November 17, 2010
New Paths To Treating Depression Suggested By Animal Studies
New animal research has identified factors, such as the stress response and immune system, that may play important roles in depression. Scientists have also found that the regulation of nerve cell signals influences depression in animals, and that new drug combinations may more effectively treat it...
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How Parental Concerns Could Increase The Size Of Our Creative Brains
Evidence from Disneyland suggests that human creativity may have evolved not in response to sexual selection as some scientists believe but as a way to help parents bond with their children and to pass on traditions and cultural knowledge, a new study published in the inaugural issue of the International Journal of Tourism Anthropology suggests...
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Adolescents at risk for alcohol abuse show decreased brain activation
Adolescence is a time of immense change in the brain, but unfortunately, it is also the time where many youths begin drinking. New research shows that individuals with a positive family history for alcohol abuse are at significantly higher risk to develop alcoholism in the future.
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Impulsive behavior in males increases after periods of heavy drinking
Alcohol is known to cause an increase in impulsive behavior in individuals, which can not only be dangerous for themselves, but for others as well. A new study on adolescent males indicate that risky behavior may actually increases over time after periods of heavy drinking.
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Brain tissue loss in people with Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment
People with Alzheimer's disease exhibit striking structural changes in the caudate nucleus, a brain structure typically associated with movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, a new study has found.
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Newly identified brain pathways vital to understanding language
A complex network of brain connections necessary for language comprehension has been mapped in new detail, according to recent research. These newly charted pathways will help scientists understand how language is processed in the brain, and how brain injuries disrupt the system.
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Listeners’ brains respond more to native accent speakers; Imaging study suggests accents are subtle ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’ signal to the brain
The brains of Scots responded differently when they listened to speakers with Scottish accents than to speakers with American or British accents, a new study has found. Understanding how our brains respond to other accents may explain one way in which people have an unconscious bias against outsiders.
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Eyeblink conditioning may help in assessing children with fetal alcohol exposure
Children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) are extremely difficult to diagnose, as well as treat. But, new research indicates that eyeblink conditioning may provide a better model for assessing and diagnosing FAS in children.
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What you see changes where you hear: Exposure to light for only milliseconds alters perceived source of sound
New research shows that the perceived location of a noise depends in part on the sights noticed before the sound. The results have implications for the development of hearing aids and rehabilitation from brain injury.
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Important brain area organized by color and orientation
A brain area known to play a critical role in vision is divided into compartments that respond separately to different colors and orientations, researchers have discovered. The findings have important implications for furthering our understanding of perception and attention.
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