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Category: neuroscience – Page 623

The neural basis of syllogistic reasoning: An event-related potential study

The spatiotemporal analysis of brain activation during syllogistic reasoning, and the execution of 1 baseline task (BST) were performed in 14 healthy adult participants using high-density event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The following results were obtained: First, the valid syllogistic reasoning task (VSR) elicited a greater positive ERP deflection than the invalid syllogistic reasoning task (ISR) and BST between 300 and 400 ms after the onset of the minor premise. Dipole source analysis of the difference waves (VSR-BST and VSR-ISR) indicated that the positive components were localized in the vicinity of the occipito-temporal cortex, possibly related to visual premise processing. Second, VSR and ISR demonstrated greater negativity than BST developed at 600–700 ms. Dipole source analysis of difference waves (VSR-BST and ISR-BST) indicated that the negative components were mainly localized near the medial frontal cortex/the anterior cingulate cortex, possibly related to the manipulation and integration of premise information. Third, both VSR and ISR elicited a more positive ERP deflection than BST between 2,500 and 3,000 ms. Voltage maps of the difference waves (VSR-BST and VSR-ISR) demonstrated strong activity in the right frontal scalp regions. Results indicate that the reasoning tasks may require more mental effort to spatial processing of working memory.

Working memory for order information: multiple cognitive and neural mechanisms

Working memory for order information is mediated by different cognitive mechanisms that rely on different neural circuits. Here we discuss evidence that order memory involves mechanisms that range from general supervisory processes to process that maintenance fine-grained temporal position information. We suggest that neural regions-including the prefrontal cortex, motor cortex, parietal cortex and medial temporal structures-operate at different levels and processing stages to give rise to working memory for order information.

Harvard Medical Researchers Discover Surprising Protective Properties of Pain

New research in mice illuminates how pain neurons shield the gut from damage.

Pain is one of evolution’s most effective mechanisms for detecting injury and letting us know that something is wrong. It acts as a warning system, telling us to stop and pay attention to our body.

But what if pain is more than just a mere alarm signal? What if pain is in itself a form of protection?

The neuroscience of human intelligence differences

Neuroscience is contributing to an understanding of the biological bases of human intelligence differences. This work is principally being conducted along two empirical fronts: genetics—quantitative and molecular—and brain imaging. Quantitative genetic studies have established that there are additive genetic contributions to different aspects of cognitive ability—especially general intelligence—and how they change through the lifespan. Molecular genetic studies have yet to identify reliably reproducible contributions from individual genes. Structural and functional brain-imaging studies have identified differences in brain pathways, especially parieto-frontal pathways, that contribute to intelligence differences. There is also evidence that brain efficiency correlates positively with intelligence.

Researchers Have a New Theory About What Causes Alzheimer’s, And It’s Not Plaque

In 1906, Alois Alzheimer, a psychiatrist and neuroanatomist, reported “a peculiar severe disease process of the cerebral cortex” to a gathering of psychiatrists in Tübingen, Germany.

The case was a 50-year-old woman who suffered from memory loss, delusions, hallucinations, aggression, and confusion – all of which worsened until her untimely death five years later.

In the autopsy, Alzheimer noticed distinctive plaques on her brain. These plaques – clumps of amyloid-beta protein – are still considered to be the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease: surprising new theory about what might cause it

In 1906, Alois Alzheimer, a psychiatrist and neuroanatomist, reported “a peculiar severe disease process of the cerebral cortex” to a gathering of psychiatrists in Tübingen, Germany. The case was a 50-year-old woman who suffered from memory loss, delusions, hallucinations, aggression and confusion – all of which worsened until her untimely death five years later.

Brain cells in a lab dish learn to play Pong — and offer a window onto intelligence

A dish of living brain cells has learned to play the 1970s arcade game Pong.

About 800,000 cells linked to a computer gradually learned to sense the position of the game’s electronic ball and control a virtual paddle, a team reports in the journal Neuron.

The novel achievement is part of an effort to understand how the brain learns, and how to make computers more intelligent.

Experimental Cancer Drug Reverses Schizophrenia in Adolescent Mice

O.o!!!.

Johns Hopkins researchers say that an experimental anticancer compound appears to have reversed behaviors associated with schizophrenia and restored some lost brain cell function in adolescent mice with a rodent version of the devastating mental illness.

The drug is one of a class of compounds known as PAK inhibitors, which have been shown in animal experiments to confer some protection from brain damage due to Fragile X syndrome, an inherited disease in humans marked by mental retardation. There also is some evidence, experts say, suggesting PAK inhibitors could be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. And because the PAK protein itself can initiate cancer and cell growth, PAK inhibitors have also been tested for cancer.

In the new Johns Hopkins-led study, reported online March 31 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers found that the compound, called FRAX486, appears to halt an out-of-control biological “pruning” process in the schizophrenic brain during which important neural connections are unnecessarily destroyed.

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