Brain

The researchers asked test participants in different age cohorts to feel two needlepoints that were located closely to each other with the tips of their fingers. Older participants perceived two points as a single event even when they were located quite far apart, whereas younger people were still able to distinguish them as two distinct points, which is evidence for degraded tactile perception at higher age.

For the past 40 years, eye-tracking technology -- which can determine where in a visual scene people are directing their gaze -- has been widely used in psychological experiments and marketing research, but it's required pricey hardware that has kept it from finding consumer applications.

Athens, Ga. - Exercise, even a small amount, can help alleviate symptoms of ADHD in adults, according to a new study by University of Georgia researchers.

(PHILADELPHIA) -- The natural molecule, n-acetylcysteine (NAC), with strong antioxidant effects, shows potential benefit as part of the management for patients with Parkinson's disease, according to a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE. Combining clinical evaluations of a patient's mental and physical abilities with brain imaging studies that tracked the levels of dopamine, the lack of which is thought to cause Parkinson's, doctors from the Departments of Integrative Medicine, Neurology, a

College-age women who participate in sorority rush largely describe the process as negative but report a sense of belonging and support once they're in the group, according to research from University of Pennsylvania psychologist Melissa Hunt and Penn alumna Colleen Kase. It's the first work to empirically analyze and confirm the theoretical benefits of sorority membership.

They published their findings in the Spring 2016 issue of Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- A new study by a Florida State University researcher shows that both a lack of stimulation in the workplace and a dirty working environment can have a long-term cognitive effect on employees.

"Psychologists say that the brain is a muscle, while industrial hygienists point to chemicals in the work environment that may cause decline," said Joseph Grzywacz, the Norejane Hendrickson Professor of Family and Child Sciences and lead researcher on the study.

The brains of teenagers with serious antisocial behaviour problems differ significantly in structure to those of their peers, providing the clearest evidence to date that their behaviour stems from changes in brain development in early life, according to new research led by the University of Cambridge and the University of Southampton, in collaboration with the University of Rome "Tor Vergata" in Italy.

As young people reach adulthood, their preferences for sweet foods typically decline. But for people with obesity, new research suggests that the drop-off may not be as steep and that the brain's reward system operates differently in obese people than in thinner people, which may play a role in this phenomenon.

The new findings are published online June 15 in the journal Diabetes.

San Diego, Calif. - Positron emission tomography (PET) with three different radiotracers can now measure amyloid plaques, tau tangles and metabolic activity in the brains of living Alzheimer's patients. This multimodal study shows significant correlation between increased tau and decreased metabolic activity in the brain--a clear sign of neurodegeneration--reveal researchers at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).

Rewarding learning today can improve learning tomorrow; this is one of the conclusions reached by researchers from the Cognition and Brain Plasticity research group of the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the University of Barcelona (UB) in their last work on the impact of emotions on the way we remember things.

For the first time, an international team of scientists lead by researchers from the Campus de Excelencia Internacional Moncloa (UCM-UPM) has shown that the amygdala in the human brain is able to detect possible threats in the visual environment at ultra-fast time scales. By measuring the electrical activity in the amygdala of patients that had been implanted with electrodes in order to better diagnose their epilepsy, the researchers provide new data on how information travels between the visual and emotional networks.

According a new study, fetal exposure to commonly used SRI drugs may affect brain activity in newborns. The researchers suggest that the effects of drugs on fetal brain function should be assessed more carefully, Indications for preventive medication should be critically evaluated, and non-pharmacological interventions should be the first-line treatment for depression and anxiety during pregnancy.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A pair of studies led by Indiana University researchers provide new evidence that when it comes to evolution, the testes may play a key role.

The research, led by Kimberly Rosvall, assistant professor in the IU College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology, finds that the testes -- or gonads -- have a greater impact than previously thought in evolution. The research was conducted in two subspecies of dark-eyed junco, a type of American sparrow.

Although math skills are considered notoriously hard to improve, Johns Hopkins University researchers boosted kindergarteners' arithmetic performance simply by exercising their intuitive number sense with a quick computer game.

Two new studies involving high school football and hockey players indicate wearing a specifically designed compression collar around the neck may prevent or reduce the devastating effects of head collisions in sports. The neck device, called a Q-Collar, is designed to press gently on the jugular vein to slow blood outflow increasing the brain's blood volume. The resulting effect of the increased blood volume helps the brain fit tighter within the skull cavity, reducing the energy absorbed by the brain during collisions.