Cognitive Function

Probiotic bacteria have the potential to alter brain neurochemistry and treat anxiety and depression-related disorders according to research published in the Proceedings of the...

A new study using ketamine to treat people with treatment-resistant depression has been carried out  by researchers at the University of Oxford. "Ketamine is...

Despite a massive global research effort, many basics of Alzheimer's disease onset remain elusive. This has hampered development of treatments effective during the earliest stages of the disease, when prevention is most likely. But a new discovery by University of Central Florida researchers has revealed a previously unknown mechanism...

Some athletes may improve their performance under pressure simply by squeezing a ball or clenching their left hand before competition to activate certain parts of the brain, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

'Brain freeze' is a nearly universal experience -- almost everyone has felt the near-instantaneous headache brought on by a bite of ice cream or slurp of ice-cold soda on the upper palate. However, scientists are still at a loss to explain this phenomenon. Since migraine sufferers are more likely to experience brain freeze than people who don't have this often-debilitating condition, brain freeze may share a common mechanism with other types of headaches, including those brought on by the trauma of blast-related combat injuries in soldiers.

Raising levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the frontal cortex of the brain significantly decreased impulsivity in healthy adults, in a study conducted by researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

Storing Information Requires a Continuous Supply of Z's Continuity of sleep, not just the total hours of nightly slumber, is crucial to forming and retaining...

A magnesium supplement thought to improve brain functioning gets a small clinical trial.

Lean mass -- the weight of an individual's bones, muscles and organs without body fat -- appears to decline among patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. These decreases may be associated with declines in brain volume and function.

Men who eat flavonoid-rich foods such as berries, tea, apples and red wine significantly reduce their risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to new research by Harvard University and the University of East Anglia. Published April 4 in the journal Neurology®, the findings add to the growing body of evidence that regular consumption of some flavonoids can have a marked effect on human health.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have shown that they may be able to monitor the aging process in the brain, by using MRI technique to measure the brain lactic acid levels. Their findings suggest that the lactate levels increase in advance of other aging symptoms, and therefore could be used as an indicator of aging and age-related diseases of the central nervous system.

Daily tablets of certain B vitamins can halve the rate of brain shrinkage in elderly people who suffer from mild memory problems, an Oxford University study has shown. The two-year randomized clinical trial is the largest to study the effect of B vitamins on mild cognitive impairment, and one of the first disease-modifying trials in the Alzheimer's field to show positive results in people.