For stroke patients whose visual awareness is impaired on one side, merely offering a reward improves their attention. That is the result of a recent study that tested how stroke patients respond to stimuli when offered a financial incentive. As reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, the researchers gave a simple test […]
Archives for 2012
Getting the Beat: How Our Brains Process Rhythm
From babies to adults with no musical training, everyone can tap and move to a beat – whether nodding in time to a symphony, bopping to jazz, or dancing it Gangnam Style. That skill relies on a combination of basic motor processes and higher order cognitive processes, according to a new study. The research could […]
Listening in a Crowd: How Musical Training Aids Older Adults
Holding a conversation in a mall this holiday-time may prove difficult with the increasingly loud crowds, particularly for the elderly. But the musicians in the group may have an advantage, according to a new study. Having musical training appears to help older adults separate distinct sounds, the researchers found. The new study built on past […]
Treating Seizures Leads to Face Blindness Discovery: Q&A with Josef Parvizi
When Josef Parvizi set out to treat a patient with uncontrollable seizures, he was not expecting the serendipitous turn of events that would lead to a new discovery: the critical importance of two nerve clusters for perception of faces. The findings, recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience, may help researchers better understand a clinical […]
Frequent Exercise Aids Young Adults in Complex Cognitive Tasks
Regular exercise can combat a host of age-related cognitive declines, scientists are finding. But a new study indicates that exercise benefits not only older brains but also those of young adults. The research suggests that frequent exercise helps young adults to suppress inhibitions, a skill critical during complex tasks such as driving, and that it […]
Our Young Brains on Race: How Racial Perceptions Develop
How our brains respond to race changes as we develop from children to adolescents, according to a new study on race perception. The researchers found that a child’s social environment plays an important role in developing neural bias to race. The more diversity we are surrounded by at a young age, the less a person’s […]
Threats, Survival, and Fear: Q&A with Joseph LeDoux
With Halloween around the corner, fear may be on your mind. As a basic emotion, fear develops when we react to an immediate danger. Understanding exactly how our brains detect and respond to such danger has been a goal of Joseph LeDoux of the Center for Neural Science at New York University for much of […]
Do Not Skip that Handshake: How Body Language Shapes Our Judgments
We all know that a proper business meeting should start with a handshake but until now, we have not known exactly how much impact that seemingly small gesture can make. Turns out, the impact is substantial, according to new research that examines the neurological and emotional effects of a handshake. “Handshakes have been proven to […]
Healthy Decisions are Hard to Make: Q&A with Antonio Rangel
The reason why making healthy choices feels hard is because it is literally hard work. Scientists are finding that different systems within our brains fiercely compete to assign different values to the choices we make. In a recent study led by Cendri Hutcherson of Caltech, researchers saw this competition at play when choosing which snack […]
From Age-Related Increase in Distractibility to Why Handshakes Matter
What’s new in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience Driven to distraction: Age-related differences Older adults are considered more susceptible to distraction while driving in traffic or undertaking other daily activities that require us to keep track of multiple objects at a time. Researchers have understood for some time that this age-related increase in distractibility is […]
