‘Now we know where to target people’s brains to attempt to improve their speech’ NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CHICAGO — For the first time, Northwestern Medicine scientists have pinpointed the location of dysfunctional brain networks that lead to impaired sentence production and word finding in primary progressive aphasia (PPA), a form of dementia in which patients often...
Tag: <span>Brain activity</span>
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The Benefits of Playing Music Help Your Brain More Than Any Other Activity
Learning an instrument increases resilience to any age-related decline in hearing. Inc. | John Rampton Brain training is big business. Companies like BrainHQ, Lumosity, and Cogmed are part of a multimillion-dollar business that is expected to surpass $3 billion by 2020. But does what they offer actually benefit your brain? Researchers don’t believe so. In fact, the University...
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Study reveals differences in brain activity in children with anhedonia
Researchers have identified changes in brain connectivity and brain activity during rest and reward anticipation in children with anhedonia, a condition where people lose interest and pleasure in activities they used to enjoy. The study, by scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, sheds light on...
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Brain activity predicts fear of pain
Neuroscientific approach may help reconcile self-reported emotions and their neural underpinnings SOCIETY FOR NEUROSCIENCE Researchers applied a machine learning technique that could potentially translate patterns of activity in fear-processing brain regions into scores on questionnaires used to assess a patient’s fear of pain. This neuroscientific approach, reported in eNeuro, may help reconcile self-reported emotions and their...
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Music improves social communication in autistic children
Engaging in musical activities such as singing and playing instruments in one-on-one therapy can improve autistic children’s social communication skills, improve their family’s quality of life, as well as increase brain connectivity in key networks, according to researchers at Université de Montréal and McGill University. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The link between autism spectrum disorder...
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Memory ‘brainwaves’ look the same in sleep and wakefulness
Identical brain mechanisms are responsible for triggering a memory in both sleep and wakefulness, new research at the University of Birmingham has shown. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The study sheds new light on the processes used by the brain to ‘reactivate’ memories during sleep, consolidating them so they can be retrieved later. Although the importance...
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Brain activity can predict success of depression treatment
McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers believe they have uncovered a method that could be useful in predicting a depressed patient’s treatment prognosis, prior to starting treatment. In the paper “Pretreatment Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex Activity in Relation to Symptom Improvement in Depression: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” currently available online and scheduled to appear...
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Mind-controlled hearing aids filter out background noise by tracking the wearer’s brain activity
The technology allows the user to focus on just a single strand of conversation Monitors the user’s brain activity to determine a ‘main’ voice, which is amplified According to the researchers, this process takes approximately 10 seconds Current hearing aids are unable to determine the person who is being listened to Previous research reveals more...
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Discovery of brain-like activity in immune system promises better disease treatments
The Australian National University (ANU) has led the discovery of brain-like activity in the immune system that promises better treatments for lymphoma, autoimmune diseases and immunodeficiency disorders, which collectively affect millions of people globally. Lead researcher Ilenia Papa from ANU said the research confirmed for the first time that human immune cells contain particles that...
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When our world turns ‘upside-down,’ serotonin helps us deal with it
Serotonin, one of the major chemical messengers serving neuronal communication, is usually associated with the direct regulation of affective states and mood in general. But growing evidence suggests that one of the core functions of this neurotransmitter may be to facilitate our adaptation to changes in the world around us – which, in turn, may...