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Researchers to unravel how brain makes everyday prognostications

Every day we make thousands of tiny predictions - when the bus will arrive, who is knocking on the door, whether the dropped glass will break. Now, in one of the first studies of its kind, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are beginning to unravel the process by which the brain makes these everyday prognostications.

18 Aug 2011

Patients with MTBI exhibit abnormal functional connectivity in the thalamus

A new study has found that patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) exhibit abnormal functional connectivity in the thalamus, a centrally located relay station for transmitting information throughout the brain.

26 Jul 2011

Drugs targeting specific brain region could help people with schizophrenia manage daily life, study shows

A new study has identified the neural mechanism that hinders reward identification and decision-making in people suffering from schizophrenia, highlighting the need for more effective drug therapies to help people with the disease manage their daily lives.

25 Jul 2011

Researchers identify biomarker for familial risk of autism

Siblings of people with autism show a similar pattern of brain activity to that seen in people with autism when looking at emotional facial expressions. The University of Cambridge researchers identified the reduced activity in a part of the brain associated with empathy and argue it may be a 'biomarker' for a familial risk of autism.

13 Jul 2011

Gut hormone reduces willingness to pay for non-food items

Research to be presented at the upcoming annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, suggests that ghrelin, a naturally occurring gut hormone, increases our willingness to pay for food, while simultaneously decreasing our willingness to pay for non-food items.

12 Jul 2011

Study reveals unique pattern of brain activity when false memories are formed

How easy is it to falsify memory? New research at the Weizmann Institute shows that a bit of social pressure may be all that is needed. The study, which appears Friday in Science, reveals a unique pattern of brain activity when false memories are formed - one that hints at a surprising connection between our social selves and memory.

1 Jul 2011

GUMC neuroscientists: Speech perception must have evolved from animals

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) have defined, for the first time, three different processing stages that a human brain needs to identify sounds such as speech - and discovered that they are the same as ones identified in non-human primates.

23 Jun 2011

Groundbreaking study identifies neural system responsible for facial recognition

Each time you see a person that you know, your brain rapidly and seemingly effortlessly recognizes that person by his or her face.

1 Jun 2011

Functional MRI acquired during speech stimulation predicts children with autism

Functional magnetic resonance imaging may provide an early and objective indicator of autism, according to researchers at Columbia University in New York City, who used the technique to document language impairment in autistic children.

31 May 2011

Patients with body dysmorphic disorder have less brain activity in visual processing

People suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, or BDD - a severe mental illness characterized by debilitating misperceptions that one appears disfigured and ugly - process visual information abnormally, even when looking at inanimate objects, according to a new UCLA study.

27 May 2011

Research experts to speak at brain tumor educational conference

Patients, families and caregivers are invited to attend an educational conference covering many aspects of brain tumors May 14 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

5 May 2011

Pediatric urology research papers published in two Elsevier journals

The first World Congress of Pediatric Urology was held in San Francisco in May 2010, bringing together the largest and most successful international congregation of pediatric urologists ever assembled. As part of a collaborative effort, The Journal of Urology and the Journal of Pediatric Urology have together published the landmark papers presented at this meeting.

2 May 2011

Mindfulness meditation may help make decisions rationally rather than emotionally

If a friend or relative won $100 and then offered you a few dollars, would you accept this windfall? The logical answer would seem to be, sure, why not? "But human decision making does not always appear rational," said Read Montague, professor of physics at Virginia Tech and director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.

21 Apr 2011

Flexibility of the brain can predict learning capability

An international team of scientists has developed a way to predict how much a person can learn, based on studies at UC Santa Barbara's Brain Imaging Center.

20 Apr 2011

Scientists to discuss innovative technologies at UMDNJ Symposium

Advances in technology have accelerated the effectiveness of scientific and medical research, producing rapid advances that were unthinkable even a decade ago. At its Third Annual Inter-School Technology Symposium, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey will bring together scientists from throughout the University who are at the forefront of this revolution.

11 Apr 2011

Study: Amygdala plays a key role in long-term memories

When we suddenly get the answer to a riddle or understand the solution to a problem, we can practically feel the light bulb click on in our head. But what happens after the 'Aha!' moment? Why do the things we learn through sudden insight tend to stick in our memory?

1 Apr 2011

Seat of emotion in the brain critical for creating long-term memories

1 Apr 2011

Research links giftedness to prenatal exposure of testosterone

A longstanding debate as to whether genius is a byproduct of good genes or good environment has an upstart challenger that may take the discussion in an entirely new direction. University of Alberta researcher Marty Mrazik says being bright may be due to an excess level of a natural hormone.

14 Mar 2011

Researcher launches new DBS clinical trial to pinpoint brain activity in depressed people

A top medical researcher at Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, has launched a clinical trial to pinpoint brain activity in depressed people by using scientifically designed sad and heartrending photos and music.

10 Mar 2011

Brain reacts differently to fructose compared with another common sweetener, glucose

The dietary concerns of too much fructose is well documented. High-fructose corn syrup has become the sweetener most commonly added to processed foods. Many dietary experts believe this increase directly correlates to the nation's growing obesity epidemic. Now, new research at Oregon Health & Science University demonstrates that the brain - which serves as a master control for body weight - reacts differently to fructose compared with another common sweetener, glucose.

10 Feb 2011