Latest Prefrontal cortex Stories
Brown University Vertebrates are predisposed to act to gain rewards, and to lay low to avoid punishment. Try to teach chickens to back away from food in order to obtain it, and you'll fail, as researchers did in 1986. But (some) humans are better thinkers than chickens. In the May 8 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers show that the level of theta brainwave activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts whether people will be able to overcome these ingrained biases when doing so...
It’s never a good thing to be stressed. eReflect recently found a study which added another reason why stress is bad for our health: it stops our memory from functioning properly. New York City, NY (PRWEB) April 28, 2013 It has long been known that stress can be a huge distraction for people when they're trying to accomplish things that need to get done. In fact, stress can get so overwhelming that people either lose their sense of organization or simply forget what the next item on...
fMRI shows unique brain regions are increasingly devoted to social self-evaluations during puberty A specific region of the brain is in play when children consider their identity and social status as they transition into adolescence -- that often-turbulent time of reaching puberty and entering middle school, says a University of Oregon psychologist. In a study of 27 neurologically typical children who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at ages 10 and 13, activity in...
Researchers look at ties between early social experiences and adolescent brain function Brains develop in the context of experience. Social experiences may be particularly relevant for developing neural circuits related to the experience of feeling or emotion. Factors such as negative life events and the quality of relationships may be especially influential. Adolescence is a key time to investigate how early social experiences contribute to brain development because it's a period of...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online New hope for the estimated 1.4 million Americans addicted to cocaine could come in the form of a laser-inspired treatment that could effectively turn off their craving for the illicit drug, claims research published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature. According to HealthDay News, scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the US National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) used laser light to...
ATLANTA, April 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Move over, coffee. There is a new, natural, caffeine-free supplement for active baby boomers and business professionals that will keep you alert, awake, and improve your memory. IQ Enhance, a natural nootropic cognitive supplement which features a unique blend of popular ingredients including Vitamins B6 and B12, Vitamin C, Gingko Biloba, Folic Acid and Taurine, enhances brain activity, increasing focus and concentration in the prefrontal cortex...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online One of the hottest trends in Hollywood right now is toward 3D technology in new movies despite an ongoing debate about its merits. A new study published in Biological Psychiatry reveals that even our brains use three dimensions to communicate out feelings and emotions. The report of emotions for humans relies on three distinct systems in the brain. The first system directs attention to affective states ("I feel"). The second system...
Alan McStravick for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online As you are reading these words, your ability to comprehend their meaning is being aided, in no small part, by your brain’s prefrontal cortex. This region of the brain is helping you to maintain focus from sentence to sentence and is filtering out irrelevant thoughts, perceptions and memories. It is this thought filtration that allows you to complete a task without thoughts of when the water bill is due creeping in. However,...
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online Making a left-hand turn at a busy intersection while talking on a hands-free cellphone could be the “most dangerous” thing we do on the road due to the high level of brain activation involved, according to a new Canadian study. Researchers tested healthy young drivers operating a novel driving simulator equipped with a steering wheel, brake pedal and accelerator inside a high-powered functional MRI. This methodology went...
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara are researching cocaine addiction, part of a widespread problem, which, along with other addictions, costs billions of dollars in damage to individuals, families, and society. Laboratory studies at UCSB have revealed that the diminished brain function and learning impairment that result from cocaine addiction can be treated –– and that learning can be restored. Karen Szumlinski, a professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at UCSB,...
