Online advertising featuring bright colors, cartoon figures and promotions by social media influencers entice adolescents to try tobacco.
Like natural hormones, known as endogenous hormones, the artificial hormones contained in the pill, known as exogenous hormones, can have effects on the brain.
(Shutterstock)
Oral contraceptives modify the menstrual cycle. What’s less well known is that they also reach the brain, particularly the regions important for regulating emotions.
Researchers are working on untangling the neural circuitry of chronic and acute pain.
Victor Habbick Visions/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
Pain has long been subjectively measured, leading to frustrations for patients and doctors alike. Identifying neural biomarkers of pain could improve diagnosis and lead to better treatments of chronic pain conditions.
A class of inhibitory neurons can make long-distance connections across both hemispheres of the brain.
akinbostanci/iStock via Getty Images Plus
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.
When we are tired, bored or something is bothering us, children and adults behave worse. All because the brain’s control tower, the prefrontal cortex, is not working at full capacity.
Your brain can imagine things that haven’t happened or that don’t even exist.
agsandrew/iStock via Getty Images Plus
By learning what parts of the brain are crucial for imagination to work, neuroscientists can look back over hundreds of millions of years of evolution to figure out when it first emerged.
As the planet heats up, air pollution is getting worse.
Westend61/Getty Images
In a systematic review of existing studies, researchers found that air pollution such as fine particulate matter can interfere with regions of the brain responsible for emotional regulation.
The effects of COVID and a new treatment for it are leaving a bad taste in the mouth for many. How do we detect what’s salty, sweet, bitter, sour or umami?
This brain region also shows how effective certain treatments will be.
The teenage brain has a voracious drive for reward, diminished behavioural control and a susceptibility to be shaped by experience. This often manifests as a reduced ability to resist high-calorie junk foods.
(Shutterstock)
Excessively eating junk foods during adolescence could alter brain development, leading to lasting poor diet habits. But, like a muscle, the brain can be exercised to improve willpower.
Toronto Maple Leafs’ goaltender Frederik Andersen is scored on by Montreal Canadiens’ Andrew Shaw during second period NHL hockey action in Montreal in April.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
How does being thankful about things in your own life relate to any selfless concern you may have about the well-being of others? A neuroscientist explores the gratitude/altruism connection.
Young adults at a tailgate. Young adults are more likely than older adults to binge drink and are at greater risk when they do.
Monkey Business ImagesShutterstock.com
A Sept. 14 report on drug use suggested that opioid use has declined. But troubling trends in drinking among teens and young adults stood out. An addiction specialist explains the unique dangers.
In men and older women, a complicated thinking test appeared to overwhelm the part of the brain also responsible for moving one of their arms. They could only do one or the other.
Human memory is complex and neuroscientists are still trying to uncover the mechanisms that lead to memories being formed.
Viki Reed/Flickr
Our memories provide us with insight into events, knowledge of the world around us and influence our actions and behaviours – forming important aspects of our personality.
Research Associate in Psychology and the Center for Brain Injury Research and Training; Director of Emotions and Neuroplasticity Project, University of Oregon
Profesor e investigador de la Sección de Genética Biomédica, Evolutiva y del Desarrollo. Director de la Cátedra de Neuroeducación UB-EDU1st, Universitat de Barcelona