A brain circuit that suppresses distracting sensory information holds important clues about attention and other cognitive processes. We can pick out a conversation in a loud room, amid the rise and fall of other voices or the hum of an air conditioner. We can spot a set of keys in a sea of clutter, or...
Tag: <span>neuroscience</span>
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Discovery concerning the nervous system overturns a previous theory
It appears that when our nervous system is developing, only the most viable neurons survive, while immature neurons are weeded out and die. This is shown in a ground-breaking discovery by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. The results indicate that the long-standing neurotrophic theory, which states that chance determines which cells will form the...
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Researchers investigate how the brain changes with different learning experiences
Posted Today A new collaboration with an independent school in Menlo Park, Calif., is helping Stanford researchers better understand how different learning experiences drive changes in the brain. The Brainwave Learning Center at Synapse School brings together researchers, teachers and students to gain new insights into how young learners’ brains transform as they acquire new...
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How Parents Can Get Kids with ADHD Prepared to Start School
A new study found that children with ADHD are less likely to be ready to start kindergarten. Parents can take steps to prepare their children for school and ease them through the transition. For some children, waiting an extra year before starting kindergarten can help. Many preschoolers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) — or symptoms of it — are much less likely than their...
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AHA news: Here’s why stroke survivors need to pay attention to bone health
People who have had a stroke, and the doctors who treat them, have a lot to be concerned about: regaining mobility and function, controlling risk factors for a second stroke, guarding against depression that can result from a newly limited life. There’s another potential consequence not on everyone’s list: osteoporosis. “We don’t know as much...
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Virtual reality experiences may help treat severe pain
by Public Library of Science Therapeutic virtual reality can be used to reduce severe pain in hospitalized patients, according to a study published August 14, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Brennan Spiegel of Cedars-Sinai Health System, USA, and colleagues. Therapeutic virtual reality (VR) is emerging as an effective, non-pharmacological treatment modality for...
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When a fix for one vision problem causes another
by University of Pennsylvania As we age, our eyes lose their ability to focus up close. It’s a condition called presbyopia, and it’s both extremely common and relatively easy to fix, with solutions like reading glasses, bifocals, or progressive lenses. Another common correction, called monovision, solves the problem with different lenses in each eye, one that focuses nearby, the other that focuses...
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8 Questions to Ask Someone Other Than “What Do You Do?”
If the conversation starts with work, it will likely end with work. And there’s so much more to learn about a person. We’ve all been in the awkward situation of meeting someone new and having to build rapport quickly — at networking events, industry conferences, charity events, dinner parties, and other social-professional situations. If you’re...
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Study finds electronic cigarettes damage brain stem cells
UC Riverside research on mouse neural stem cells has implications for nicotine use UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – RIVERSIDE RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A research team at the University of California, Riverside, has found that electronic cigarettes, often targeted to youth and pregnant women, produce a stress response in neural stem cells, which are critical cells in the brain. Present throughout life, stem cells become specialized cells with more specific functions, such...
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Virtual reality takes a leap into taste
by Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown A fly hasn’t eaten for an entire day, and it’s starving. It finds a pile of edible gelatinous goo and begins eating, when a green light appears, and the food, which was far from delicious a moment ago, becomes irresistibly sweet. The fly, excited by the sudden improvement, eats...