Month: April 2014
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Scientists discover brain’s anti-distraction system
Two Simon Fraser University psychologists have discovered that our brains have an active suppression mechanism that helps us avoid distraction when we want to focus on a particular item or task. Their study is the first to identify this mechanism, which they say could revolutionize doctors’ perception and treatment of attention-deficit disorders.
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Pain curbs sex drive in female mice, but not in males
Findings could help scientists study pain-inhibited sexual desire in humans “Not tonight, dear, I have a headache.” Generally speaking, that line is attributed to the wife in a couple, implying that women’s sexual desire is more affected by pain than men’s. Now, researchers from McGill University and Concordia University in Montreal have investigated, possibly for…
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Toward a better understanding of schizophrenia
Bruno Giros, PhD, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University, has demonstrated, for the first time, the role that dopamine plays in a region of the brain called the hippocampus.
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New insight into fatal childhood brain tumour may lead to patient-targeted treatment
Imagine being a parent receiving news that your six-year-old child has a brain tumour that has no effective treatment, and is almost universally fatal. This is a harsh reality for the 30 children in Canada who are diagnosed each year with a rare paediatric cancer called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
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Noisy brain signals: How the schizophrenic brain misinterprets the world
People with schizophrenia often misinterpret what they see and experience in the world. New research provides insight into the brain mechanisms that might be responsible for this misinterpretation. The study from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital – The Neuro – at McGill University and McGill University Health Centre, reveals that certain errors in visual…