Tag Archives: memory

Mammalian Brain Knows Where It’s at

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2012Sciencebehavior, brain, brain injury, brown university, conventional wisdom, depression, disease, egocentric movement, electrical activity, fish sculpture, frequency, hippocampus, humans, journal, location, memory, neuron, neuropsychiatric diseases, neuroscientist, object, omar ahmed, parahippocampal cortex, pattern, phc, por, postrhinal cortex, primate neuroanatomy, rebecca burwell, region, rhythm, schizophrenia, sharon furtak, Space, spiking, theta, treat

A new study in the journal Neuron suggests that the brain uses a different region than neuroscientists had thought to associate objects and locations in the space around an individual. Knowing where this fundamental process occurs could help treat disease and brain injury as well as inform basic understanding of how the brain supports memory and guides behavior.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Where are you?

Conventional wisdom in brain research says that you just used your hippocampus to answer that question, but that might not be the whole story. The context of place depends on not just how you got there, but also the things you see around you. A new study in Neuron provides evidence that a different part of the brain is important for understanding where you are based on the spatial layout of the objects in that place. The finding, in rats, has a direct analogy to primate neuroanatomy. (more…)

Researchers Report Potential New Treatment to Stop Alzheimer’s Disease

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2012Health, Sciencealzheimer, amyloid beta, blood brain barrier, brain, brain pathology, cell, clr01, disease, disorders, gal bitan, inhibitor, mammalian animal model, memory, molecular compound, molecular tweezer, mouse model, neuron, parkinsons disease, pathologic feature, process specific, radioactive label, tau, toxic protein, ucla

Molecular ‘tweezers’ break up toxic aggregations of proteins in mouse model

Last March, researchers at UCLA reported the development of a molecular compound called CLR01 that prevented toxic proteins associated with Parkinson’s disease from binding together and killing the brain’s neurons.

Building on those findings, they have now turned their attention to Alzheimer’s disease, which is thought to be caused by a similar toxic aggregation or clumping, but with different proteins, especially amyloid-beta and tau. (more…)

Preschoolers’ Counting Abilities Relate to Future Math Performance, MU Researcher Says

By Guest PostNovember 13, 2012Education, Scienceadults, alphabet, carrots, chronological order, cognitive activity, data, elementary school, essential skill, future success, louis manfra, math score, math skills, memory, missouri, number, numerical values, object, quantity, reciting numbers, set, university, young children

Counting, in addition to reciting, should be emphasized in early childhood education to establish foundation for future academic success

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Along with reciting the days of the week and the alphabet, adults often practice reciting numbers with young children. Now, new research from the University of Missouri suggests reciting numbers is not enough to prepare children for math success in elementary school. The research indicates that counting, which requires assigning numerical values to objects in chronological order, is more important for helping preschoolers acquire math skills.

“Reciting means saying the numbers from memory in chronological order, whereas counting involves understanding that each item in the set is counted once and that the last number stated is the amount for the entire set,” said Louis Manfra, an assistant professor in MU’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies. “When children are just reciting, they’re basically repeating what seems like a memorized sentence. When they’re counting, they’re performing a more cognitive activity in which they’re associating a one-to-one correspondence with the object and the number to represent a quantity.” (more…)

5 Easy Steps to Make Your Computer Run Faster

By Guest PostAugust 26, 2012Technologycomputer, data, defrag, easy steps, faster, hard drive, memory, mitch taylor, msconfig, ram, run, spyware, startup, update software, virus

Most computers are not slow out of the box, with use and new programs installed a computer can slow down significantly. A slow running computer can be a nightmare, and really cut productivity. Not only that, but it can be extremely aggravating and time consuming to fix. It is actually very simple to speed up a slow running computer with just a simple few steps. Here are 5 easy steps to make a computer run faster.

Disable Startup Items

Many programs automatically startup even though it may not be necessary. By clicking start, run, and typing msconfig, then going to the startup tab. You can see which programs are automatically starting up when the computer is turned on. It would be prudent to disable anything that is not necessary to startup with the computer. Any programs that do not startup automatically can be opened manually later if needed. This frees up memory for more essential activities. (more…)

International Team Uncovers New Genes That Shape Brain Size, Intelligence

By Guest PostApril 16, 2012Scienceadenine, alzheimer's disease, arthur toga, australia, bad gene, barbara franke, bigger brain, bipolar disorder, brain size, brain study, centers, cytosine, dementia, depression, derrek hibar, disorder, DNA, Europe, gene, genetic variant, geneticist, guanine, hmga2, human gene, intelligence, iq test, jason stein, margaret wright, memory, mental illnesses, neda jahanshad, nick martin, North America, paul thompson, project enigma, rita cantor, rudy senstad, schizophrenia, thymine

*UCLA-launched partnership identifies genes that boost or lessen risk of brain atrophy, mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease*

In the world’s largest brain study to date, a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide collaborated to map the human genes that boost or sabotage the brain’s resistance to a variety of mental illnesses and Alzheimer’s disease.

Published April 15 in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Genetics, the study also uncovers new genes that may explain individual differences in brain size and intelligence. (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…)

Men More Likely To Have An Accurate Memory of Unpleasant Experiences

By Guest PostFebruary 4, 2012Scienceadrianna mendrek, arousal affect, brain, computer screen, eeg, electrophysiological investigation, emma glaser, emotional memory, emotionally provocative, experience, image, left hemisphere, man, marc lavoie, martine germain, memory, nadia lakis, neuron activity, right hemisphere, sex differences, university of montreal, unpleasant, valence, woman

A woman’s memory of an experience is less likely to be accurate than a man’s if it was unpleasant and emotionally provocative, according to research undertaken by University of Montreal researchers at Louis-H Lafontaine Hospital. “Very few studies have looked at how ‘valence’ and ‘arousal’ affect memories independently of each other, that is to say, how attractive or repulsive we find an experience and how emotionally provocative it is,” said corresponding author Dr. Marc Lavoie, of the university’s Department of Psychiatry and the hospital’s Fernand-Seguin Research Center. “Our test relied on photos – we found firstly that highly arousing pictures blur women’s capacity to determine whether they’ve seen it before, and secondly that women have a clearer memory of attractive experiences than men. Arousal has an enhancing effect on the memory of men however, as does ‘low valence’ or unpleasantness.” (more…)

Diamonds, Silver and the Quest for Single Photons

By Guest PostOctober 21, 2011Scienceambient electromagnetic field environment, crystal lattice, diamond crystals, diamond microchips, electrical engineer, fluorescence intensity, harvard university, imperfections in diamond, jennifer choy, luminescent, magnetometers, marko loncar, memory, nanometer scale, nanowires, nitrogen vacancy color, photon emission, quantum based data, quantum computing, quantum information, quantum networks, Technology, tiny crystal

*Tiny crystal towers enlighten understanding of photon emission, could inspire diamond microchips for quantum computing*

Building on earlier work, scientists and engineers recently developed a manufacturing process that allows them to craft an assortment of miniature, silver-plated-diamond posts that enable greater control of light producing photons at the atomic scale. The research could prove important for future generations of quantum computers.

Prior research demonstrated how nanowires carved in impurity-laden diamond crystal could efficiently emit individual photons, an important discovery for using light to rapidly read and write quantum-based data. (more…)