Study reveals brain mechanisms of auditory attention
From the Carnegie Mellon University press release: How is it that we are able–without any noticeable effort–to listen to a friend talk in a crowded café or follow the melody of a violin within an…
Neurobiology: The chemistry of memory
From the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (LMU) press release: Learning requires the chemical adaptation of individual synapses. Researchers have now revealed the impact of an RNA-binding protein that is intimately involved in this process on learning and…
Study suggests infants understand that more desirable rewards require more effort
From the American Association for the Advancement of Science press release: Infants who observe someone putting more effort into attaining a goal attribute more value to it, a new study finds. Past work has shed…
Theory: Flexibility is at the heart of human intelligence
From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign press release: Centuries of study have yielded many theories about how the brain gives rise to human intelligence. Some neuroscientists think intelligence springs from a single region or…
Preliminary stages of dementia reduce human face memorization ability
From the Kumamoto University press release: A Japanese research group has revealed that elderly people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have a particularly weakened ability to memorize human faces in the short term when compared…
Study suggests babies understand when words are related
From the Duke University press release: The meaning behind infants’ screeches, squeals and wails may frustrate and confound sleep-deprived new parents. But at an age when babies cannot yet speak to us in words, they…
New details on aged brain, Alzheimer’s and dementia
From the Allen Institute press release: In a comprehensive analysis of samples from 107 aged human brains, researchers at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, UW Medicine and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute have…
Intervention becomes first to successfully reduce risk of dementia
From the University of South Florida (USF Health) press release: Computerized brain-training is now the first intervention of any kind to reduce the risk of dementia among older adults. The breakthrough results from a randomized…
Theory linking cognition, genes and income refuted
From the Northwestern University press release: Researchers have cast doubt on a widely-held belief that connects family income with cognitive development, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A…
Study suggests the brain auditions different cells when learning a task, some don’t make the cut
From the Cell Press press release: For decades, neuroscientists have wondered how the brain can continue to learn new skills without needing to grow in size or volume over a person’s lifetime. Evidence suggests that…