Here we present the ‘Abstract‘ of the corresponding paper by Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, and Charles Hillman. Continue reading “The Influence of Exercise on Cognitive Abilities”
Childhood trauma linked to impaired social cognition later in life for patients with major psychiatric disorders
A new report published in European Psychiatryidentified a significant association between childhood adversity and impaired social cognitive functioning among adults diagnosed with major psychiatric disorders. Through a comprehensive review of all research conducted to date, the investigators established that a traumatic early social environment frequently leads to social cognitive problems and greater illness severity for individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder. Continue reading “Childhood trauma linked to impaired social cognition later in life for patients with major psychiatric disorders”
This is how the brain forgets on purpose
Researchers from Ruhr-Universität Bochum and the University Hospital of Gießen and Marburg, in collaboration with colleagues from Bonn, the Netherlands, and the UK, have analysed what happens in the brain when humans want to voluntarily forget something. They identified two areas of the brain — the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus — whose activity patterns are characteristic for the process of forgetting. They measured the brain activity in epilepsy patients who had electrodes implanted in the brain for the purpose of surgical planning. The team headed by Carina Oehrn and Professor Nikolai Axmacher outlines the results in the journal Current Biology, published online on 6 September 2018. Continue reading “This is how the brain forgets on purpose”
Broadband internet causes sleep deprivation, a new study finds
About 200,000 working days are lost in Germany every year due to insufficient sleep, with an economic loss of $60bln, or about 1.6% of its GDP, according to a 2016 Report of the RAND Corporation. Francesco Billari and Luca Stella (Bocconi University), with Osea Giuntella (University of Pittsburgh), in a study just published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, find that access to broadband Internet is one of the causes of such sleep deprivation. Continue reading “Broadband internet causes sleep deprivation, a new study finds”
Early life experiences influence DNA in the adult brain
In the perennial question of nature versus nurture, a new study suggests an intriguing connection between the two. Salk Institute scientists report in the journal Science that the type of mothering a female mouse provides her pups actually changes their DNA. The work lends support to studies about how childhood environments affect brain development in humans and could provide insights into neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia. Continue reading “Early life experiences influence DNA in the adult brain”
Increased stress on fathers leads to brain development changes in offspring
New research in mice has found that a father’s stress affects the brain development of his offspring. This stress changes the father’s sperm, which can then alter the brain development of the child. This new research provides a much better understanding of the key role that fathers play in the brain development of offspring. Continue reading “Increased stress on fathers leads to brain development changes in offspring”
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