Neuroscience

Why Some People Have Trouble Telling Left From Right

Do you ever have trouble telling right from left? For example, you’re taking a driving lesson and the instructor asks you to take a left turn and you pause, struggling to think of which way is left. If so, you’re not on your own – a significant proportion ...

Article - The Conversation - Mar 25 2015 - 7:30am

Holistically Tuned- The Brain Sees Words As Pictures, Not A Series Of Letters

When we look at a known word, our brain sees it more like a picture than a series of letters needing to be processed, according to a new paper in the Journal of Neuroscience. Neurons respond differently to real words, such as turf, than to nonsense words, ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 24 2015 - 4:40pm

Intellectually Gifted Kids And Learning Disabilities Often Go Hand In Hand

Mention the terms “intellectual giftedness” and “learning disability” and there is a general understanding of what each term means. However, most people are unaware that in many circumstances the two can go hand in hand. Current US research suggests that ...

Article - The Conversation - Mar 25 2015 - 3:00am

How The Brain Remembers Pain- And How To Artifically Relieve It

Chronic pain is a common complaint affecting millions of people worldwide. Because it is often a non-specific symptom, proper treatment strategies are more like 'keep doing things until something works'. A new study has identified a cellular mech ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 26 2015 - 5:40pm

Brain Evolution And Music: Playing Activates Genes In Humans And Songbirds

Music perception is well preserved in human evolution but the specific biological determinants of music practice are largely unknown. A study of professional musicians found enhanced activity of genes involved in dopaminergic neurotransmission, motor beha ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 27 2015 - 9:19am

Learning In Action: 'Lightning Bolts' In The Brain Imaged

Researchers have captured images of the underlying biological activity within brain cells and their tree-like extensions, or dendrites, in mice that show how their brains sort, store and make sense out of information during learning.  In a new study, neuro ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 30 2015 - 11:19am

Surprise Them And Babies Learn Better

If you want babies to learn faster, forget those "Baby Einstein" videos and defy their expectations a little. A new study has found  that babies learn new things by leveraging the core information they are born with. When something surprises a b ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 1:00pm

Caffeine May Treat Or Even Prevent Alzheimer's Disease

A new study suggests a possible role for caffeine treatment Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment, by showing a link between caffeine and reductions in the beta amyloid plaque accumulation characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. The latest evidence ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2015 - 9:19am

The Brain Belly Connection In Weight Regulation

The little voice inside your head telling you to eat that whole bag of Doritos is actually a cluster of about 10,000 specialized brain cells. But there may be help in eating just one- the discovery of tiny 'triggers' inside those cells that give ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 1:35pm

Mitochondria Mutation Linked To Human Parkinson's Disease For First Time

A new study using stem cells derived from patients who have  Parkinson's disease (PD) has confirmed for the first time what scientists have long suspected- that the most common mutation linked to both sporadic and familial Parkinson's disease (PD ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2015 - 1:11pm