Brain

Adaptation in reaching -- gradual improvement of motor control in response to a perturbation -- is a central issue in motor neuroscience.However, even the cortical origin of errors that drive adaptation has remained elusive. In a new paper published in Neuron, Inoue, Uchimura and Kitazawa have shown that error signals encoded by motor cortical neurons drive adaptation in reaching.

Capitalizing on experimental genetic techniques, researchers at the California National Primate Research Center, or CNPRC, at the University of California, Davis, have demonstrated that temporarily turning off an area of the brain changes patterns of activity across much of the remaining brain.

The research suggests that alterations in the functional connectivity of the brain in humans may be used to determine the sites of pathology in complex disorders such as schizophrenia and autism.

The research is published online July 20 in the journal Neuron.

When we go to the hair stylist, we can browse magazines with pictures of models and point to a photo we'd like to try. Actors change appearances all the time to fit a role. Missing people are often disguised by changing their hair color and style.

But how can we predict if an appearance change will look good without physically trying it? Or explore what missing children might look like if their appearance is changed?

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- High-ranking people don't always turn out to be selfish jerks. It all depends on whether they feel worthy of their prominent social position, new research indicates.

A series of six scientific studies led by Michigan State University scholar Nicholas Hays found that people with high social status who didn't believe they earned that status were much more generous than high-status people who felt they deserved the respect and admiration of others.

If Dr. Kalipada Pahan's research pans out, the standard advice for failing students might one day be: Study harder and eat your cinnamon!

Pahan a researcher at Rush University and the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Chicago, has found that cinnamon turns poor learners into good ones--among mice, that is. He hopes the same will hold true for people.

His group published their latest findings online June 24, 2016, in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology.

BELLINGHAM, Washington, USA -- The latest advances in near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technologies are enabling development of new capabilities in diagnosis and treatment of disease, offering reduced health-care costs, portability, increased sensitivity, higher patient comfort, and better quality of life. Parallel special sections on Clinical Near Infrared Spectroscopy and Imaging published by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, in Neurophotonics and the Journal of Biomedical Optics detail the latest work.

TORONTO, July 21, 2016--University athletes with a history of concussion had changes in the size, blood flow and connections in their brains months and even years after the injury - changes not seen in athletes without prior concussions, a new study has found.

The study looked at male and female varsity athletes in seven different contact and non-contact sports, demonstrating the relevance of the findings for the overall sporting community, not just traditional high risk sports such as hockey and football.

CHICAGO (July 21, 2016): People who sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) are at high risk for developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). PE is a leading cause of death in these patients.

Transgenic Huntington's disease monkeys display a full spectrum of symptoms resembling the human disease, ranging from motor problems and neurodegeneration to emotional dysregulation and immune system changes, scientists at Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University report.

The results, published online in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, strengthen the case that transgenic Huntington's disease monkeys could be used to evaluate emerging treatments (such as this) before launching human clinical trials.

Meeting new people can be both stressful and rewarding. Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science, reported yesterday in Nature Neuroscience, suggests that a molecule involved in regulating stress in the brain may help determine how willing we are to leave the safety of our social group and strike up new relationships.

A new Carnegie Mellon University neuroimaging study reveals the mental stages people go through as they are solving challenging math problems.

Published in Psychological Science, researchers combined two analytical strategies to use functional MRI (fMRI) to identify patterns of brain activity that aligned with four distinct stages of problem solving.

Long-term treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics decreased levels of amyloid plaques, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, and activated inflammatory microglial cells in the brains of mice in a new study by neuroscientists from the University of Chicago.

The study, published July 21, 2016, in Scientific Reports, also showed significant changes in the gut microbiome after antibiotic treatment, suggesting the composition and diversity of bacteria in the gut play an important role in regulating immune system activity that impacts progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The environments children are in, including how much and what kinds of stimulation they are exposed to, influence what and how they learn. One important task for children is zeroing in on the information that's relevant to what they're learning and ignoring what isn't. A new study has found that the presence of background noise in the home or at school makes it more difficult for toddlers to learn new words. The study also found that providing additional language cues may help young children overcome the effects of noisy environments.

Neuroimaging data can reveal the mental stages people go through as they are solving challenging math problems, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. By combining two analytical strategies, researchers were able to use functional MRI to identify patterns of brain activity that aligned with four distinct stages of problem solving.

Ratings of our own abilities are strongly influenced by the performance of others, according to a study published July 20 in Neuron. Interacting with high performers makes us feel more capable in cooperative team settings, but less competent in competitive situations. Moreover, the degree of "self-other-mergence" is associated with activity in a brain region previously implicated in theory of mind--the ability to understand the mental states of oneself and others.