Cognitive Labs

A new research study of 1157 people has found that active brains are better able to resist cognitive decline. On the other hand, once dementias are noticed the rate of decline may increase for those who have been able to stave off the earliest indicators of the disease. What is hypothesized according to experts like Drs. Peterson and DeKosky is that cognitive reserve from brain-training activities plays a role in lengthening the period of cognitive effectiveness.

Labels: cognitive-reserve, dekosky, games, peterson

Meditation, Relaxation. and Deep Thinking is threatened by constant reliance on digital devices, say neuroscientists in a NY Times piece.

Labels: bates, nytimes, piece

Scientists believe that preventing loneliness and developing social connections, or the lack thereof, can play a role in whether or not individuals become susceptible for Alzheimer's according to recent research. Having a large number of friends on social networks like myspace or facebook may not mitigate these findings...

Labels: social

A shift in research strategy among scientists is beginning to yield insights into how Alzheimer’s disease begins. The key to the Alzheimer’s project was an agreement as ambitious as its goal: not just to raise money, not just to do research on a vast scale, but also to share all the data, making every single finding public immediately, available to anyone with a computer anywhere in the world.

Labels: research, ucsf, weiner

Scientists believe that sometimes the brain throws up roadblocks to prevent the cortex from being disturbed during crucial periods of sleep when memories are consolidated. These roadblocks are sleep spindles, which also have a characteristic appearance on an EEG.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School's Division of Sleep Medicine and colleagues theorized that people whose brains produced a higher rate of sleep spindles would be rewarded with a sounder sleep.

To test their hypothesis, they convinced 12 volunteers to spend three nights in a sleep lab at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital....read the whole piece

Labels: latimes, spindles, thalamus

A specific area in our brains is responsible for processing information about human and animal faces, both how we recognize them and how we interpret facial expressions. Now, Tel Aviv University research is exploring what makes this highly specialized part of the brain unique, a first step to finding practical applications for that information.

In her "Face Lab" at Tel Aviv University, Dr. Galit Yovel of TAU's Department of Psychology is trying to understand the mechanisms at work in the face area of the brain called the "fusiform gyrus" of the brain. She is combining cognitive psychology with techniques like brain imaging and electrophysiology to study how the brain processes information about faces. Her most recent research on the brain's face-processing mechanisms was published in the Journal of Neuroscience and Human Brain Mapping. MORE

Labels: aviv, facelab, galit, yovel

People who stay in education for longer appear to be better able to compensate for the effects of dementia on the brain, a study suggests.

A UK and Finnish team found those with more education were as likely to show the signs of dementia in their brains at death as those with less.

But they were less likely to have displayed symptoms during their lifetime, the study in Brain said.

Experts said scientists now had to find out why the effect occurred.
Related stories

* Dementia: Facts and figures
* Longer schooling 'cuts dementia'

Over the past decade, studies on dementia have consistently shown that the more time you spend in education, the lower the risk of dementia.

But studies have been unable to show whether or not education - which is linked to higher socio-economic status and healthier lifestyles - protects the brain against dementia.

Labels: averted, brain, education