This Wednesday: Ask Dr. Michael Merzenich Your Questions On Wednesday, June 28, our own Dr. Michael Merzenich will be hosting a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session. Here’s your chance to ask him any of your questions about brain health and neuroplasticity. He’ll be online giving you answers from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm Pacific time. Learn more here. Finding the Right Word: How Do We Do It? When we speak, we are constantly finding the “needle in the haystack”—the one word that represents what we mean. But how? Prior research has suggested that our brains narrow the universe of words to related concepts: for example, if you see a dog, the neurons representing a cluster of items and ideas related to “dog” (tail, bark, animal, and so much more) are activated. Now, a new study suggests that word-finding is much less localized and involves several more regions of the brain than previously thought—making it an even more complex process. Learn more A Beautiful Example of Brain Plasticity Our Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Michael Merzenich was one of the early proponents of adult brain plasticity, discovering that the brain continues to be malleable late into life. At the time, that was an unpopular opinion. Now, though, it is a widely accepted concept—and as a new study shows, adult plasticity may be even more pervasive than previously believed. The study took a look at changes in the brain in adults before and after learning to read, and found significant changes even in the evolutionarily older, deep brain structures like the brain stem. Learn more Do Smart Phones Make Us Stupider? A new study from the University of Texas at Austin suggests that cognitive capacity is reduced when a person’s smart phone is nearby. In the study, people whose smart phones were in another room did significantly better on cognitive tests that people whose phones were on the desk beside them. Learn more New Study Shows Brain Benefits of Olive Oil You may have heard that following a Mediterranean diet is good for the brain: it has been associated with better cognitive function and a lower risk of dementia. A new study suggests that extra-virgin olive oil may be one of the core brain-healthy components of the diet, protecting memory and reducing the formation of the plaques and tangles that signal Alzheimer’s disease. Learn more Looking for Study Participants: People with Insomnia or Depression Living in the Bay Area We are currently seeking participants for two studies: The first is on cognitive training in people with clinically significant insomnia, which has resulted in distress or impairment in social and/or occupational functioning. As a participant in the STATE trial (SusTained Attention Training to Enhance sleep), you will be asked to complete about 4 sessions (2-3 hours each) of assessments in our office in San Francisco and 12 hours of cognitive training from home, and also wear a sleep monitoring watch at night. If you complete everything, you will be paid $260. You must be 55-80 years of age. Interested? Email SLEEPrecruitment@positscience.com or call 415-568-3565 and mention that you’re contacting us for the sleep study. The second study aims to understand how people react to and cope with depression. Participation would involve a phone screening interview that will last about 10-15 minutes to determine if you are eligible for an in-person interview. Those who are eligible for an in-person interview will be scheduled for an office visit in San Francisco that will last about 2 hours. At this visit, you will be provided with a complete overview of the study, undergo the consenting process, and complete assessments/fill out questionnaires to determine if you are eligible to move forward with the study and take an iPad home to complete the training. To be eligible for this study, you must be between 18-85 years of age, experiencing a Major Depressive Disorder, and be willing to visit our San Francisco office at least three times. If you would like more information about this study, please contact us at moodifyrecruitment@positscience.com or call 415-568-3565 to reach the study coordinators. Please refer to study #8 when requesting more information about the study. Book of the Month Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst (2017) By Robert M. Sapolsky Writing for the Wall Street Journal, scientist David P. Barash says “It’s no exaggeration to say that Behave is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” Indeed, Robert Sapolsky’s seminal new work is a humorous, exciting, and challenging examination of what it is in human nature and experience that drives our responses to one another, including what allows us to act so aggressively and violently towards one another. Ultimately, he hopes that a better understanding of the complexity of what drives our behavior can help us pave the way toward a more peaceful and compassionate future. Purchase on Amazon. |