Tag Brain

Down syndrome neurons grown from stem cells show signature problems

May 27, 2013

In new research published this week, Anita Bhattacharyya, a neuroscientist at the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, reports on brain cells that were grown from skin cells of individuals with Down syndrome.

Researchers discover the brain origins of variation in pathological anxiety

March 26, 2013

New findings from nonhuman primates suggest that an overactive core circuit in the brain, and its interaction with other specialized circuits, accounts for the variability in symptoms shown by patients with severe anxiety.

Authors: Develop digital games to improve brain function and well-being

February 28, 2013

Neuroscientists should help to develop compelling digital games that boost brain function and improve well-being, say two professors specializing in the field in a commentary article published in the science journal Nature.

Finding challenges accepted view of MS: Unexpectedly, damaged nerve fibers survive

February 5, 2013

Multiple sclerosis, a brain disease that affects over 400,000 Americans, causes movement difficulties and many neurologic symptoms. MS has two key elements: The nerves that direct muscular movement lose their electrical insulation (the myelin sheath) and cannot transmit signals as effectively. And many of the long nerve fibers, called axons, degenerate.

Response and recovery in the brain may predict well-being

February 4, 2013

It has long been known that the part of the brain called the amygdala is responsible for recognition of a threat and knowing whether to fight or flee from the danger.

Meditation expertise changes experience of pain

November 15, 2012

Meditation can change the way a person experiences pain, according to a new study by UW–Madison neuroscientists.

Early stress may sensitize girls’ brains for later anxiety

November 11, 2012

High levels of family stress in infancy are linked to differences in everyday brain function and anxiety in teenage girls, according to new results of a long-running population study by University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists.

Stress breaks loops that hold short-term memory together

September 13, 2012

Stress has long been pegged as the enemy of attention, disrupting focus and doing substantial damage to working memory - the short-term juggling of information that allows us to do all the little things that make us productive.