Neuroscience

Learning a second language is usually difficult and often when we speak it we cannot disguise our origin or accent. However, there are important differences between individuals with regard to the degree to which a second language is mastered, even for people who have lived in a bilingual environment since childhood. Members of the Cognitive Neuroscience Research Group (GRNC) linked to the Barcelona Science Park have studied these differences. By comparing people who are able to perceive a second language as if they were native speakers of that language with people who find it very difficult…

People living with synaesthesia (known as synaesthetes) experience abnormal interactions between the senses. Digit-color synaesthetes, for instance, will experience certain numbers in specific colors (for example, they might experience the number seven as red). A possible reason put forward for this phenomenon is the existence of extra connections between brain areas in synaesthetes, but the new study, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests otherwise. Hypnosis can induce synaesthetic experiences – where one sense triggers the involuntary use of another – according to a new…

Are you missing that special someone? To let him or her know you really care, nothing says 'I love you' like a lab report showing your corticotropin-releasing factor levels are elevated. A paper published in Neuropsychopharmacology notes that evidence suggests social bonds have a positive impact on health and buffer against stressors. Absence or sudden disruption of those bonds can lead to anxiety-like and depressive-like disorders. "Thus," the authors say, "understanding the neurobiological consequences of partner loss, particularly with respect to increased susceptibility to depression, may…

New studies conducted by April Benasich, professor of neuroscience at Rutgers University in Newark, and her colleagues reveal that gamma wave activity in the brains of children provide a window into their cognitive development, and could open the way for more effective intervention for those likely to experience language problems. "Research into the adult brain has shown that gamma activity is the 'glue' that binds together perceptions, thoughts and memories," notes Benasich. "Little research, however, has been conducted into the development of gamma activity in the infant brain and its…

Yale researchers have described how dueling brain systems may explain why you forget to drop off the dry cleaning and may point to ways that substance abusers and people with obsessive compulsive disorder can overcome bad habits. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Christopher J. Pittenger, M.D., and colleagues describe a sort of competition between areas of the brain involved in learning that results in what Pittenger calls the “dry cleaning effect.” One area of the brain called the striatum helps record cues or landmarks that lead to a familiar destination. It is…

Research into tobacco dependence published online today (Friday 17 October 2008) in the November issue of Addiction, has shown that recent ex-smokers who find exposure to other people's cigarette smoke pleasant are not any more likely to relapse than those who find it unpleasant. Led by Dr Hayden McRobbie and Professor Peter Hajek of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, researchers examined the hypothesis that those who find the smell of smoke pleasant are more likely to relapse than those who have a neutral or negative reaction to it…

Using brain imaging and chocolate milkshakes, scientists have found that women with weakened "reward circuitry" in their brains are at increased risk of weight gain over time and potential obesity. The risk increases even more for women who also have a gene associated with compromised dopamine signaling in the brain. The results, drawn from two studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at the University of Oregon's Lewis Center for Neuroimaging, appear in the Oct. 17 issue of the journal Science. The first-of-its-kind approach unveiled blunted activation in the brain's dorsal…

In a series of experiments with sleeping mice, researchers at the Duke University Medical Center say they have shown that the part of the brain that processes scents is a key part of forming long-term memories, especially involving other individuals. "We can all relate to the experience of walking into a room and smelling something that sparks a vivid, emotional memory about a family member from years or even decades ago," says Stephen Shea, Ph.D., the lead author of the study published in The Journal of Neuroscience. "This research sought to understand that phenomenon on a cellular level."…

People with autism-related disorders are less likely to make irrational decisions, and are less influenced by gut instincts, according to research funded by the Wellcome Trust. The study adds to the growing body of research implicating altered emotional processing in autism. Decision-making is a complex process, involving both intuition and analysis: analysis involves computation and more "rational" thought, but is slower; intuition, by contrast, is much faster, but less accurate, relying on heuristics, or "gut instincts". Previous studies have shown that our response to a problem depends on…

By mopping up excess neurotrophic factor from neuronal synapses, astrocytes may finely tune synaptic transmission to affect processes such as learning and memory, say Bergami et al. The major cellular events of learning and memory are long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD), both of which affect neurons' ability to communicate with one another. Neurons that have undergone LTP display a stronger electrical response to the same level of a stimulus, whereas neurons that have gone through LTD display a weaker response. These changes are thought to result from modifications of…