The experience of awe may be fleeting, but its impact on brain function has lasting psychological benefits. Here’s how to start cultivating it in your daily life.
Category: neuroscience – Page 15
Our psychological profiles provide clues to our future risk and severity of cognitive decline that may one day inform tailored prevention strategies, a new study suggests.
“The aim was to elucidate how various combinations of psychological characteristics are related to mental, cognitive and brain health,” explains University of Barcelona psychologist David Bartrés-Faz.
“To date, psychological risk and protective factors have been examined almost exclusively independently: this approach is limiting, as psychological characteristics do not exist in isolation.”
Summary: A new study challenges the belief that larger groups reduce cooperation, showing instead that flexible social connections enhance teamwork. Researchers found that in a prisoner’s dilemma game, participants in bigger groups cooperated more frequently, despite memory limitations.
Brain scans revealed that when memories of past interactions were unclear, participants relied on prosocial instincts to guide behavior. Key brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, helped balance memory, reward, and decision-making.
The study looked at the effect of cannabis use on young adults who are recent or heavy users
AURORA, Colo., Jan. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — A new study published today in JAMA Network Open explores the effects of both recent and lifetime cannabis use on brain function during cognitive tasks.
The study, the largest of its kind ever to be completed, examined the effects of cannabis use on over 1,000 young adults aged 22 to 36 using brain imaging technology. The researchers found that 63% of heavy lifetime cannabis users exhibited reduced brain activity during a working memory task, while 68% of recent users also demonstrated a similar impact.
(Q&A — 46:21) Madeline Lancaster, PhD presents her paper as published in the July 10, 2020 issue of Science. [Show ID: 36720]
Please Note: Knowledge about health and medicine is constantly evolving. This information may become out of date.
More from: Breaking News in Stem Cells: Southern California Stem Cell Seminar Series.
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A new study has uncovered the role that a specific molecule in the brain plays in maintaining long-term memory.
As you lay your head down to sleep tonight and dream all things weird and wonderful, scientists think your brain is going through a gentle rinse cycle, washing away a day’s worth of toxic by-products in preparation for a new day of thinking ahead.
But the mechanisms behind this neurological cleansing system have yet to be described in detail.
Now researchers from the University of Copenhagen have applied a suite of technologies to map the subtle rise and fall of neurotransmitters, blood volume, and spinal fluid in mice as they go about their day.
Source: PNAS Nexus.
The microbial ecosystems within our mouths may affect our cognitive function as we age, according to a study. Interventions such as prebiotics, including dietary nitrate, have potential for delaying cognitive decline.
About 15% of older adults have mild cognitive impairment, which is the largest risk factor for the development of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. There is a known association between periodontitis—gum disease—and worsened cognitive function.
The brain tries to repair damage after a stroke by utilizing its own repair cells, which function like skilled craftsmen. However, their efforts are often obstructed by inflammation, according to new research from the University of Southern Denmark and the University.
A new study conducted by researchers from the Department of Molecular Medicine at SDU highlights one of the most severe consequences of stroke: damage to the brain’s “cables”—the nerve fibers—which results in permanent impairments. Based on unique tissue samples from Denmark’s Brain Bank at SDU, the study could pave the way for new treatments to help the brain repair itself.
Can you trust your senses? Do animals have morals? Is your mind deceiving you?
Find out in BRAIN JOB: Perception, where we explore mind-bending phenomena like change blindness, the Trolley Problem, time travel, and more.
Thanks to museum of illusions chicago.
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