10/29/2009 - 3:49pm

Sometimes, Sugar Might Be Good For You

We all know by now that sugar is generally not a good thing for our bodies- empty calories, diabetes, bad for your teeth- there is not much to be said for sugar...until now.

Prof. Roy Baumeister, in his psychology lab at Florida State University in Tallahassee, asked subjects to perform a mentally taxing task (watching video while being careful to ignore random words scrolling across the bottom of the screen).

10/28/2009 - 3:42pm

Brain Training May Help The Blind-Sighted To See

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research have found that brain training may help people who are blind due to injury to the brain region responsible for vision, gain some vision.

Patients whose primary visual cortex has been damaged through a stroke or trauma cannot consciously see, but at some level their brains are still processing their visual environment. Through brain training, these patients may regain some conscious awareness of what their minds can see.

10/28/2009 - 3:15pm

Scientists Find How Brains Keep Track of Time

Keeping track of time and remembering things that happened in the past is one of the brain’s most important functions. A recent study has identified the neurons in primate brains that code time.

Neuroscientists have theorized that the brain “time stamps” events as they happen, allowing us to keep track of where we are and when past events occurred. Scientists were not able to find evidence that such time stamps existed. But a study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has now found that missing evidence.

10/27/2009 - 12:08pm

Scientists Find Way to Reverse Insomnia-Induced Cognitive Impairment

Sleep deprivation affects cognitive function and learning and memory are the cognitive functions most affected by lack of sleep. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a molecular pathway in the brain that causes the cognitive impairment due to insomnia. They have also found that by reducing the concentration of a specific enzyme that builds up in the hippocampus, they can reduce the inability to focus, learn or memorize that is symptomatic of sleep deprivation.

10/26/2009 - 9:38am

Music and the Brain

Several interesting studies about Music and the Brain were presented at the 158th Acoustical Society of America meeting that was held in San Antonio in October.

Music Can Train the Brain

One study of the brain’s electrical and magnetic signals showed that musical training changes the auditory cortex-the part of the brain where the processing of sound takes place.

10/05/2009 - 2:53pm

Surrealism for Sharper Thinking

Psychologists at the University of California in Santa Barbara and the University of British Columbia have shown that when subjects are exposed to surrealistic stories the cognitive mechanisms involved in learning are enhanced.

10/05/2009 - 2:47pm

NFL Players Have a Higher Risk for Alzheimer's

 A study by the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, that was commissioned by the National Football League has found that NFL players are 19 times more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or other memory-related diseases than the rest of the population.

Hundreds of on field concussions happen every week in high school, college and pro games. Many of these concussions go undiagnosed and untreated. The brain trauma associated with the concussions may be a contributing factor to the high rate of memory-related diseases.

09/24/2009 - 11:52am

Chemotherapy Affects More Than Memory

Although chemotherapy saves the lives of millions of cancer patients each year, it takes a significant toll on the cognitive function and emotional lives of the survivors.

09/17/2009 - 1:58pm

Do Brains Shrink With Age?

Many scientists believed that as we age, our brains get smaller. But a new study has shown that “healthy” brains  show very little deterioration and that only when people experience cognitive decline is there significant shrinking of their brains.

The study was conducted at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and its results suggest that studies done until now simply did not exclude people who were already experiencing cognitive decline.

09/17/2009 - 11:40am

Some Exercises Better Than Others For Your Brain

Research with laboratory mice in Taiwan has shed some interesting light on the link between exercise and improved brain function.

It seems mice that were allowed to do their usual exercise of running around their rodent wheels as much as possible, improved their brain function. But a second group of mice that were pushed harder on a mini-treadmill at a speed and duration controlled by the scientists, out-performed their lab mates in cognitive performance.