hippocampus – Page 2 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

More Sophisticated Wiring, Not Just a Bigger Brain, Helped Humans Evolve Beyond Chimps

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2012Scienceamino acids, autism, bipolar syndrome, brain disease, brain region, brain tissue, cellular protein, chimp, chimp brain, chimpanzee, circadian rhythm, clock, daniel geschwind, DNA, expression, foxp1, foxp2, frontal cortex, frontal lobe, function, gene manufacture, genevieve konopka, genome, hippocampus, human, human brain, human evolution, human gene, hypothesis, jeremy davis turak, kellen winden, plasticity, schizophrenia, striatum, tara friedrich, ucla

Human and chimp brains look anatomically similar because both evolved from the same ancestor millions of years ago. But where does the chimp brain end and the human brain begin?

A new UCLA study pinpoints uniquely human patterns of gene activity in the brain that could shed light on how we evolved differently than our closest relative. The identification of these genes could improve understanding of human brain diseases like autism and schizophrenia, as well as learning disorders and addictions.

The research appears Aug. 22 in the advance online edition of the journal Neuron. (more…)

Some Harmful Effects of Light at Night Can Be Reversed, Study Finds

By Guest PostJuly 27, 2012Sciencebrain, chronic exposure, depression, depressive disorder, depressive symptom, drug, hamster, harmful effects, hippocampus, light, light cycle, light dark cycle, night, protein, randy nelson, rodent, siberian hamsters, tnf, tnf inhibitor, tracy bedrosian, tumor necrosis factor, xpro1595, zachary weil

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Chronic exposure to dim light at night can lead to depressive symptoms in rodents – but these negative effects can be reversed simply by returning to a standard light-dark cycle, a new study suggests.

While hamsters exposed to light at night for four weeks showed evidence of depressive symptoms, those symptoms essentially disappeared after about two weeks if they returned to normal lighting conditions.

Even changes in the brain that occurred after hamsters lived with chronic light at night reversed themselves after returning to a more normal light cycle. (more…)

UCLA Scientists Boost Memory By Stimulating Key Site in Brain

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2012Sciencealzheimer, americans, barbara knowlton, brain, brain cells, brain site, critical junction, cyber city, disease, entorhinal cortex, eric behnke, hippocampus, itzhak fried, john stern, memory, nanthia suthana, neuro prosthetic devices, neuroscientist, roy mukamel, taxi cab, ucla, united states, video game, virtual passenger, zulfi haneef

*Mechanism holds potential for improving recall in dementia patients*

Have you ever gone to the movies and forgotten where you parked the car? New UCLA research may one day help you improve your memory.

UCLA neuroscientists have demonstrated that they can strengthen memory in human patients by stimulating a critical junction in the brain. Published in the Feb. 9 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, the finding could lead to a new method for boosting memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. (more…)

‘Buyer Beware: Advertising May Seduce Your Brain’

By Guest PostSeptember 21, 2011Science, Technologyadvertisers, advertising, amygdala, andrew f leuchter, behavior, brain, cigarette products, cognitive responses to marketing stimuli, david schairer, decision making andemotional processing, eeg, electroencephalography, flat screen tv, george washington university, hippocampus, ian cook, levels of brain activity, logical persuasion, lp, magazines and newspapers, non rational influence, notion of neuromarketing, orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate regions, pretty woman, real world advertisements, sarah k pajot, washing machine

Are you wooed by advertising? Of course you are. After all, it’s one thing to go out and buy a new washing machine after the old one exploded, quite another to impulse-buy that 246-inch flat screen TV that just maybe, in hindsight, you didn’t really need.

Advertisers come at you in two ways. There is the just-the-facts type of ad, called “logical persuasion,” or LP (“This car gets 42 miles to the gallon”), and then there is the ad that circumvents conscious awareness, called “non-rational influence,” or NI (a pretty woman, say, draped over a car). (more…)

Brain’s Map of Space Falls Flat When It Comes to Altitude

By Guest PostAugust 8, 2011Scienceanimal brain, brain, brain map of space, complex environments, grid cells, hippocampus, hotspots, kate jeffery, map of space, nature neuroscience, neurons, place cells, Space, third dimension, ucl psychology and language sciences, wellcome trust

Animal’s brains are only roughly aware of how high-up they are in space, meaning that in terms of altitude the brain’s ‘map’ of space is surprisingly flat, according to new research.

In a study published online in Nature Neuroscience, scientists studied cells in or near a part of the brain called the hippocampus, which forms the brain’s map of space, to see whether they were activated when rats climbed upwards. (more…)

Is Meditation the Push-up for the Brain?

By Guest PostJuly 16, 2011Health, Scienceage related brain atrophy, amygdale, anterior corpus callosum, axonal demyelination, brain imaging, brain regions, brain stem, brains, bundles of neurons, cerebral cortex, corticospinal tract, diffusion tensor imaging, dti, eileen luders, electrical signals in the brain, frontal cortex, hippocampus, immune system, kristi clark, limbic system, meditation, meditators, mental exercise, micro anatomical level, occipital lobes, physical structure of the brain, shamatha, spinal cord, superior longitudinal fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, vipassana, white matter, zazen

*Study shows practice may have potential to change brain’s physical structure*

Two years ago, researchers at UCLA found that specific regions in the brains of long-term meditators were larger and had more gray matter than the brains of individuals in a control group. This suggested that meditation may indeed be good for all of us since, alas, our brains shrink naturally with age.

Now, a follow-up study suggests that people who meditate also have stronger connections between brain regions and show less age-related brain atrophy. Having stronger connections influences the ability to rapidly relay electrical signals in the brain. And significantly, these effects are evident throughout the entire brain, not just in specific areas. (more…)

Brain Rhythm Associated With Learning Also linked to Running Speed, UCLA Study Shows

By Guest PostJune 27, 2011Health, Sciencealzheimer's disease, brain as a large orchestra, brain oscillations, brain rhythm, concentration and learning, critical for learning and memory, from outer to inner space, gamma rhythm, hippocampus, keck center, language of the brain, mayank mehta, microelectrodes, microwires 20 times thinner than a human hair, neurophysics, physics and astronomy, plos one, post-traumatic stress, rhythms, running speed, syllables, ucla neurophysicists, university of california, zhiping chen

Rhythms in the brain that are associated with learning become stronger as the body moves faster, UCLA neurophysicists report in a new study.

The research team, led by professor Mayank Mehta, used specialized microelectrodes to monitor an electrical signal known as the gamma rhythm in the brains of mice. This signal is typically produced in a brain region called the hippocampus, which is critical for learning and memory, during periods of concentration and learning. (more…)

Tag Archives: hippocampus