http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The pattern of brain responses to words in 2-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder predicted the youngsters' linguistic, cognitive and adaptive skills at ages 4 and 6, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-early-brain-responses-words-developmental.html Autism spectrum disorders Wed, 29 May 2013 16:59:33 EST news289065555 Prisoners who are psychopaths lack the basic neurophysiological "hardwiring" that enables them to care for others, according to a new study by neuroscientists at the University of Chicago and the University of New Mexico. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-psychopaths-neurally-equipped.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:00:03 EST news286037285 (Medical Xpress)—A research team that includes several Penn State scientists has completed a first-of-its-kind longitudinal pilot study aimed at better understanding how the neural processes that underlie responses to alcohol-related cues change during students' first year of college. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-brain-mapping-alcohol-effects-first-year-college.html Addiction Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:10:16 EST news282913809 Changes in the brain following amputation have been linked to pain arising from the missing limb, called 'phantom pain', in an Oxford University brain imaging study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-amputee-phantom-pain-linked-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 05 Mar 2013 11:00:02 EST news281701326 (Medical Xpress)—Some people do not learn from their mistakes because of the way their brain works, according to research led by an academic at Goldsmiths, University of London. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-neuroscience.html Neuroscience Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:01:21 EST news281174467 A team of American and Israeli brain scientists tested former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to assess his brain responses, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Surprisingly, Sharon showed significant brain activity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-israel-ariel-sharon-reveal-significant.html Neuroscience Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:21:38 EST news278666474 (HealthDay)—Results of functional brain imaging can greatly improve prediction of which patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) will benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), according to a study published in the January issue of JAMA Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-functional-mri-cbt-success.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 04 Jan 2013 13:51:19 EST news276529870 (Medical Xpress)—New research from Western University provides brain imaging evidence that students well-versed in very basic single digit arithmetic (5+2=7 or 7-3=4) are better equipped to score higher on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT), an examination sat by millions of students in the United States each year in preparation for college admission tests.   In findings published today in The Journal of Neuroscience (http://www.jneurosci.org/content/33/1.abstract.pdf) research led by Daniel Ansari, Associate Professor in Western's Department of Psychology and a principal investigator at the Brain and Mind Institute, showed by utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on high school seniors that there was a significant link between their brain responses while solving extremely basic, single digit calculation problems and standard scores on the PSAT. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-neuroscience-reveals-link-basic-math.html Neuroscience Fri, 04 Jan 2013 07:27:11 EST news276506818 (Medical Xpress)—Researchers from the Black Dog Institute and University of NSW have used brain imaging technology to show that young people with a known genetic risk of bipolar but no clinical signs of the condition have clear and quantifiable differences in brain activity when compared to controls. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-brain-imaging-bipolar.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:25:25 EST news274955119 Rates of childhood obesity have tripled in the past 30 years, and food marketing has been implicated as one factor contributing to this trend. Every year, companies spend more than $10 billion in the US marketing their food and beverages to children; 98% of the food products advertised to children on television are high in fat, sugar, or sodium. In a new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics, researchers used neuroimaging to study the effects of food logos on obese and healthy weight children. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-obese-children-vulnerable-food-advertising.html Overweight and Obesity Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:00:04 EST news273435411 The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM), a comprehensive behavioral early intervention program that is appropriate for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as young as 12 months, has been found to be effective in improving social skills and brain responses to social cues in a randomized controlled study published online today in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-early-intervention-social-skills-brain.html Autism spectrum disorders Fri, 26 Oct 2012 13:20:01 EST news270474967 Scientists at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have succeeded in coming closer to determining the risk of relapse in detoxified alcohol-dependent patients. Using an imaging process (magnetic resonance tomography) it was shown that particular regions in the brain demonstrate structural as well as functional abnormalities in relapsed alcohol-dependent patients. Study findings are published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-functional-abnormalities-brains-relapsed-alcohol-dependent.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 20 Sep 2012 13:03:15 EST news267364988 New research examining auditory mechanisms of language learning in babies has revealed that infants as young as three months of age are able to automatically detect and learn complex dependencies between syllables in spoken language. By contrast, adults only recognised the same dependencies when asked to actively search for them. The study by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig also highlights the important role of basic pitch discrimination abilities for early language development. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-babies-ability-complex-language-outshines.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:00:23 EST news266500899 How would you respond if someone told you that you have a very dedicated son and that he got the scholarship he most wished? Or that the company you worked for made great profits and you will receive a good salary raise? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-neural-signature-affiliative-human-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 04 Sep 2012 17:20:01 EST news265972354 A little music training in childhood goes a long way in improving how the brain functions in adulthood when it comes to listening and the complex processing of sound, according to a new Northwestern University study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-music-years-childhood-adult-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:00:01 EST news264782324 You're minding your own business when a food craving suddenly hits, and if you just saw an image of a cupcake, or consumed a sugary soda, that may be no accident. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-viewing-images-high-calorie-foods-cravings.html Health Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:08:31 EST news259855692 An experiment that Sigmund Freud could never have imagined 100 years ago may help lend scientific support for one of his key theories, and help connect it with current neuroscience. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-freud-theory-unconscious-conflict-linked.html Psychology & Psychiatry Sun, 17 Jun 2012 06:04:43 EST news259131859 In a discovery that could help in the identification and treatment of anxiety disorders, Michigan State University scientists say the brains of anxious girls work much harder than those of boys. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-anxious-girls-brains-harder.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:00:42 EST news258112549 After completing the first study of its kind, researchers at McMaster University have discovered that very early musical training benefits children even before they can walk or talk. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-babies-brains-benefit-music-lessons.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 09 May 2012 12:14:57 EST news255784484 Chronic fatigue syndrome, a medical disorder characterized by extreme and ongoing fatigue with no other diagnosed cause, remains poorly understood despite decades of scientific study. Although researchers estimate that more than 1 million Americans are affected by this condition, the cause for chronic fatigue syndrome, a definitive way to diagnose it, and even its very existence remain in question. In a new study, researchers have found differing brain responses in people with this condition compared to healthy controls, suggesting an association between a biologic functional response and chronic fatigue syndrome. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-patients-brain.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:00:01 EST news254492771 At a time when obesity has become epidemic in American society, Dartmouth scientists have found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans may be able to predict weight gain. In a study published April 18, 2012, in The Journal of Neuroscience, the researchers demonstrated a connection between fMRI brain responses to appetite-driven cues and future behavior. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-brain-scans-weight-gain-sexual.html Neuroscience Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:00:02 EST news253889223 In most western countries the annual increase in the prevalence and the severity of obesity is currently substantial. Although obesity typically results simply from excessive energy intake, it is currently unclear why some people are prone to overeating and gaining weight. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-obesity-brain-function.html Medical research Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:58:43 EST news248014709 Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training, according to a new study from Northwestern University. The study is the first to provide biological evidence that lifelong musical experience has an impact on the aging process. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-music-biological-impact-aging.html Neuroscience Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:27:02 EST news247163198 In their first year of life, babies who will go on to develop autism already show different brain responses when someone looks at or away from them. Although the researchers are careful to say that the study, reported online on January 26 in the Cell Press journal Current Biology, is only a first step toward earlier diagnosis, the findings do suggest that direct brain measures might help to predict the future development of autism symptoms in infants as young as six months. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-brain-earlier-autism.html Autism spectrum disorders Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:35:42 EST news246803737 Researchers at the University of Tampere and the Aalto University, Finland, have shown that the perception of nude bodies is boosted at an early stage of visual processing. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-nudity-tunes-brain.html Neuroscience Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:26:14 EST news240747899 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry describes how the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imagery, or fMRI, is able to detect and diagnose pedophilia with greater accuracy than current options. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-brain-scans-pedophiles.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:42:37 EST news237202866 During childhood and adolescence, children develop the ability to remember not only past events but the origin of those memories. For example, someone may remember meeting a particular person and the context in which he or she met that person. New research from Germany has found that the ability to remember the origin of memories is a relatively long process that matures during adolescence but isn't fully developed until adulthood. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-ability-memories-fully-youths.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:47:49 EST news233894854 Young babies' brains are already specially attuned to the sounds of human voices and emotions, according to a report published online on June 30 in Current Biology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-babies-specially-attuned-voices-emotions.html Neuroscience Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:41:47 EST news228660079 Daytime sleepiness may affect inhibitory control in the brain when viewing tantalizing, high-calorie foods, suggests a research abstract that will be presented Monday, June 13, in Minneapolis, Minn., at SLEEP 2011, the 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-sleepiness-impair-brain-inhibitory-viewing.html Medical research Mon, 13 Jun 2011 09:35:30 EST news227176518 An Emory University study suggests that the brain activity of teens, recorded while they are listening to new songs, may help predict the popularity of the songs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-teen-brain-song-success.html Neuroscience Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:58:32 EST news227159616