news
Living in poverty has the same effect on the brain as regularly going without sleep – From Salon
Sep 1st
An interesting article from Salon.
“You are captured by these monetary issues — how to pay rent, how to pay bills,” Zhao added. “As a result, you’re less attentive to other problems. You neglect other things in life that deserve your attention.”
Read the whole artilce: http://www.salon.com/2013/08/30/living_in_poverty_has_the_same_effect_on_the_brain_as_regularly_going_without_sleep/
Know Your Neuroscience
Jun 4th
The New Scientist reviews two books that explores neuroscience for the non-neuroscientist.
We Have Moved
Jan 15th
After seven fantastic years at 11 Ruthven Ave Adelaide, we are moving to Norwood Health on Fullarton, to make more space for the growing team.
The same happy team will be there from Thursday 17/1/2013, (with some new additions).
See our updated contact details for location detail.
Australian Science Investigates déjà vu
Jan 14th
Tricks of The Mind – an article by Amy Reichelt for Australian Science
Have you ever experienced a sudden feeling of familiarity while in a completely new place? Or the feeling you’ve had the exact same conversation with someone before?
http://www.australianscience.com.au/psychology/tricks-of-the-mind/
Being Fat is Bad for Your Brain.
Apr 26th
Brain and body health are inextricably linked. An article by Olive Judson from the New York Times.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/brain-damage/
That, at least, is the gloomy conclusion of several recent studies. For example, one long-term study of more than 6,500 people in northern California found that those who were fat around the middle at age 40 were more likely to succumb to dementia in their 70s. A long-term study in Sweden found that, compared to thinner people, those who were overweight in their 40s experienced a more rapid, and more pronounced, decline in brain function over the next several decades.
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The Trust Gap: Why People Are So Cynical
Apr 26th
Psyblog looks at why we have so much difficulty in trusting others.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/04/the-trust-gap-why-people-are-so-cynical.php
In one experiment people honoured the trust placed in them between 80% and 90% of the time, but only estimated that others would honour their trust about 50% of the time.
How our Brains Make Memories
Apr 26th
An articel by the Smithsonian.com’s Greg Miller.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Our-Brains-Make-Memories.html?c=y&page=1
For those of us who cherish our memories and like to think they are an accurate record of our history, the idea that memory is fundamentally malleable is more than a little disturbing. Not all researchers believe Nader has proved that the process of remembering itself can alter memories. But if he is right, it may not be an entirely bad thing. It might even be possible to put the phenomenon to good use to reduce the suffering of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, who are plagued by recurring memories of events they wish they could put behind them.
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Using Mindlessness (Mindfully) to Improve Visual Acuity
Apr 26th
A paper by Ellen Langer, Maja Djikic, Michael Pirson, Arin Madenci and Rebecca Donohue published in Psychological Science that shows how mindfulness can improve the accuracy of vision.
http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/03/19/0956797610366543.full
Contrary to the assumption that vision worsens with age because of physiological limitations, the experiments we report here tested whether vision can be improved through psychological means.
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Researchers develop more sophisticated ways to control the brain with light.
Mar 30th
From the MIT Review’s Jennifer Chu on this new field of brain research
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24870/?a=f
“Just five years ago, scientists at Stanford University discovered that neurons injected with a photo-sensitive gene from algae could be turned on or off with the flip of a light switch. This discovery has since turned hundreds of labs onto the young field of optogenetics. Today researchers around the world are using these genetic light switches to control specific neurons in live animals, observing their roles in a growing array of brain functions and diseases, including memory, addiction, depression, Parkinson’s disease, and spinal cord injury.”
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