CNS 2021: Q&A with Wendy Suzuki About 15 years ago, Wendy Suzuki was on a mission. She wanted to lose 25 pounds and began a regular gym and diet regimen. As she worked out more, she saw a big shift in her mood and memory. At the same time, her father suffered a sudden and […]
Clinically-Driven to Study Memory
Q&A with Muireann Irish Clinical populations can provide a wealth of data to cognitive neuroscientists working to understand the brain. By seeing what happens in the brain of someone who has a cognitive disorder, researchers can better identify the fundamental underlying mechanisms. That is certainly true for memory research, where individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s […]
Going Deep on Sleep with Matthew Walker
Did you get enough sleep last night? Probably not, says Matthew Walker, cognitive neuroscientist and neurophysiologist at the University of California, Berkeley. Statistics show, he says, that two-thirds of adults fail to obtain the recommended 8 hours of nightly sleep. If that doesn’t seem like a big deal, Walker has some robust research to counter […]
Taking Alzheimer’s Research Into the Next Decade
Q&A with Michael Yassa Alzheimer’s is a growing epidemic, with the disease and related dementia affecting some 45 million people worldwide. Although treatment has been elusive, discoveries that advance our understanding of the disease have been coming fast and furious over the last several years, due in no small part to advances in animal and […]
Overturning the Modular View of Memory in the Brain, Aiding Alzheimer’s Patients
Q&A with Morgan Barense In high school biology, students often learn about different parts of the brain, accompanied by a description like “the area of the brain responsible for memory” or “…for attention.” But in recent years, cognitive neuroscientists have found that such sharp boundaries in cognitive functions are really a myth. The brain is […]
Linguistics Sleuths Probe the Mental Health of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie was a master storyteller who weaved together seemingly disparate clues to tell a compelling mystery. Now, scientists are trying to sleuth the details of her mental health using linguistics analyses. A new study, which looks at the works of six renowned authors over their decades’ long writing careers, found that Christie likely suffered […]
Framing Our Experiences: New Study Reveals Attention at Neuron Level
Q&A with Ron Mangun Two people sitting at a sports bar watching a game may notice very different things around them. While one may see the couple next to him arguing, the other may see a small fire starting in the kitchen. How they direct their attention, whether consciously or not, could lead to important […]
Understanding Our Brains at Rest to Help Treat Alzheimer’s
Breakthroughs in cognitive neuroscience: Highlighting influential research from the past 20 years This series will explore influential papers in cognitive neuroscience, as measured by the number of times they are cited each year. The papers featured are a sampling of many important works in the field over the past 20 years. This is the third in […]
