Neuroscience News

Is Angry Birds keeping your brain healthy?

A new study from the Archives of Neurology says playing brain stimulating games can improve your memory and delay or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

A new study suggests hearing metaphors can activate brain regions involved in sensory experience.

Whether you are an athlete, a musician or a stroke patient learning to walk again, practice can make perfect, but more practice may make you more efficient, according to a surprising new University of Colorado Boulder study.

Researchers have found a way to study how our brains assess the behavior – and likely future actions – of others during competitive social interactions. Their study, described in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to use a computational approach to tease out differing patterns of brain activity during these interactions, the researchers report.

A molecular path from our body’s internal clock to cells controlling rest and activity have been revealed.

A new study looks at how our brain processes visual information to prevent collisions.

Can Brain Scans of Young Children Predict Reading Problems?  Brain scientists are studying whether they can predict which young children may struggle with reading, in order to provide early help.

Virtual therapists being developed to treat depression. Scientists at a U.S. university are developing new technologies to treat depression and other disorders — including a mood-detecting smart phone that will call to check up on you.

A new study shows how to boost the power of pain relief without drugs.

Neuroscience could change the face of warfare. Soldiers could have their minds plugged directly into weapons systems, undergo brain scans during recruitment and take courses of neural stimulation to boost their learning, if the armed forces embrace the latest developments in neuroscience to hone the performance of their troops

Brain activity differs when one plays against others. Researchers have found a way to study how our brains assess the behavior – and likely future actions – of others during competitive social interactions. Their study, described in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to use a computational approach to tease out differing patterns of brain activity during these interactions, the researchers report.

Reporting in PLoS Biology, researchers write that they were able to correlate words a person was hearing to specific electrical activity in the brain. Neuroscientist Robert Knight, a co-author of the study, discusses future applications of this research and concerns that it amounts to mental wiretapping.

Brains may be wired for addiction.  Abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge.

Patients’ Brains May Adapt to ADHD Medication. New research reveals how the brain appears to adapt to compensate for the effects of long-term ADHD medication, suggesting why ADHD medication is more effective short-term than it is long-term.

A two-year study of high school football players suggests that concussions are likely caused by many hits over time and not from a single blow to the head, as commonly believed.

The beautiful brain

Hippocampus II, 2010

I am captivated by these images by Greg Dunn,  a visual artist with a Ph.D in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.

Olfactory Bulb

It’s not so easy to tell at first glance whether Dunn is painting a branching pattern of a plant or that of a neuron. But maybe that’s the point. Dunn’s eye seems attuned to the dazzling beauty packed into the cellular architecture of each square millimeter of our nervous system, architecture that repeats itself all around us.

Glomerulus, 2008, ink on xuan with digital manipulation

You can view more images and read an interview with the artist onThe Beautiful Brain .

Your Weekly Neuroscience Update

You’re running late for work and you can’t find your keys. What’s really annoying is that in your frantic search, you pick up and move them without realising. This may be because the brain systems involved in the task are working at different speeds, with the system responsible for perception unable to keep pace. So says Grayden Solman and his colleagues at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Scientists have now discovered how different brain regions cooperate during short-term memory  and in other research -findings that a prion-like protein plays a key role in storing long-term memories

Memories in our brains are maintained by connections between neurons called “synapses”. But how do these synapses stay strong and keep memories alive for decades? Neuroscientists at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered a major clue from a study in fruit flies: Hardy, self-copying clusters or oligomers of a synapse protein are an essential ingredient for the formation of long-term memory.

Researchers reveal a novel mechanism through which the brain may become more reluctant to function as we grow older.

New research from Uppsala University shows that reduced insulin sensitivity is linked to smaller brain size and deteriorated language skills in seniors. The findings are now published in the scientific journal Diabetes Care.

Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training, according to a new study from Northwestern University. The study is the first to provide biological evidence that lifelong musical experience has an impact on the aging process.

Could brain size determine whether you are good at maintaining friendships? Researchers are suggesting that there is a link between the number of friends you have and the size of the region of the brain – known as the orbital prefrontal cortex – that is found just above the eyes. A new study, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that this brain region is bigger in people who have a larger number of friendships.

Scientists have long believed that human speech is processed towards the back of the brain’s cerebral cortex, behind auditory cortex where all sounds are received – a place famously known as Wernicke’s area after the German neurologist who proposed this site in the late 1800s based on his study of brain injuries and strokes. But, now, research that analyzed more than 100 imaging studies concludes that Wernicke’s area is in the wrong location. The site newly identified is about 3 centimeters closer to the front of the brain and on the other side of auditory cortex – miles away in terms of brain architecture and function.

New research from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) might help explain how a gene mutation found in some autistic individuals leads to difficulties in processing auditory cues and paying spatial attention to sound.

Neuroscientists may one day be able to hear the imagined speech of a patient unable to speak due to stroke or paralysis, according to University of California, Berkeley, researchers.

Cocaine-dependent men and women might benefit from different treatment options, according to a study conducted by Yale School of Medicine researchers.

New research finds problems that require a flash of illumination to solve are best approached during the time of day when you’re not at your peak.

Researchers for the first time are documenting the basic wiring of the brain, the complex relationships among billions of neurons that are responsible for reason, memory and emotion. The work eventually could lead to better understanding of schizophrenia, autism, multiple sclerosis and other disorders.

Is depression and anxiety best treated with medication or psychotherapy?

What is the best treatment for depression?

I attended a lecture last week by leading clinical psychologist and head of the counselling service in the University of Limerick, Dr. Declan Aherne, entitled

“Medication or psychotherapy in the treatment of depression and anxiety.”

The lecture discussed research results – from 1995 to 2011 – which examined the effects of medication and psychotherapy – given alone and in combination – on depression and anxiety. I was impressed by the lecture and by the question from the audience – many of whom were Psychiatrists, GPs, sufferers themselves and others working the area of depression and anxiety.

Let me explain some definitions and summarize a few points raised in this excellent lecture.

Some definitions:

Psychotherapy: The treatment of a behaviour disorder, mental illness, or any other condition by psychological means.

Medication (psychopharmacology): The scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior.

Some interesting points I took from the lecture include:

  1. Incidence – anxiety affects 66 million and depression affects 31 million each year in Europe alone.
  2. Treatment – medication is only beneficial in severe but not moderate or mild depression while up to 30% of patients take both psychotherapy and medication.
  3. Delivery – in Europe, psychotherapy is delivered mainly by non-psychiatrists (mostly psychotherapists) however there is a lack of communication between the psychotherapist and medical doctor in 22% of patients taking both psychotherapy and medication.
  4. Trends – between 1998 and 2007 – the use of psychotherapy decreased from 16% to 10% and combined treatment from 40% to 32%, while the use of medication actually increased from 44% to 57% – possibly reflecting a shift in away from psychotherapy and toward medication.
  5. Cost – it is estimated that the same therapeutic effect can be achieved with €70 for psychotherapy compared with €100 with medication (Prozac) over a 24 month period.
  6. What actually works – the efficacy of psychotherapy is best seen using practice based evidence – while the effects of medication are seen using evidence based practice. Psychotherapy therefore, cannot be reduced to a product resembling a drug.

Neuropsychotherapy

Having been involved in this research area since I earned a Ph.D. on the psychopharmacology of depression over 25 years ago I am convinced that far from there being a debate over which of the two treatments are best – psychotherapy and medication are in fact two sides of the same coin. The recent discovery that what we experience changes the shape of the brain – allowing discrete areas in the brain to grow or change – by adding a tiny fraction of the brain’s neural circuitry and eliminating old ones. As more findings from the neurosciences inform best practices in psychotherapy a new field of neuropsychotherapy will help develop better, more effective therapies to improve brain function and mental health.

What we already know

Nerve cells or neurons are notoriously bad at dividing. Rather than divide, a neuron survives by making up to 10,000 connections to neighbouring neurons – and this is the key to how we learn and recall as memories are created and strengthened.  This compromise works well most of the time however in depression and anxiety a gradual loss in the strength of previous healthy connections in the emotional centres of the brain  – often triggered by a loss – starts to take it toll resulting in a noticeable reduction in mood as we find it harder to remain positive. As the illness progresses a vicious cycle develops whereby maladaptive thoughts and behaviours such as persistent negative thinking, phobias and apathy take hold  – driven by a new set of this time ‘faulty’ connections.

Brain wiring – making healthy connections – is the key to recovery  

Studies in animals show that medication (e.g. an antidepressant drug) not only makes the previously healthy connections in the brain work better but it also triggers the brain to grow new nerve cells. Psychotherapy on the other hand helps to rewire the faulty connections as well as wiring-up new healthy connections from the newly generated neurons. If depression and anxiety resembled a broken down car then medication is the petrol that revives the engine while psychotherapy is the tweaking of any faulty electronic wiring – allowing the car to hum along without a hitch.

Psychotherapy and medication – vive la différence

I predict that in the future – treatments for depression and anxiety will not only involve psychotherapy and medication but will also include a combination of other therapies such as social support, self-help techniques, nutrition, sleep hygiene and exercise. Furthermore, these therapies may be prescribed alone and in combination at key stages to promote the growth of new neurons, strengthen healthy connections and rewire the faulty ones. This combined approach will treat the person as a whole, and will mark the beginning of the journey back to wellness and a normal life.

Inside the storytelling brain

I was reading an article in the Guardian newspaper recently on how important stories are to our human and societal interactions   Most of our ways of understanding the world are narratives of one form or another, whether serious scientific stories  conceptual metaphors, or the kind of tales we use to justify our choices in life.

Watch as cognitive neuroscientist, Michael Gazzaniga ponders our need to hear and tell coherent stories about ourselves.

Weekly Round Up: Brain Research

Scientists now have a better understanding of the way that stress impacts the brain. New research, published by Cell Press in the January 26 issue of the journal Neuron, reveals pioneering evidence for a new mechanism of stress adaptation and may eventually lead to a better understanding of why prolonged and repeated exposure to stress can lead to anxiety disorders and depression.

Men may be at higher risk of experiencing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or the stage of mild memory loss that occurs between normal aging and dementia, than women, according to a study published in the January 25, 2012, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Scientists have estimated for the first time the extent to which genes determine changes in intelligence across the human life course.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have created a new generation of fast-acting fluorescent dyes that optically highlight electrical activity in neuronal membranes. The work is published in this week’s online Early Edition of theProceedings of the National Academy of Science.

A new study led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, provides even more reason for people to read a book or do a puzzle, and to make such activities a lifetime habit. Brain scans revealed that people with no symptoms of Alzheimer’s who engaged in cognitively stimulating activities throughout their lives had fewer deposits of beta-amyloid, a destructive protein that is the hallmark of the disease.

Was it right to ban this boy’s assistance dog from school?

Luke Kelly-Melia with his assistance dog Aidan

I was reading over the weekend of the case of the parents of a young boy with cerebral palsy, who have opted to educate their child at home after they were told his assistance dog was not welcome at his primary school. Luke Kelly-Melia who is in sixth class at Knocktemple National School in Virginia, Co Cavan, has been told his golden retriever, Aidan, is not allowed on the school grounds until further notice.

I am not up-to-speed on the full details of this case, but I do know that research in neuroeducation -the brain science of learning – shows that the value of a trained child-friendly dog in the classroom  may far outweigh the concerns raised by the School Board of Management.

A 2002 study [“Behavioural effects of the presence of a dog in a classroom,” Anthrozoös 16 (2), 2003], conducted by Kurt Kotrschal and Brita Ortbauer, took place in Vienna.

The research found that having a dog in the classroom actually decreased behavioural extremes, making the diverse group more homogenous. Children were less engaged in loud, conspicuous, or troublesome behaviour. They paid more attention to their teacher, cooperated better, and communicated more intensely with one another. Improvements in social behaviour were more pronounced in boys than in girls, perhaps because girls showed less boisterous, “rough-and-tumble” activity to begin with. The researchers also speculate that the teacher’s authority increased, particularly with respect to certain male students, in the presence of her compliant, obedient dog.

A spokesperson for The Department of Education said it is a “matter for the board of management of each school to develop a policy on whether guide dogs or assistance dogs were allowed in the school, taking account of the needs of all the children in the school”. I do hope the School Board of Management will revisit their decision in respect of Luke and Aidan, as the newspaper article appears to indicate they may do.