Science of the SpiritS


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Brain researchers find early warning for cognitive decline

Brett Smith
RedOrbit
Tue, 10 Sep 2013 23:13 UTC
Cognitve Decline
© RedOrbit/Your Universe Online
Two new studies have revealed readily-detectable, early-warning signs of cognitive impairment.

One study from researchers at the University of California, Davis revealed that the degeneration of a small structure deep in the brain called the fornix provides early clues for the future onset of memory loss or dementia. The other study from the University of Toronto in Canada showed a new link between early-onset Parkinson's disease and a piece of DNA missing on chromosome 22.

In the UC Davis study, researchers recruited over 100 cognitively healthy people with an average age of 73. Participants underwent brain scans using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that revealed their brain volumes and integrity. The researchers also administered psychological tests and cognitive assessments to the participants to score their level of mental function. The study volunteers returned for MRIs and cognitive assessment at about one-year intervals.

At the beginning of the study, none of the participants showed signs of mental decline. Over time, about 20 percent began to exhibit symptoms that would eventually lead to a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or, in a few cases, Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers found that variables related to the fornix, an organ that ferries messages to and from the hippocampus, are measurable brain factors that precede cognitive deterioration, according to their report in the JAMA journal Neurology.
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Scientists demonstrate ability to erase memories

Brett Smith
RedOrbit
Tue, 10 Sep 2013 22:54 UTC
Memory
© Thinkstock
In the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Jim Carrey played a man who had his brain scrubbed of painful memories - only to have them eventually come back to haunt him.

While the selective deletion of memories may sound like science fiction, neuroscientists from The Scripps Research Institute have demonstrated just that in mice and rats, according to their report in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

The Scripps researchers said the technique might be useful for treating people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or battling a drug addiction.

"Our memories make us who we are, but some of these memories can make life very difficult," said study leader Courtney Miller, a TSRI assistant professor of neuroscience. "Not unlike in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, we're looking for strategies to selectively eliminate evidence of past experiences related to drug abuse or a traumatic event. Our study shows we can do just that in mice - wipe out deeply engrained drug-related memories without harming other memories."

When a memory is created, changes occur to the structure of dendritic spines found on nerve cells. These small, bulb-like structures receive electrochemical transmissions from other neuronsn and structural changes to them normally occur via a protein called actin.
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Can boosting immunity make you smarter?

Carl Zimmer
Discover
Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:11 UTC
The body's defense cells engage the brain in an intricate dialogue that may help raise IQ.

Image
T cells, white blood cells that are a key part of the immune system, may also play an important role in cognitive function.
After spending a few days in bed with the flu, you may have felt a bit stupid. It is a common sensation, that your sickness is slowing down your brain. At first blush, though, it doesn't make much sense. For one thing, flu viruses infect the lining of the airways, not the neurons in our brains. For another, the brain is walled off from the rest of the body by a series of microscopic defenses collectively known as the blood-brain barrier. It blocks most viruses and bacteria while allowing essential molecules like glucose to slip through. What ails the body, in other words, shouldn't interfere with our thinking.

But over the past decade, Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroimmunologist in the University of Virginia School of Medicine's department of neuroscience, has discovered a possible link, a modern twist on the age-old notion of the body-mind connection. His research suggests that the immune system engages the brain in an intricate dialogue that can influence our thought processes, coaxing our brains to work at their best.

Kipnis got the idea of an immunity-intelligence link while earning his Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. His adviser, Michal Schwartz, was performing experiments to understand how the brain repairs itself after an injury. She found that the brain depends on a type of immune cell known as the T cell, which normally kills infected cells or leads other immune cells in a campaign against foreign invaders. Her research suggested that T cells can also send signals that activate the brain's resident immune cells, microglia and blood-borne macrophages, telling them to protect the injured neurons from toxins released by the injury.

Comment: An amazing therapeutic tool that Big Pharma will most likely exploit with drugs that have more side effects than potential benefit. For a more natural way to balance up your immune system and your brain potential, visit our forum discussion
"Life Without Bread" and our Éiriú Eolas relaxation program.

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Researchers map sixth sense within the brain

Tamarra Kemsley
NatureWorldNews
Sat, 07 Sep 2013 11:56 UTC
Brain
© ReutersResearchers have discovered a sixth sense mapped out in the human brain: the ability to compare the amount of any given object, whether it be the number of people in a concert hall or jelly beans in a glass jar.
Researchers have discovered a sixth sense mapped out in the human brain: the ability to compare the amount of any given object, whether it be the number of people in a concert hall or jelly beans in a glass jar.

Called "numerosity," researchers have long suspected that this sense existed, but were unable to detect its presence within the brain. In particular, researchers were unable to identify a topographical map in which neurons related to numerosity assessment were laid out in such a way that those most closely related were able to interact over the shortest possible distance -- a phenomenon characteristic of the primary senses.

A new paper published in the journal Science changes all of that.

Led by Utrecht University's Benjamin Harvey, the study included eight participants, each of whom were asked to look at patterns of dots whose numbers changed over time.

Meanwhile, the scientists analyzed the neural response properties in a part of the brain linked to numerosity using high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging.
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The difference between obsession and delusion


Tel Aviv University
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 15:36 UTC
Image
© Unknown
TAU researchers use a zoological method to classify symptoms of OCD and schizophrenia in humans.

Because animals can't talk, researchers need to study their behavior patterns to make sense of their activities. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University are using these zoological methods to study people with serious mental disorders.

Prof. David Eilam of TAU's Zoology Department at The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences recorded patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and "schizo-OCD" - which combines symptoms of schizophrenia and OCD - as they performed basic tasks. By analyzing the patients' movements, they were able to identify similarities and differences between two frequently confused disorders.

Published in the journal CNS Spectrums, the research represents a step toward resolving a longstanding question about the nature of schizo-OCD: Is it a combination of OCD and schizophrenia, or a variation of just one of the disorders?
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Family

Using harsh verbal discipline with teens found to be harmful

Sarah Mandell
Society for Research in Child Development
Wed, 04 Sep 2013 15:24 UTC
Many American parents yell or shout at their teenagers. A new longitudinal study has found that using such harsh verbal discipline in early adolescence can be harmful to teens later. Instead of minimizing teens' problematic behavior, harsh verbal discipline may actually aggravate it.

The study, from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Michigan, appears in the journal Child Development.

Harsh verbal discipline happens when parents use psychological force to cause a child to experience emotional pain or discomfort in an effort to correct or control behavior. It can vary in severity from yelling and shouting at a child to insulting and using words to humiliate. Many parents shift from physical to verbal discipline as their children enter adolescence, and harsh verbal discipline is not uncommon. A nationally representative survey found that about 90 percent of American parents reported one or more instances of using harsh verbal discipline with children of all ages; the rate of the more severe forms of harsh verbal discipline (swearing and cursing, calling names) directed at teens was 50 percent.

Few studies have looked at harsh verbal discipline in adolescence. This study found that when parents use it in early adolescence, teens suffer detrimental outcomes later. The children of mothers and fathers who used harsh verbal discipline when they were 13 suffered more depressive symptoms between ages 13 and 14 than their peers who weren't disciplined in this way; they were also more likely to have conduct problems such as misbehaving at school, lying to parents, stealing, or fighting.
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Poor concentration: Poverty reduces brainpower needed for navigating other areas of life

Morgan Kelly
Princeton University
Thu, 29 Aug 2013 17:39 UTC
Poverty and all its related concerns require so much mental energy that the poor have less remaining brainpower to devote to other areas of life, according to research based at Princeton University. As a result, people of limited means are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that may be amplified by -- and perpetuate -- their financial woes.

Published in the journal Science, the study presents a unique perspective regarding the causes of persistent poverty. The researchers suggest that being poor may keep a person from concentrating on the very avenues that would lead them out of poverty. A person's cognitive function is diminished by the constant and all-consuming effort of coping with the immediate effects of having little money, such as scrounging to pay bills and cut costs. Thusly, a person is left with fewer "mental resources" to focus on complicated, indirectly related matters such as education, job training and even managing their time.

In a series of experiments, the researchers found that pressing financial concerns had an immediate impact on the ability of low-income individuals to perform on common cognitive and logic tests. On average, a person preoccupied with money problems exhibited a drop in cognitive function similar to a 13-point dip in IQ, or the loss of an entire night's sleep.
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Your spouse's voice is easier to hear -- and easier to ignore

Anna Mikulak
Association for Psychological Science
Thu, 29 Aug 2013 17:03 UTC
With so many other competing voices, having a conversation on a bustling subway or at a crowded cocktail party takes a great deal of concentration. New research suggests that the familiar voice of a spouse stands out against other voices, helping to sharpen auditory perception and making it easier to focus on one voice at a time.

"Familiar voices appear to influence the way an auditory 'scene' is perceptually organized," explains lead researcher Ingrid Johnsrude of Queen's University, Canada.

Johnsrude and her colleagues asked married couples, ages 44-79, to record themselves reading scripted instructions out loud. Later, each participant put on a pair of headphones and listened to the recording of his or her spouse as it played simultaneously with a recording of an unfamiliar voice.

On some trials, participants were told to report what their spouse said; on other trials, they were supposed to report what the unfamiliar voice said. The researchers wanted to see whether familiarity would make a difference in how well the participants understood what the target voice was saying.
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Men feel worse about themselves when female partners succeed, says new research

Audrey Hamilton
American Psychological Association
Thu, 29 Aug 2013 16:50 UTC
Deep down, men may not bask in the glory of their successful wives or girlfriends. While this is not true of women, men's subconscious self-esteem may be bruised when their spouse or girlfriend excels, says a study published by the American Psychological Association.

It didn't matter if their significant other was an excellent hostess or intelligent, men were more likely to feel subconsciously worse about themselves when their female partner succeeded than when she failed, according to the study published online in the APA Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. However, women's self-esteem was not affected by their male partners' successes or failures, according to the research, which looked at heterosexual Americans and Dutch.

"It makes sense that a man might feel threatened if his girlfriend outperforms him in something they're doing together, such as trying to lose weight," said the study's lead author, Kate Ratliff, PhD, of the University of Florida. "But this research found evidence that men automatically interpret a partner's success as their own failure, even when they're not in direct competition"

Men subconsciously felt worse about themselves when they thought about a time when their female partner thrived in a situation in which they had failed, according to the findings. The researchers studied 896 people in five experiments.
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People

Why do haters have to hate? Newly identified personality trait holds clues

Joseph Diorio
University of Pennsylvania
Mon, 26 Aug 2013 16:39 UTC
New research has uncovered the reason why some people seem to dislike everything while others seem to like everything. Apparently, it's all part of our individual personality - a dimension that researchers have coined "dispositional attitude."

People with a positive dispositional attitude have a strong tendency to like things, whereas people with a negative dispositional attitude have a strong tendency to dislike things, according to research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The journal article, "Attitudes without objects: Evidence for a dispositional attitude, its measurement, and its consequences," was written by Justin Hepler, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Dolores Albarracín, Ph.D., the Martin Fishbein Chair of Communication and Professor of Psychology at Penn.

"The dispositional attitude construct represents a new perspective in which attitudes are not simply a function of the properties of the stimuli under consideration, but are also a function of the properties of the evaluator," wrote the authors. "[For example], at first glance, it may not seem useful to know someone's feelings about architecture when assessing their feelings about health care. After all, health care and architecture are independent stimuli with unique sets of properties, so attitudes toward these objects should also be independent."
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