia

In the psychological phenomenon known as 'synesthesia', individuals sensory systems are a bit more intertwined than usual.

25 Jul 2007

Prenatal alcohol exposure alters brain activity in the frontal-striatal areas

Heavy prenatal alcohol exposure does not always lead to fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS); sometimes it can lead to cognitive and behavioral deficits in the absence of craniofacial features needed to make an FAS diagnosis.

25 Jul 2007

New evidence for the existence of accumulator neurons

As any child knows, to answer the question, how many? one must start by adding up individual objects in a group.

24 Jul 2007

Cochlear implants reorganize brain's hearing center

Cochlear implants electronic devices inserted surgically in the ear to allow deaf people to hear may restore normal auditory pathways in the brain even after many years of deafness.

24 Jul 2007

People with writer's cramp have less grey matter in three areas of the brain

People with serious cases of writer's cramp have brain abnormalities, according to a study published in the July 24, 2007, issue of Neurology ®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

24 Jul 2007

RNA essential for survival of mature neurons

There are lots of things that brain cells need to survive. Add to that list microRNAs.

19 Jul 2007

Potential dangers of Ritalin

Use of the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) drug Ritalin by young children may cause long-term changes in the developing brain, suggests a new study of very young rats by a research team at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.

18 Jul 2007

Role prefrontal cortex plays in memory

A research with experimental rats carried out by the Institute of Neuroscience of the UAB describes the brain region connected to how our declarative memory functions.

18 Jul 2007

Study identifies areas of the brain involved in alien hand syndrome

Alien hand syndrome (AHS) is a rare neurological disorder that causes hand movement without the person being aware of what is happening or having control over the action.

18 Jul 2007

Children with Tourette's better at mental grammar skills

Children with Tourette's syndrome may have to put up with some unwanted movement and verbal tics, but neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center and the Kennedy Krieger Institute have found that they are much quicker at processing certain mental grammar skills than are children without the disorder.

16 Jul 2007

Emotional memories can be suppressed with practice

A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows people have the ability to suppress emotional memories with practice, which has implications for those suffering from conditions ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to depression.

13 Jul 2007

Scientists identify two brain networks in Parkinson's

The disease that causes tremors, rigidity and slowed movements in a million Americans also targets another brain network that regulates cognitive thought and the ability to carry out everyday tasks.

10 Jul 2007

The brain predicts our perception of the outside world

The human brain anticipates our perception of the outside world. For example, it is capable of predicting if we are going to perceive tactile stimulation of weak intensity or, on the contrary, if a more intense stimulation will be perceived more or less painfully.

9 Jul 2007

Researchers pinpoint brain region responsible for pain's ability to affect cognitive processing

Anybody who's tried to concentrate on work while suffering a headache knows that pain compellingly commands attention,which is how evolution helped ensure survival in a painful world.

9 Jul 2007

Training autistic brains to recognize visual and vocal cues

To understand the meaning of a conversation, kids automatically do what adults do - besides processing the meaning of words, they unconsciously "read" the expression on a person's face and listen to their tone of voice, then integrate that information with the context at hand to discern meaning, be it humor, anger, irony or straightforwardness.

28 Jun 2007

Tinnitus retraining therapy

It is estimated that between 10 and 17% of the population has suffered tinnitus at some time in their lives, according to a number of international studies.

27 Jun 2007