When you reach into your pocket, you can easily tell a button from a coin. Solving this seemingly simple problem is actually amazingly complicated. The long-held scientific explanation is that neurons in the cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain reserved for the most complicated functions, make the differentiation but recent findings Continue reading
Dopamine plays a key role in decisions involving risk and reward, says UBC’s Stan Floresco.
A gambler’s decision to stay or fold in a game of cards could be influenced by a chemical in the brain, suggests new research from the University of British Columbia. Continue reading
It’s in the brain where we perceive the unpleasant sensations of pain, and researchers have long been examining how calcium channels in the brain and peripheral nervous system contribute to the development of chronic pain conditions. Continue reading
In a new study published 2 September 2014 in the scientific journal Neuron, Sam David and his team at the Research Institute of the McGill University Heath Centre shed light on why inflammation after nervous system injury, such as spinal cord trauma, worsens damage and functional loss. Sam David says that “a cytokine called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and iron from red blood cells that are phagocytosed by macrophages favours a prolonged shift to harmful pro-inflammatory type of macrophage that is detrimental to recovery.” Continue reading
Research by Dr. Sylvain Williams shows that the flow of activity in the hippocampus, a brain region essential for memory, is actually bidirectional, rather than just unidirectional
A study just published in the prestigious Nature Neuroscience journal by Sylvain Williams, PhD, and his team, of the Research Centre of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University, opens the door towards better understanding of the neural circuitry and dynamic mechanisms controlling memory as well of the role of an essential element of the hippocampus – a sub-region named the subiculum. Continue reading
New research led by University of Toronto neurologist Andrew Lim sheds light on sleep disruption in aging adults.
“In many older people with insomnia and other patterns of sleep disruption, the underlying cause is unknown,” said Lim, assistant professor of neurology and neuroscientist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences.
“We provide evidence that loss of neurons in a particular region of the brain that controls sleep may be an important contributor to insomnia in many older individuals.” Continue reading
Study suggests ways to treat these deficits before the psychiatric symptoms develop
Researchers at the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre have traced the origins of ADHD, substance abuse and conduct disorder, and found that they develop from the same neurocognitive deficits, which in turn explains why they often occur together. “Psychopathology exists on multiple continua of brain function. Some of these dimensions contribute to a multitude of problems, others contribute to specific problems. Together, they explain patterns of comorbidity such as why ADHD and conduct problems co-occur with substance misuse at such a high rate,” explained the study’s lead author, Professor Patricia Conrod. Continue reading
Discovery sheds light on where visual memories are born
“When a tiger starts to move towards you, you need to know whether it is something you are actually seeing or whether it’s just something that you remember or have imagined,” says Prof. Julio Martinez-Trujillo of McGill’s Department of Physiology. The researcher and his team have discovered that there is a clear frontier in the brain between the area that encodes information about what is immediately before the eyes and the area that encodes the abstract representations that are the product of our short-term memory or imagination. Continue reading
Findings suggest a brain cell’s activity helps determine whether it will hold a subsequent memory
Understanding how and where memories are normally stored in the brain will be the key to developing new treatments for memory disorders. Memories are thought to be created through the strengthening of connections between brain cells (neurons) to form a memory. In a new study led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), researchers have discovered one important factor that determines which precise neurons are selected to store a given memory and where this memory is stored. The study is published in the August 6 online edition of Neuron. Continue reading
Genes, pathways identified could inform new approaches to treatment
As part of a multinational, collaborative effort, researchers from Canada’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have helped identify over 100 locations in the human genome associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia, in what is the largest genomic study published on any psychiatric disorder to date. The findings, published online in Nature, point to biological mechanisms and pathways that may underlie schizophrenia, and could lead to new approaches to treating the disorder, which has seen little innovation in drug development in more than 60 years. Continue reading