The Global Syndicator - neuroscience

Learning Suffers If Brain Transcript Isn’t Transported Far Out To End Of Neurons

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:47:07 +0000

Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have solved a mystery that lies at the heart of human learning, and they say the solution may help explain some forms of mental retardation as well as provide clues to overall brain functioning.

Trigger For Brain Plasticity Identified

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:38:02 +0000

Researchers have long sought a factor that can trigger the brain’s ability to learn – and perhaps recapture the “sponge-like” quality of childhood. In the August 8 issue of the journal Cell, neuroscientists at Children’s Hospital Boston report that they’ve identified such a factor, a protein called Otx 2.

Coatings to help medical implants connect with neurons

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 02:59:05 +0000

Plastic coatings could someday help neural implants treat conditions as diverse as Parkinson’s disease and macular degeneration. The coatings encourage neurons in the body to grow and connect with the electrodes that provide treatment.

Relearning process not always a ‘free lunch’

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:47:12 +0000

Researchers at Sheffield University and the University of St. Andrews, United Kingdom, have helped determine why relearning a few pieces of information may or may not easily cause a recollection of other associated, previously learned information.

New study shows compounds from soy affect brain and reproductive development

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:50:22 +0000

Two hormone-like compounds linked to the consumption of soy-based foods can cause irreversible changes in the structure of the brain, resulting in early-onset puberty and symptoms of advanced menopause in research animals, according to a new study by researchers at North Carolina State University.

Brain plays key role in appetite by regulating free radicals

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:17:11 +0000

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found the brain’s appetite center uses fat for fuel by involving oxygen free radicals—molecules associated with aging and neurodegeneration. The findings, reported in the journal Nature, suggest that antioxidants could play a role in weight control.

Brain’s reaction to self-administered cocaine differs

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:10:03 +0000

New research has uncovered a fundamental cellular mechanism that may drive pathological drug-seeking behavior. The study, published by Cell Press in the July 31 issue of the journal Neuron, examines the brain’s reward circuitry and details strikingly distinct influences of self-administered cocaine compared to natural rewards or passive cocaine injection.

When neurons fire up: Study sheds light on rhythms of the brain

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:08:02 +0000

In our brains, groups of neurons fire up simultaneously for just milliseconds at a time, in random rhythms, similar to twinkling lightning bugs in our backyards. New research from neuroscientists at Indiana University and the University of Montreal provides a model — a rhyme and reason — for this random synchronization.

International Behavioral Neuroscience Society

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:24:25 +0000

The IBNS, the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, was founded in 1992. > The goal of the IBNS is to " encourage research and education in the field of behavioral neuroscience". Its current President is Robert T. Gerlai.

External links

Mark H. Johnson (professor)

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 12:18:45 +0000

Mark Johnson is a British cognitive neuroscientist who since 1997 is head of the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck College, London.

In 1996, Johnson co-authored (with Jeffrey Elman, Annette Karmiloff-Smith, Elizabeth Bates, Domenico Parisi, and Kim Plunkett), the book Rethinking Innateness . This influential book has received more than 1,000 citationshttp://info.scopus.com/etc/citationtracker/, and has been nominated for the “One hundred most influential works in cognitive science from the 20th Century” (Minnesota Millennium Project)http://www.cogsci.umn.edu/OLD/calendar/past_events/millennium/lista.html.

Major Step Forward In Understanding How Memory Works

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:43:15 +0000

Our ability to remember the objects, places and people within our environment is essential for everyday life, although the importance of this is only fully appreciated when recognition memory beings to fail, as in Alzheimer’s disease.

Steven Pinker: The stuff of thought

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:12:15 +0000

In an exclusive preview of his new book, The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker looks at language, and the way it expresses the workings of our minds. By analyzing common sentences and words, he shows us

Groups of neurons in the brain rewire by changing images

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 17:56:18 +0000

Neuroscientists studying the mind’s ability to process images have completed the first empirical study to demonstrate, using animal models, how populations of nerve cells in visual cortex adapt to changing images.

Fascinating split brain behavioral experiments

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:16:24 +0000

To reduce the severity of his seizures, Joe had the bridge between his left and right cerebral hemisphers (the corpus callosum) severed. As a result, his left and right brains no longer communicate through that pathway.

What gives us fingertip dexterity?

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 03:40:39 +0000

In a novel experiment, a USC biomedical engineer examines the intricate circuitry between hand manipulation skills and specialized neural circuits in the brain Quickly moving your fingertips to tap or press a surface is essential for everyday life to, say, pick up small objects, use a BlackBerry or an iPhone.