Category Archives: brain

New hope for the fight against Alzheimer’s disease

Dementia type tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease are accompanied by an accumulation of abnormal form of tau protein in the brain. By interacting with the filaments called microtubules, this protein plays an important role in non-pathological conditions as it helps the neurons to function correctly. The French team of Etienne-Emile Baulieu recently demonstrated that another protein [...]

When does cognitive decline really begin?

We have known for a long time that cognitive decline occurs with aging, however we may have been incorrect about the age it starts. A recent analysis brings new details about it. The study, led by Dr. Singh-Manoux and published in the British Medical Journal was conducted on 7390 persons among them 5198 men and [...]

Abnormalities found in the brain of psychopaths

Impulsive, anti-social, lack of empathy and remorse, or eccentric personality; all these characteristics could describe someone who suffers from psychopathy. This mental disease is underlined by brain impairments and it seems that a recent research is helping to understand this disorder. Brains of psychopaths seem to show differences in their structure and function compared to [...]

New tip to understand how attention skills work

As surprising as it could be, some of our brain cells have to be deactivated in order to become concentrated in a more efficient way! This observation was made by a team of French neuroscientists who studied different neuron networks. This study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, demonstrated that the default-mode network seems to [...]

Exercise is beneficial for the brain

We often hear advice telling us that doing some kind of physical activity is good to develop muscle, lose weight, or generally to stay healthy. But what if doing exercise was also good for mental abilities? Last February, we already said that being physically active is very important for our cognitive health. Recently, two teams [...]

MemTrax: THE application to detect memory issues

SBT, the editor of the HAPPYneuron service, has adapted the memory screening test MemTrax on the iPad. This test is a very quick and easy way to detect memory impairments associated with Alzheimer’s disease for example. The application will be available in just a few weeks. In the meantime, discover the demonstration video:  

Internet may Influence your Memory Skills

Internet is well known to be a quick and easy way to access to knowledge. But did you know that using it could affect the way we store information? The team of Betsy Sparrow, assistant professor in psychology at Columbia, analysed the impact of the huge accessibility of data through Internet on memory skills. One [...]

March is National Nutrition Month®

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the American Dietetic Association. The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. This year’s theme is “Eat Right with Color”. National Nutrition Week was first observed in 1973 [...]

Changing Your (Cognitive) Fitness Habits

So we’ve read it in many studies: Physical exercise is important and contributes to a healthy life style. It has also been shown to be essential for cognitive health, helping us not only to remain physically fit but also to maintain mental sharpness. Today, however, researchers find that it is not enough to inform people. [...]

Information Retrieval Improves Learning

According to a recent study published in the journal Science, using memory retrieval as a learning technique may be an excellent method to improve meaningful science learning.