Feature Channels: Cognition and Learning

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Studies have shown that individuals with hearing loss or who are listening to degraded speech – think of a loud room -- have greater difficulty remembering and processing the spoken information than individuals who heard more clearly. Now researchers are investigating whether listening to accented speech similarly affects the brain's ability to process and store information. Their preliminary results suggest that foreign-accented speech, even when intelligible, may be slightly more difficult to recall than native speech.

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A McGill University/UQAM research team has discovered that 6-month-old infants appear to be much more interested in listening to other babies than they are in listening to adults. The researchers believe that an attraction to infant speech sounds may help to kick start and support the crucial processes involved in learning how to talk.

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Confirming what many parents already know, researchers at Georgia State University and the University of Washington have discovered that toddlers, especially those with siblings, understand how the sounds they make affect people around them.

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When it comes to rewards and punishments, which is more effective — the carrot or the stick? A simple experiment devised at Washington University in St. Louis suggests that punishments are more likely to influence behavior than rewards. The results, which stem from a study involving 88 students at the university, are available online in the journal Cognition.

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A new University of North Carolina School of Medicine study shows that using the most common form of electric brain stimulation had a statistically significant detrimental effect on IQ scores.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: new biotech treatment for radiation proctitis, 3D printing in children's health, work and brain health, the importance of medical research, multi-institute collaboration on medical education technology, tax cuts and the economy, cancer survival, and Alzheimer's research.

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The University of Washington study is among the first to identify structural brain differences between children with the two learning disorders and between those children and typical language learners. Researchers say the findings prove that using a single category of learning disability to qualify for special education services is not scientifically supported.

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Epigenetic marks on our DNA account for how all cells in the body have the same DNA sequence, inherited from our parents, but nonetheless there are hundreds of different cell types. The body uses epigenetics as its principal control system, to increase or decrease the expression of our genes, and epigenetic processes are known to be important in memory and other aspects of brain function. The new research used umbilical cord tissue collected at birth and identified epigenetic marks in a key brain development gene called HES1 that were linked to the child’s ability to learn and their cognitive performance at ages 4 and 7 years. The findings in two groups of children in Southampton, UK, were accompanied by additional findings in children from Singapore that HES1 epigenetic marks at birth were associated with aspects of socially disruptive behaviour that have previously been linked with a reduced school performance.

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This story looks at how to enrich that special connection between a child and parents.

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Salk scientists discover a learning circuit in worms that gives clues to human behavior.

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Salk scientists discover a single protein that energizes muscles and the brain

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: education, children's health, autism, obesity, smoking, weight loss, LHC re-start, malaria, food safety, kidney disease, and avian flu.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: neurology, concussions, STEM jobs, Medical licensing, gun safety and youth, research ethics, and sleep apnea and blood pressure.

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Infants have innate knowledge about the world and learn best when their expectations are defied.

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Having a strong sense that your life has meaning and direction may make you less likely to develop areas of brain damage caused by blockages in blood flow as you age. This research is reported in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke.

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Using both robots and infants, an Indiana University cognitive scientist and collaborators have found that posture is critical in the early stages of acquiring new knowledge.

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Researchers have developed five tips for getting more useful employee responses

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Mood disorder research suggests that early life stress may cause excess serotonin release, resulting in a serotonin deficit where the brain needs it most. The data suggest a reason why SSRI medications may fail in many patients, and why depressed patients may benefit from strategic SSRI-augmenting treatment approaches.

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When making simple decisions, neurons in the brain apply the same statistical trick used by Alan Turing to help break Germany’s Enigma code during World War II, according to a new study in animals by researchers at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Mind Brain and Behavior Institute.

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Georgia Tech study challenged younger and older people to look at faces at names while either listening to non-lyrical music or nothing at all. The college-aged participants had no problems - the music didn't affect their performance. But the older adults remembered 10 percent fewer names when listening to background music or musical rain (as compared to silence).