ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Increasing individualism in US linked with rise of white-collar jobs Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Rising individualism in the United States over the last 150 years is mainly associated with a societal shift toward more white-collar occupations, according to new research. The study, which looked at various cultural indicators -- including word usage in books, trends in baby names, and shifts in family structure -- suggests that a shift toward greater individualism is systematically correlated with socioeconomic trends, but not with trends in urbanization or environmental demands such as frequency of diseases or disasters.

Forever young: Meditation might slow the age-related loss of gray matter in the brain Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Building on their earlier work that suggested people who meditate have less age-related atrophy in the brain's white matter, a new study found that meditation appeared to help preserve the brain's gray matter, the tissue that contains neurons.

Brain cells' role in navigating environment Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST A new study sheds light on the brain cells that function in establishing one's location and direction. The findings contribute to our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying our abilities to successfully navigate our environment, which may be crucial to dealing with brain damage due to trauma or a stroke and the onset of diseases such as Alzheimer's.

Why did people evolve to be cooperative? And why in a principled way? Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:12 AM PST Researchers have developed a first-of-its-kind model, dubbed the 'envelope game,' that can help researchers understand not only not only why people evolved to be cooperative but why people evolved to cooperate in a principled way.

Prototype of a robotic system with emotion and memory Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:11 AM PST Researchers have developed a prototype of a social robot which supports independent living for the elderly, working in partnership with their relatives or carers.

Similar statistics play role in decision-making and World War II code breaking Posted: 05 Feb 2015 10:12 AM PST "The brain reaches a decision by combining samples of evidence in much the way a good statistician would," says a researcher. He demonstrates this theory by monitoring the decision-making process in rhesus monkeys to determine how much and what information they need to confidently choose a correct answer.

In a crisis, the bigger your social network, the better Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:31 AM PST Researchers examined social networks in the late pre-Hispanic Southwest and found that communities that were more connected with their neighbors had a better chance of being able to successfully manage a crisis than did communities with fewer outside connections.

Learning with all the senses: Movement, images facilitate vocabulary learning Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:31 AM PST "Atesi" - what sounds like a word from the Elven language of Lord of the Rings is actually a Vimmish word meaning "thought". Scientists have used Vimmish, an artificial language specifically developed for scientific research, to study how people can best memorize foreign-language terms. According to the researchers, it is easier to learn vocabulary if the brain can link a given word with different sensory perceptions. The motor system in the brain appears to be especially important: When someone not only hears vocabulary in a foreign language, but expresses it using gestures, they will be more likely to remember it. Also helpful, although to a slightly lesser extent, is learning with images that correspond to the word. Learning methods that involve several senses, and in particular those that use gestures, are therefore superior to those based only on listening or reading.

Human stem cells repair damage caused by radiation therapy for brain cancer in rats Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:30 AM PST For patients with brain cancer, radiation is a potentially life-saving treatment, but it can also cause considerable and even permanent injury to the brain. Now, through preclinical experiments conducted in rats, researchers have developed a method to turn human stem cells into cells that are instructed to repair damage in the brain. Rats treated with the human cells regained cognitive and motor functions that were lost after brain irradiation.

Medical marijuana for children with developmental and behavioral disorders? Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:27 AM PST As medical marijuana becomes increasingly accepted, there is growing interest in its use for children and adolescents with developmental and behavioral problems such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new review.

Circadian clock linked to Angelman syndrome Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:27 AM PST Biologists have found a direct link between the biological clock and Angelman syndrome, a neurogenetic disorder that occurs in more than one in every 15,000 live births. The link may provide a valuable way to judge the effectiveness of the first experimental drugs under development for treating the syndrome.

Opinions on vaccinations heavily influenced by online comments Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:52 AM PST With measles and other diseases once thought eradicated making a comeback in the United States, healthcare websites are on the spot to educate consumers about important health risks. Researchers say that people may be influenced more by online comments than by credible public service announcements.

Neurogeneticists harness immune cells to clear Alzheimer's-associated plaques Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:52 AM PST New research shows that the body's immune system may be able to clear the brain of toxic plaque build-up that is the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, reversing memory loss and brain cell damage.

Parenting and depression study: Fathers are at risk, too Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:52 AM PST A national study of parents found that parents with multiple parenting roles -- such as those in blended families -- are at higher risk of depression. Specifically, parents with three roles were 57 percent more likely to be depressed than those with just a single parenting role.

An 'ambulance' for the brain Posted: 05 Feb 2015 05:30 AM PST The brain is protected by a barrier of cells that tightly regulates the transport of substances into this organ in order to prevent infection. The essential protective function of this barrier is also a red light for 98% of drug candidates for the treatment of the central nervous system. Today scientists have presented a shuttle able to cross the blood-brain barrier and transport various substances into the brain. The team of chemists is now studying its application for specific medical conditions.

Attention: How eyes reveal the brain's focus Posted: 04 Feb 2015 09:58 AM PST A primate's ability to pay attention to, or tune out, particular sights and sounds is crucial for success and survival. Researchers looked into monkeys' eyes for insight into how the brain processes distractions. They found that neural activity and changes to pupil size in response to distractors can predict how well the brain helps focus on a goal.

Brain marker hints at depression, anxiety years later Posted: 04 Feb 2015 09:57 AM PST A car accident, the loss of a loved one, and financial trouble are just a few of the myriad stressors we may encounter in our lifetimes. How well will we deal with the inevitable lows of life? By looking at an area of the brain called the amygdala, scientists can predict depression or anxiety in response to stressful life events as far as four years in the future.

How cocaine works in the brain, offers possibility of drug to treat addiction Posted: 04 Feb 2015 07:27 AM PST Scientists have discovered a mechanism in the brain that is key to making cocaine seem pleasurable, a finding that could lead to a drug treatment for fighting addiction.

Pay-to-play sports: Parents with traditional beliefs about gender may shortchange daughters Posted: 04 Feb 2015 07:25 AM PST Parents with the most traditional beliefs about masculinity and femininity are likelier to view pay-to-play sports fees as too high for daughters compared with sons, a new study suggests.

New biomarkers for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Posted: 04 Feb 2015 04:52 AM PST Medical researchers have found new biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. In this study, the authors have identified the amyloid precursor protein (APP) in its complete form unprocessed in the cerebrospinal fluid.

Visual system primed to see objects in discrete units Posted: 04 Feb 2015 04:52 AM PST Human beings are born with a visual system already predisposed to see (and mentally representing) objects as discrete perceptual units. Movement is an important visual feature, but how early in a child’s development is it represented independently from the object itself? And what function does this skill serve in the development of cognitive abilities? New research shows that this skill develops very early in infancy. In fact, its presence in mice suggests a genetic basis for it.

How the brain ignores distractions Posted: 03 Feb 2015 04:02 PM PST By scanning the brains of people engaged in selective attention to sensations, researchers have learned how the brain appears to coordinate the response needed to ignore distractors. They are now studying whether that ability can be harnessed, for instance to suppress pain.

Immune cells tied to delayed onset of post-stroke dementia Posted: 03 Feb 2015 04:02 PM PST A single stroke doubles a person's risk of developing dementia over the following decade, even when that person's mental ability is initially unaffected. In experiments using both mouse models of stroke and brain-tissue samples from humans, researchers have linked the delayed onset of post-stroke dementia to the persistent presence, in the brain, of specialized immune cells that shouldn't be there at all.

Choosing a cell phone, prescription drug plan or new car? Read this first Posted: 03 Feb 2015 11:19 AM PST To help people make better choices when confronted by a large number of options, researchers have studied two decision-making strategies that break down the options into smaller groups that can be evaluated more effectively.