Brains in Medical News

Musicians' Brains Tuned to Emotions in Sound

Finding suggests children with language disorders may benefit from tonal training FRIDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- Musical training enhances the ability to recognize emotion in speech and other sounds, a finding that suggests that musical training might benefit people with language...

Thrill-Seekers' Brains May Be Wired Differently

Region that affects addictive behavior is linked to risk-taking, too, study finds,, THURSDAY, Feb. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The thrill-seeking behavior that makes people love skydiving, mountain-climbing or other intense activities might be based in an area of the brain that has been lin...

The world's best brains descend on Canberra

Over 700 top Australian and international scientists will gather in Canberra this week for the 29th annual Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS) meeting. It marks a homecoming for the ANS which was formally created at a meeting in Canberra in 1980, with substantial input from ANU. A total of 53...

Aging brains allow negative memories to fade

It turns out there's a scientific reason why older people tend to see the past through rose-coloured glasses. A University of Alberta medical researcher, in collaboration with colleagues at Duke University, identified brain activity that causes older adults to remember fewer negative events t...

New tool trains athlete brains to react 53 percent faster

All great athletes know that in order to perform well, they can't just depend on their physical capabilities. Speed and efficiency in decision-making are just as essential. Two researchers from the School of Optometry of the Universit de Montral have discovered how to train the brain of athletes t...

'Super' aged brains reveal first secrets of sharp memory in old age

CHICAGO --- Maybe you have an 85-year-old grandfather who still whips through the newspaper crossword puzzle every morning or a 94-year-old aunt who never forgets a name or a face. They don't seem to suffer the ravages of memory that beset most people as they age. Researchers at Northwestern U...

A new light on the brains of people with borderline personality disorder

In a game of give and get, the brains of people with borderline personality disorder often don't get it. In fact, an interactive economic game played between two people in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) devices revealed a brain malfunction associated with the disorder, a serious b...

Cooling May Not Help Injured Brains in Children

Experts say it's too soon to judge this therapy for traumatic brain injury,,,, WEDNESDAY, June 4 (HealthDay News) -- Cooling the brain after a traumatic brain injury may not help improve neurological outcomes and might even increase mortality. That's the conclusion of a randomized t...

Sleep-Deprived Brains Show Lapse in Visual Processing

Seemingly normal function could give false sense of competence, study suggests TUESDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep deprivation can affect your ability to make sense of what you see, a study by neuroscience researchers at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore shows. ...

Analysis of alcoholics' brains suggests treatment target

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. An analysis of brain tissue samples from chronic alcoholics reveals changes that occur at the molecular level in alcohol abuse and suggests a potential treatment target, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Reporting in Alcoholism: Clini...

Are teenage brains really different?

Philadelphia, March 28, 2008 Many parents are convinced that the brains of their teenage offspring are different than those of children and adults. New data confirms that this is the case. An article by Jay N. Giedd, MD, of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), published in the April 20...

Chicago neuroscientist contributes to book on brains and baseball

Steven Small, professor of neurology and psychology at the University of Chicago, and colleagues Ana Solodkin and John Milton, are among a group science writers and neuroscientists featured in Your Brain On Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans, a new book that explores how the brain function...

Aging Brains Get Out of Sync

'Senior moments' typical in later years, study suggests WEDNESDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- In a finding that uncovers the biological underpinnings of "senior moments," new research shows that communication between different parts of the brain begins to break down as a person grows o...

Novel imaging technique shows gray matter increase in brains of autistic children

CHICAGO Using a novel imaging technique to study autistic children, researchers have found increased gray matter in the brain areas that govern social processing and learning by observation. Results of the study conducted at the Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Hea...

Novel Imaging Technique Shows Gray Matter Increase in Brains of Autistic Children

CHICAGO, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Using a novel imaging technique to study autistic children, researchers have found increased gray matter in the brain areas that govern social processing and learning by observation. Results of the study conducted at the Fay J. Lindner Center for Autism, North ...

Training, Experience Can Change How Brains Work

Study comparing conductors and non-musicians shows that tuning out distractions can be learned MONDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Training and experience can affect how a person's brain is organized, says a U.S. study that compared 20 music conductors and 20 people with no music training. Al...

Sound training rewires dyslexic children's brains for reading

Some children with dyslexia struggle to read because their brains aren't properly wired to process fast-changing sounds, according to a brain-imaging study published this month in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience (online October 16). The study found that sound training via comput...

Free will takes flight: how our brains respond to an approaching menace

Wellcome Trust scientists have identified for the first time how our brain's response changes the closer a threat gets. Using a "Pac Man"-like computer game where a volunteer is pursued by an artificial predator, the researchers showed that the fear response moves from the strategic areas of the b...

Fish Fuels Young Men's Brains

DARTMOUTH, NS, July 6 /PRNewswire/ - (Ocean Nutrition Canada) - Swedish researchers have found a clear link between fish consumption and higher cognitive scores among teenage males. According to a new study published in Acta Paediatrica, a monthly international, peer-reviewed pediatric research jo...

Binge Drinking May Damage Teens' Brains

'White matter' impairment could mean a 10% decline in information recall, scientists say,,,, WEDNESDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- When teens go on a binge drinking episode, they may be doing serious damage to the sensitive "white matter" in their brain, a new MRI-based study sugges...

Accumulated Lead May Affect Older Women's Brains

Levels of the toxin in leg bones are tied to poorer scores on cognitive tests FRIDAY, April 3 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to higher levels of environmental lead earlier in the life span may be taking a toll on the brains of older American women, a new study finds. The Harvard study...

Cutting Calories May Boost Aging Brains

Memory, thinking improved for those who ate less, study found MONDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Eating less to remember more might become a new prescription for some elderly people, German researchers say. They found that memory and thinking skills improved among healthy, overweig...

Omega-3 Fatty Acid May Help 'Preemie' Girls' Brains

The same benefit was not seen in infant boys, however,, TUESDAY, Jan. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers say they boosted the brain function of female preterm babies by increasing the amount of an omega-3 fatty acid in either formula or breast milk. The study, which appears in the J...

Playing Video Games May Boost Older Brains

Study suggests video gaming could be part of mental exercise routine for older people THURSDAY, Dec. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Older people who want to stay sharp should reconsider the notion that video games are only for lazy children and pick up a joystick themselves, a new study sugge...

Common anesthetic induces Alzheimer's-associated changes in mouse brains

For the first time researchers have shown that a commonly used anesthetic can produce changes associated with Alzheimer's disease in the brains of living mammals, confirming previous laboratory studies. In their Annals of Neurology report, which has received early online release, a team of Mass...

Gay Men, Straight Women Have Similar Brains

Scans also showed similarities between lesbians, straight men MONDAY, June 16 (HealthDay News) - MRI and PET scan studies are showing remarkable similarities between the brains of gay men and straight women, and between those of lesbians and straight men. For example, the brains of ...

New stem cell therapy may aid the repair of damaged brains

According to some experts, newly born neuronal stem cells in the adult brain may provide a therapy for brain injury. But if these stem cells are to be utilized in this way, the process by which they are created, neurogenesis, must be regulated. A new study, led by Laurence Katz, Co-Director of...

AgeLab Director Brings Wisdom to Aging Brains

SAN FRANCISCO, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Posit Science Corporation, the leading provider of scientifically proven brain fitness programs, announced today that Joseph Coughlin, Ph.D., the founder and Director of MIT's AgeLab, has joined its advisory board. Dr. Coughlin was recently named by the ...

Autistic Children Have More Gray Matter in Brains

This imbalance may make it tougher for them to function socially, study suggests WEDNESDAY, Nov. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Children diagnosed with autism have more gray matter in their brains than healthy children, report researchers who used a novel imaging technique to analyze brain str...

Sleepless Nights Make for Grumpier Brains

Mind's emotion centers less controlled when weary, MRI study shows MONDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Ever get a little testy after a bad night's sleep? Scientists may now know why. A new study finds that a lack of sleep causes the brain's emotional centers to dramatically overreact to nega...

Imaging Software Helps Track, Treat Injured Brains

It could aid children in crucial days after trauma, developers say WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12 (HealthDay News) -- New software now allows doctors to monitor blood flow through the brain in real time, potentially preventing brain damage and death in children with head injuries. Brain trauma is a top ...

Now, 'virtual' Mouse Brains Available on the Net

A multi-institutional consortium that includes Duke University has created high resolution, three-dimentional microscopic images of tiny mouse brains, which unveil every layer of the organ. The researchers could materialise this task by extending the capabilities of conventional magnetic ...

Our Ancestors Possessed Much Smaller Brains Than It was Thought

An ancient ancestor of ours was mentally less advanced than expected about 29 millions years ago, a new study by a Duke University primatologist has revealed. Elwyn Simons identified the second and the most intact cranium found till date of the Aegyptopithecus zeuxis and subjected it to mi...

Library Of Brains To Aid Study of Brain Development In Children

Scientists today offered their first insights at research on a group of "super-healthy" children from six U.S. cities whose brains will serve as models of typical childhood development. Initial results from the National Institutes of Health study suggest that healthy children perform better o...

Adolescents Brains Fully Develop Between 10-12 Years

A recent research has found that full brain development in adolescents takes place between 10 to 12 years of age . The National Institutes of Health (NIH) MRI Study of Normal Brain Development began in 1999, and is documenting structural brain development and behaviour from birth to young a...

Study Finds Reason About Brains Refusal to Change Brands

A new study has revealed the reason behind peoples loyalty to one product, even in the presence of better alternatives. A significant new study from the Journal of Consumer Research has identified a mechanism called cognitive lock-in as an influential determinant of peoples choices. ...

Different Approach Needed to Protect Brains of Premature Babies

A study of how the brain of a premature infant responds to injury has found vulnerabilities similar to those in the mature brain but// also identified at least one significant difference. In an animal model of brain injury, researchers showed for the first time that parts of the developing ...

Brain-child of Natus Medical, “Cool Cap”, Protects Brains of Babies Born With HE

Babies are cool indeed, but those born with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy may need to get cooler at the top, to protect their brain. Some babies do not get enough// oxygen during birth. Such babies can now be helped with a ‘cool cap’ designed to cool the head and prevent brain damage. This produc...

Structural Abnormalities in Brains of William Syndrome Patients

Structural abnormalities were found in a particular brain area of patients afflicted with Williams syndrome according to a study conducted// at the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Williams syndrome is a rare genetic disorder where children lov...

Hamster's Shows How Our Brains May Recognize Other Individuals

A team of Cornell University research psychologists have discovered, different areas of the brain react differently when recognizing// others, depending on the emotions attached to the memory, has found. The team, led by professor of psychology Robert Johnston, has been conducting experiments to st...