Tag: neuroscience
Neurosexism: Study Questions Validity of Gender-based Neuroscientific Results
Neuroscientific results that class humans into two categories, âmaleâ and âfemale,â tend to reify gender stereotypes by giving them the appearance of objective scientific truth.
âThereâs Such a Thing as Too Much Neuroscienceâ
John Markowitz, a clinical psychiatrist and professor, argues that the NIMHâs exclusive focus on neuroscience research is failing patients in The New York Times....
âCan Neuroscience Change Our Minds? By Hilary Rose and Steven Roseâ
"Itâs an appealing idea: the notion that understanding the learning brain will tell us how to maximise childrenâs potential, bypassing the knotty complexities of...
Amphetamines Have Long-Term Effects on Adolescent Brain, Study Finds
A new study published in the journal Neuroscience finds that rats given regular doses of amphetamines during adolescence have brain and behavioral changes in adulthood....
Brain Prepares Multiple Actions Before Decision
According to new research summarized by ScienceDaily, there is evidence that the brain prepares for multiple possible actions before a decision is made.
âBrains Arenât Actually âMaleâ or âFemale,â New Study Suggestsâ
New research on gender and the brain found that only a very small number of people have brains that are âentirely male, female, or intermediate between the two.â âThe vast majority,â they write, have âa mosaic.â
âThe Curious Case of the Antidepressant, Anti-Anxiety Backyard Gardenâ
âMy vegetable beds have even buoyed me through more acute stressors, such as my medical internship, my daughterâs departure for college, and a loved oneâs cancer treatment,â writes Dr. Daphne Miller. Now neuroscientists are attempting to study the antidepressant effects of soil microbes in hopes of unlocking the secrets of a powerful mood enhancer.
âThe Tantalizing Links between Gut Microbes and the Brainâ
Nature magazine reports on recent discoveries by neuroscientists that microbes that live in the intestinal track may have an influence on brain development and behavior. âResearchers have drawn links between gastrointestinal pathology and psychiatric neurological conditions such as anxiety, depression, autism, schizophrenia and neurodegenerative disordersâbut they are just links.â
âFixing the Brain is Not the New World for Psychiatryâ
Writing on his critical psychiatry blog, Duncan Double critiques Joe Herbertâs piece on âWhy can't we treat mental illness by fixing the brain?â in Aeon. While Herbert admits that there is a "mysterious and seemingly unfathomable gap" between psychology and neuroscience, which "bedevils not only psychiatry, but all attempts to understand the meaning of humanity,â he goes on to speculate that someday psychiatrists will be able to relate symptoms to brain activity.
âExamining the New Brain Scienceâ
The Boston Globe highlights a new book, âIn the Mind Fields: Exploring the New Science of Neuropsychoanalysis,â by Casey Schwartz, which explores the importance on psychoanalysis in the age of neuroscience. The author explains that the psychoanalytic approach offers âan absolutely incomparable depth and attention to the specifics of each individual person and their reality. This is exactly whatâs disappearing in neuroscience: the quirks, the particularities, the subtleties of the individual.â
Brain Response to Antidepressant Mirrors Placebo Effect
People diagnosed with severe depression show the same changes in brain scans when they respond to a placebo as they do when they take an actual antidepressant, according to a new study. Researchers also found that those whose symptoms were decreased by a placebo were more likely to report relief from antidepressant drugs.
Mental Health Professionals Critique the Biomedical Model of Psychological Problems
While a great deal of the excitement about advances in psychological treatments comes from the potential for research in neuroscience to unlock the secrets of the brain, many mental health experts would like to temper this enthusiasm. A special issue of the Behavior Therapist released this month calls into question the predominant conception of mental illnesses as brain disorders.
âHow Poverty Affects Childrenâs Brainsâ
New research is investigating how âpoverty reduction promotes cognitive and brain development.â
“Brain Imaging Research is Often Wrong. This Researcher Wants to Change...
Julia Belluz at Vox interviews Russ Poldrack, the director of the Center for Reproducible Neuroscience, on recent efforts to âclean up the house of...
A Story About NMDA Receptor Subunits, and Why SSRIs Impair Cognitive...
The impact of long-term SSRIs on memory-related nerve cell receptors does have functional consequences. Research shows that SSRIs impair the acquisition of fear memories. (Perhaps a positive outcome.) But unlearning fear memories involves new learning as well, and according to a study by LeDoux and colleagues, long-term exposure to SSRIs makes it harder to unlearn fear memories.
Mad Flies and Bad Science
Tension mounts across the ideological divide as D-Day (DSM-5 Day) approaches. The APA has powerful allies on its side. President Obama has just launched Decade of the Brain 2 with the announcement two weeks ago that heralds the arrival of BRAIN ( Brain Research through Advances in Innovative Neurotechnologies). If thatâs not enough, those who believe that science will ultimately explain madness can always rely on the media to fawn at their feet.