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Brain imaging expertise supports new discoveries on decision-making process
Research carried out by a University academic has shed new light on the fundamentals of how, and why, we make the decisions we do. In two separate studies, UKRI Future Leader Fellow and Lecturer in Psychology, Dr Elsa Fouragnan has used her expertise in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and computational analysis to discover exactly […]
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Study of Siblings Finds Moderate Cannabis Use Impacts Cognitive Functioning
A new study led by researchers from the University of Colorado School of Medicine compares adolescent siblings to determine the impact of early and frequent use of marijuana on cognitive function. This study, published in the journal Addiction, contrasts with previous studies by finding that moderate adolescent cannabis use may have adverse effects that cannot […]
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UAB study targets gene associated with Alzheimer’s disease
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are on the track of a gene that might play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The research team is studying a gene called BIN1, which was first linked to Alzheimer’s disease in 2009.
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Offspring of mice fed imbalanced diets shown to be neurologically ‘programmed’ for obesity
Pregnant mice fed a diet high in omega-6 fats and low in omega-3 fats produce offspring that go on to exhibit “hedonic”–pleasurable but excessive–levels of consumption of hyper-caloric diets, according to researchers at Hiroshima University.
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Time and brain size – of mice and men
The neocortex, the largest part of our brain, enables us to speak, dream and think. During human evolution, the size of the neocortex has increased dramatically. To understand what caused this expansion, researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden have focused in previous studies on a gene […]
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Is consciousness continuous or discrete? Maybe it’s both, argue researchers
Two major theories have fueled a now 1,500 year-long debate started by Saint Augustine: Is consciousness continuous, where we are conscious at each single point in time, or is it discrete, where we are conscious only at certain moments of time? In an Opinion published September 3 in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, psychophysicists […]
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Schizophrenia: Nurture cannot overcome nature
In the great nature vs. nurture debate, nature just got a win. UCI research led by Amal Alachkar found that too much of a certain amino acid in utero caused schizophrenia in mice despite the quality of postpartum caregiving – and the study suggests that the same would be true with humans.
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When Doing Good Boosts Health, Well-Being
Performing acts of kindness and helping other people can be good for people’s health and well-being, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. But not all good-hearted behavior is equally beneficial to the giver. The strength of the link depends on many factors, including the type of kindness, the definition of well-being, and […]
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New era in brain monitoring technology could improve diagnosis of epilepsy and lead to personalized treatment options
Today, the way a physician gets an idea of how many seizures a person with epilepsy has had is through the patient’s own record of seizure activity in his day-to-day life. Despite all the technological advances in devices monitoring the human body, a patient’s seizure diary, as it is often called, remains the only means […]
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Warning witnesses of the possibility of misinformation helps protect their memory accuracy
Warning witnesses about the threat of misinformation—before or after an event—significantly reduces the negative impact of misinformation on memory, according to new research performed at Tufts University.