Brain Regions

A memory function thought to require a specific brain region called the amygdala has now been found to be able to be performed by another region, if the amygdala is impaired.

Children’s slowly developing memory for past events may not be due to the slow development of the prefrontal cortex, as was thought, but to changes in the hippocampus.

New research confirms that it’s better to practice more than one skill at a time than to engage in repetitive drills of the same action, and reveals that different brain regions are involved in these two scenarios.

The discovery that a particular type of dendritic spine is lost with age not only provides a target for therapy, but also emphasizes the importance of building skills and expertise when young.

• A finding that navigational and spatial neurons are already tuned in newborn rats lends weight to the theory that a pre-wired spatial framework may provide a conceptual framework for experience in humans.

• A new study reveals that having the 'Alzheimer's gene' doesn't simply increase your risk of developing Alzheimer's, but affects how the brain is damaged.

A study involving severe amnesiacs has found that induced feelings of happiness or sadness persist long after the memory of the event. The findings challenge the idea that by minimizing a specific memory of past trauma, associated sadness will also decrease, and also point to the need for care in dealing with those with impaired memory — don’t assume that any induced emotion will vanish as quickly as the memory of it.

Perhaps we should start thinking of language less as some specialized process and more as a particular approach to thought. A study involving native signers of American Sign Language adds to the increasing body of evidence that we process words in the same way as we do the concepts represented by the words; speaking (or reading) is, neutrally speaking, the same as doing.

An imaging study has found differences in brain activity that explain why older adults are better at remembering positive events.

A rat study shows how Ritalin improves concentration and, it now appears, speed of learning. The finding may help the development of better-targeted drugs.