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InnerTalk® -InTouchTM Newsletter Vol. 1 No. 10 Learning Changes Brain
A new study shows that the brain physically changes as a result of learning. Researchers at Brown University in Rhode Island trained rats to perform a simple task using their right forepaw. Rat brains, as is also true with humans, are cross wired. That is, the right side of the brain, in general, controls the left side of the body and vice versa.
Neuroscientist, Mengia-Seraina Rioult-Pedotti, then looked for changes in the left motor cortex. She found that the synapses were stronger in the region which controlled movement in the area related to the new task learned by the rats. (Reuters, October 20, 2000).
Emotional Orientation Missing Among Abused Children
Seth D. Pollack of the University of Wisconsin-Madison reported in the September issue of Developmental Psychology that abused children have difficulty differentiating feelings involved in facial expressions (e.g. happy, sad, fear, disgust, emotional neutrality, etc.). The researchers propose that abused children focus more on signals of anger in order to avoid abuse and thereby miss other signals of emotion.
Afraid of Bears?
Antonio Damasio of the University of Iowa College of Medicine used Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans to monitor blood flow changes in the brain while inducing emotions in volunteers by introspection. The results support Damasio?s theory that awareness of emotion follows bodily responses. William James originally offered this approximate hypothesis in a now famous form, 3You see a bear, run and are afraid.2 (Bruce Bower, Science News, 158).
EM Fields Still in the News
A new study shows that cells vulnerable to cancer can begin to behave like cancer cells when exposed in a test tube to electromagnetic fields no stronger than those present within a few feet of outdoor power lines, reports researcher James E. Trosko of Michigan State University in the October issue of Environmental Health Perspectives.
Peripheral Vision or Peripheral Shift?
According to a report in Science News, the Journal of Neuroscience reported the findings of Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester in the September issue, showing that people deaf from birth use areas of the brain normally used for peripheral vision by those with sight, to heighten senses.
Magnetic Fields Treating Disorders
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is among the most promising new tools in neuroscience. This new high tech tool holds many hopes for treatments, but currently is most used to observe behavior following the inactivation of given brain regions. There is more than a modest controversy over much of the research, but remember this acronym, TMS, it?s definitely here to stay. (Read the entire story in Science News, 158, 204-206). Aging Slowed by New Drug Simon Melov of the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novalto, California reported that the use of two drugs extended the life of worms by 50%. The two drugs possess a synthetic form of catalase and superoxide dismutase. This research goes far in confirming popularly held beliefs regarding free radicals and aging. The drugs work by diffusing highly reactive oxygen containing molecules. The scientists have begun testing the effects on mice to determine if and by how much life expectancy is increased. (J. Travis, Science News, 158). |
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