Electroconvulsive therapy often evokes inaccurate images of seizing bodies and smoking ears. Better understanding of how it reduces depression symptoms can illuminate new ways to treat mental illness.
Experiencing the beat of a rhythm may be influenced.
by the body’s expectation of movement.
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Humans can spontaneously fall into rhythms with precision, and across a wide range of tempos. This may be because the same neurological processes that anticipate rhythm are involved with movement.
Deep brain stimulation can alleviate treatment-resistant depression for some patients.
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Deep brain stimulation can help some people with treatment-resistant depression feel better, but it can be unclear whether a bout of low mood is a relapse or a bad day.
Gliomas can form connections with distant areas of the brain, exploiting them for their own spread and growth.
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Glioblastoma is the most aggressive type of brain cancer, causing significant decline in cognitive function. New research suggests a common anti-seizure drug could help control tumor growth.
A class of inhibitory neurons can make long-distance connections across both hemispheres of the brain.
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Learning new rules requires the suppression of old ones. A better understanding of the brain circuits involved in behavioral adaptation could lead to new ways to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Blood carries oxygen and vital nutrients to the brain.
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Neuroscientists have typically thought of energy supply to the brain as demand-based. A supply-limited view offers another perspective toward aging and why multitasking can be difficult.
In addition to memory loss, seizures can result in a complete loss of consciousness.
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Many people with epilepsy are unable to remember what happened immediately before they have a seizure. This may be because seizures and memory use the same pathways of the brain.
Concussion patients were once prescribed rest in a dark room, but in recent years concussion management has literally come out of the dark.
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For many years, concussion treatment followed a rest-is-best approach. But research now suggests that low-to-moderate intensity exercise is a safe and useful approach to managing concussion symptoms.
Even young children are very aware of whether they’re getting their fair share.
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Cognitive neuroscientists use brain imaging and behavioral economic games to investigate people’s sense of fairness. They find it’s common to take care of yourself before looking out for others.
It gets easier with practice.
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Despite its huge complexity, your brain directs its neural traffic in relatively straightforward ways when approaching cognitively demanding tasks such as puzzles.
Your brain is conducting multiple orchestras of information at the same time.
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Like a cocktail partygoer able to focus on one discussion in a noisy room, brains are able to make reliable connections against a busy neural background. Here are two phenomena that help it happen.
BCI devices that read minds and act on intentions can change lives for the better. But they could also be put to nefarious use in the not-too-distant future. Now’s the time to think about risks.
What makes some individuals good at learning languages?
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Unexplained, chronic pain known as fibromyalgia affects up to 5% of the population. Yet there are no effective treatment options for the millions for whom each day begins with persistent pain.
Particular parts of an individual’s brain tend to work together on certain tasks. Researchers can look at these patterns of “functional connectivity” to predict traits – like the ability to pay attention.
Typically, researchers pool a bunch of brain scans to figure out the average way brains handle certain tasks. Instead, could they pick out individual brain profiles from a stack of 126 people’s scans?
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Neurology at Oregon Health and Sciences University and Affiliate Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Washington