Feature Channels: Cognition and Learning

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Using the internet during your retirement years can boost your cognitive function, a new study has found.

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How do we make decisions about a situation we have not encountered before?

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Postponing retirement is protective against cognitive decline.

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Testing for some inflammatory proteins associated with the nervous and immune systems will help diagnose the earlier onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a Rutgers study.

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Research conducted at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine suggests that higher intake of specific nutrients is associated with lower brain iron concentration and better cognitive performance in older adults.

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In a study of rodents, scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai discovered that a part of the brain traditionally thought to control typing the old habits may also play a critical role in learning the new actions. The results, published on August 25th in Nature Communications, suggest that this process involves a delicate balance in the activity of two neighboring neural circuits: one dedicated to new actions and the other to old habits

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Rutgers School of Public Health assistant professor, Shauna Downs, has received a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development to study behavior change communication strategies to improve infant and young child nutrition in Senegal.

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One of the biggest marketing trends in the online shopping industry is personalization through curated product recommendations; however, it can change whether people buy a product they had been considering, according to new University of California San Diego research.

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People with mentally stimulating jobs have a lower risk of dementia in old age than those with non-stimulating jobs, finds a study published by The BMJ today.

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Expert Q&A: Do breakthrough cases mean we will soon need COVID boosters? The extremely contagious Delta variant continues to spread, prompting mask mandates, proof of vaccination, and other measures. Media invited to ask the experts about these and related topics.

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We live our lives in real time, watching events unfold moment by moment. To make better sense of the world, however, our brains automatically predict how some events will unfold moments into the future. New research published in Psychological Science explores the brain’s “prediction machine” capabilities by examining how we experience music.

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It’s long been believed that advancing age leads to broad declines in our mental abilities. Now new research from Georgetown University Medical Center offers surprisingly good news by countering this view.

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There is a strong association between high levels of physical activity and the ability to maintain cognitive function among breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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People born blind have never seen that bananas are yellow but Johns Hopkins University researchers find that like any sighted person, they understand two bananas are likely to be the same color and why. Questioning the belief that dates back to philosopher John Locke that people born blind could never truly understand color, the team of cognitive neuroscientists demonstrated that congenitally blind and sighted individuals actually understand it quite similarly.

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Most children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) don’t outgrow the disorder, as widely thought. It manifests itself in adulthood in different ways and waxes and wanes over a lifetime, according to a study published Aug.13 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

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Research from the lab of Deanna Barch and Joan Luby shows a lasting relationship between childhood poverty, brain development.

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A new study shows that artificial intelligence networks based on human brain connectivity can perform cognitive tasks efficiently.

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In a sample of over 400 older adults in Argentina who had recovered from COVID-19, more than 60% displayed some degree of cognitive impairment, a researcher from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio reported July 29 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

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The COVID-19 situation may have restricted people’s space, but not their imagination. A Chula lecturer has given recommendations to parents who need to spend more time at home on select social activities to enhance children’s development in a safe and age-appropriate way.

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A new study shows that people who eat a diet that includes at least half a serving per day of foods high in flavonoids like strawberries, oranges, peppers and apples may have a 20% lower risk of cognitive decline. The research is published in the July 28, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked at several types of flavonoids, and found that flavones and anthocyanins may have the most protective effect.

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Positive trends in global education access are expected to decrease dementia prevalence worldwide by 6.2 million cases by the year 2050.

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St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists have shown that frailty contributes to neurocognitive decline in young adult survivors of childhood cancer.

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Keeping your brain active in old age has always been a smart idea, but a new study suggests that reading, writing letters and playing card games or puzzles in later life may delay the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia by up to five years. The research is published in the July 14, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A previously unknown kind of human brain cell appears to help people center themselves in their personal maps of the world, according to a new study from neuroscientists at Columbia Engineering. This discovery shed light on the cellular mechanisms underlying navigation and memory in humans, as well as what parts of the brain might get disrupted during the kinds of memory impairments common in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

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Antibiotic exposure early in life could alter human brain development in areas responsible for cognitive and emotional functions, according to a Rutgers researcher.

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On behalf of all those living with Alzheimer's disease, their caregivers, and their families, we appreciate the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) thoughtful consideration on coverage considerations for monoclonal antibodies targeting amyloid for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, including aducanumab, which was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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The American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the world’s largest association of neurologists with more than 36,000 members, is issuing ethical guidance for neurologists and neuroscience professionals who care for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The new position statement is published in the July 12, 2021 online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. This update to the 1996 AAN position statement was developed by the Ethics, Law, and Humanities Committee, a joint committee of the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society.

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Research has shown that listening to music daily improves language recovery in patients who have experienced a stroke. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the phenomenon have so far remained unknown.

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The Alzheimer's Association is pleased with the announcement today that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revised the prescribing label for Aduhelm™ (aducanumab).

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Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences has opened a new brain imaging research center to improve the diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disorders and to help personalize and monitor treatments.

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New research suggests one year of moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic exercise training improved cardiorespiratory fitness, cerebral blood flow regulation, memory and executive function in people with mild cognitive impairment. The data suggest improvement in cerebrovascular function from exercise training also has the potential to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in older adults.

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Scientists have long searched in vain for a class of brain cells that could explain the visceral flash of recognition that we feel when we see a very familiar face, like that of our grandmothers.

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Over the past 20 years, many studies have investigated the effects of acute aerobic exercise on cognitive performance.

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Tests of a drug known to stimulate brain activity have shown early success in reducing symptoms of sluggish cognitive tempo in 38 men and women with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD.)

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Nearly a quarter of parents have suspected their child might be delayed in their development, a new national poll finds – but they may not always share these concerns with a doctor.

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A team from Wayne State University recently published the results of a three-year study of cognitive changes in older adults who complained that their cognitive ability was worsening though clinical assessments showed no impairments. MRIs at 18-month intervals showed significant changes in functional connectivity in two areas of the brain.

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Irvine, Calif., June  21, 2021 — A large-scale meta-analysis led by University of California, Irvine researchers provides the strongest evidence yet of which blood pressure medications help slow memory loss in older adults: those that can travel out of blood vessels and directly into the brain. The findings, published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, will be of interest to the 91 million Americans whose blood pressure is high enough to warrant medication, as well as the doctors who treat them.

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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found that high levels of a normal protein associated with reduced heart disease also protect against Alzheimer’s-like damage in mice, opening up new approaches to slowing or stopping brain damage and cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer’s.

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A research group including Professor MATSUDA Tetsuya of Tamagawa University's Brain Science Institute (Machida City, Tokyo; Director: SAKAGAMI Masamichi) and Assistant Professor ISHIHARA Toru from Kobe University's Graduate School of Human Development and Environment has illuminated the changes in the brain's neural network and cortex structure that underlie the positive association between childhood exercise and the maintenance and promotion of cognitive function in later life.

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An electroencephalogram (EEG) study of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) identified a neural signal that may help explain the variation of how those with ASD perceive or understand the mental states of others (called “Theory of Mind”).

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Popular video games have the potential to provide low-cost, easy access, effective and stigma-free support for some mental health issues, researchers at Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, have found.