Category: Brain

Dopamine conducts prefrontal cortex ensembles

Tom Patriot

Anyone who has savored a bite of chocolate or glanced at each new blinking notification on their smart phone is familiar with dopamine. But that is not all dopamine does. This chemical neurotransmitter also plays a fundamental role in the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which controls higher functions such as paying attention, staying motivated, and making decisions. Now, research in rodents reveals for the first time how dopamine changes the function of the prefrontal cortex. In a study published in the journal Cell Reports, researchers found that dopamine has little…

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Quick thinking? It’s all down to timing

Tom Patriot

Remember hearing people being called slow learners by teachers and parents? That oft-used description of someone who takes a wee bit longer to process information, now has a scientific basis for its existence. Scientists from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine have found that the rapidity with which a person is able to grasp, process, understand, store and use information comes down to the speed and timing with which the neurons in the brain fire off. The closer the gap between the firing of one neuron and the…

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Measurement of thoughts during knowledge acquisition

Tom Patriot

In a recent learning study they were able to show that new conceptual information is stored along spatial dimensions in form of a mental map located in the hippocampus. Together with colleagues from the Donders Institute at Radboud University in Nijmegen, they observed brain activity patterns that support the idea that the neural mechanisms that support navigation in physical space might also be involved in conceptual learning. “We, as humans, are remarkably flexible in the use of our knowledge: For instance we are able to apply what we have learned…

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Consider non-surgical brain stimulation for severe depression, say experts

Tom Patriot

Non-surgical brain stimulation should be considered as alternative or add-on treatments for adults with severe forms of depression, suggests a study published by The BMJ today. The findings also suggest that more established techniques should take priority over new treatments with a more limited evidence base. Depression is a common and debilitating illness that is usually treated with drugs and psychological therapies. But these treatments do not work for every patient and some patients experience undesired side effects. Non-surgical brain stimulation techniques, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation…

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Mothers of fussy babies at higher risk of depressive symptoms

Tom Patriot

It’s no secret that fussy newborns can be especially challenging for parents already facing physical and mental exhaustion from caring for a new baby. But now science backs up the impact on parents: The less soothable the infant, the more distressed the mother. Mothers of highly irritable infants experience greater depressive symptoms, according to new University of Michigan-led research. The nationally representative study, which included data from more than 8,200 children and their parents, appears in Academic Pediatrics. The study is also believed to be the first to explore whether the…

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