ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

If you're an 'equal-opportunity jerk,' does that mean you can't also be sexist? New research shows that many people think so -- and consider men to be gender blind when they're rude, condescending, and berating to women and men equally.

We all know we should exercise and eat healthy foods. But doing that isn't just good for maintaining your figure as you age. New research shows that physical activity could help protect your cognitive abilities as you age. And it doesn't have to be intense exercise to make an impact.

People with dementia struggle to adapt to changes in their environment because of damage to areas of the brain known as 'multiple demand networks', highly-evolved areas of the brain that support general intelligence, say scientists.

Linguistic convergence refers to temporary (and often subtle) shifts in speech to sound more similar to those around us. A new study shows that even our expectations about how other people might speak (rather than the speech itself) is enough to shape our own speech patterns.

Astrocytes form large networks of interconnected cells in the central nervous system. When these cell-to-cell couplings are disrupted in the brain of adult mice, the animals are no longer able to store spatial information. The astrocytes network is thus essential for spatial learning and memory formation, as neuroscientists now show.

Doctors wondered if patients might be more forthcoming with honest information by completing a self-administered questionnaire on a tablet computer instead of responding verbally to nursing staff. In a recent study, the tablet screening detected twice as many people with depression, fall risk or intimate partner violence compared to usual in-person screening by nursing staff.

A single protein can reverse the developmental clock on adult brain cells called astrocytes, morphing them into stem-like cells that produce neurons and other cell types, UT Southwestern researchers report in a new study. The findings might someday lead to a way to regenerate brain tissue after disease or injury.

Stress seems to have a negative effect on the learning of movements - at least in mice. This is the conclusion of a recent study. According to the study, the neurons of rodents lose some of their contacts with other neurons after stress. The animals also developed motor deficits. The results may be useful for earlier diagnosis and improved therapy of stress-related diseases such as depression. They also document that stress leaves traces in the brain - possibly permanent ones.

New research from the shows that reading aloud can triple a child's resilience at school, particularly for children at-risk.

What is the significance of the sclera of our eyes? A question which researchers have been interested in for some time now. Recently a research team led by a comparative psychologist has succeeded in deciphering the mystery: The white of the eye contributes decisively to the visibility of directions of gaze through its basic color properties.

Detecting cognitive changes early in the onset of dementia would be a game-changer for thousands impacted by the disease and would allow for interventions well before significant brain changes occur. While cognitive function is often measured using paper and pencil tests with scores calculated by the number of correct answers, this number (score) omits a lot of information about the process a person uses to answer a question that might reveal important information about their brain function.

A new study from cognitive scientists offers an answer to why legal documents such as contracts or deeds are often so impenetrable.

Chronically stressing the retina can weaken it and damage our ability to see. But retinal cells have a remarkable ability to wall off damage, a team of neuroscientists reports. The walling-off or 'bunkering' of the damage may be key to preserving our eyesight.