Some of you readers undoubtedly love crosswords or sudoku, or even both! A recent study, the largest to date, has revealed the possible beneficial effects of these reflective activities on cognitive function in seniors. The research has led to the publication of two articles in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. So, is it time for everyone else to start puzzling over letter and number grids?

More than 19,000! That's the (rather impressive) number of participants enrolled in the study presented here. All of these over-50-year-old subjects registered with Protect, an online platform managed by the University of Exeter and King’s College in London. Each ...

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During a party, as you're chatting away with other guests, you suddenly turn around at the sound of your name. This is an all-to- familiar way of capturing your attention. Indeed, we are primarily interested in stimuli that relate to us personally, something known as the "self-referential bias." Based on this observation, researchers wanted to test if a similar phenomenon could be seen in the brain. It was a chance to discover whether our brain makes us naturally self-centered…

Tobias Egner, an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Duke University (United States) and one of the study’s co-authors, says that we tend to prefer external stimuli that are ...

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We all know that migratory birds and sea turtles have a geomagnetic sense that supports their sense of direction. This sensory modality has been studied in vertebrates and even in certain invertebrates (like bees and lobsters). It has long been believed that humans also possess a form of magnetoreception, but the ability has never been demonstrated scientifically. A recent study has just revealed that our brain may come with an internal compass...

For migratory animals, magnetoreception (their ability to detect Earth’s magnetic field) allows them to build a sort of “map” that helps them navigate. In the 1980s, researchers attempted to demonstrate this ability in humans. For ...

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Many of our posts have praised the virtues of regular physical activity on our cognitive health. This new research carried out at Washington University in Saint Louis highlights a potential link between participation in team sports and reducing symptoms of depression in young boys. But why would team sports have a positive impact on boys’ moods?

If you take a look at co-author Lisa Gorham’s web page (on Washington University's website), you’ll see that she’s a sports addict and captain of the cross-country and track teams. The learnings she's gathered from this experience clearly inspired her to conduct this research on adolescent mental health. Inspired by her coach’s ...

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All of us have at least a few memories we’d like to erase. But deleting them from isn’t always easy. According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, forgetting something may require more mental effort than trying to remember it. How did they make this discovery?

Our memories are not static; they are dynamic constructs of the brain that are regularly updated and reorganized according to our life experiences. We are constantly remembering and forgetting information, most often while we sleep. Previous studies have shown that forgetting plays a vital role in preserving memories and eliminating unwanted information. Traditionally, intentional ...

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Until recently, few studies on birds have looked at how intelligent behaviors in males can be used to attract females. But this is exactly what Dutch and Chinese researchers examined in their research to determine whether intelligence could win out over appearance when it comes to finding a mate. Here are the findings of this Darwin-inspired research.

The Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) lives in all arid and semi-arid areas of Australia, where finding food is sometimes difficult. An individual’s ability to find food may thus be of great value… A team of researchers from the University of Beijing (China) and Leiden (the Netherlands) decided to specifically study how ...

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A new study is shedding light on the benefits of physical exercise on our cognitive health. Published in the medical journal Neurology in January 2019, the research indicates that activities such as walking or cycling have a positive effect on executive function. How were the scientists able to pinpoint the link between aerobic exercise and our thinking skills?

Our body produces energy both aerobically and anaerobically. The two types of metabolism are distinguished by whether or not they use oxygen produced by breathing. By drawing from a reserve that mobilizes different substrates (mainly carbohydrates and lipids), aerobic metabolism releases energy relatively slowly but ...

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The days when our parents rocked us in their arms are far behind us… This soothing swinging motion helped us fall asleep. But Swiss scientists wondered if this rocking motion could be beneficial even after these tender years. For their study, they invited adults to be rocked in their laboratory. What effects did it have on their sleep and memory?

As early as 2011, Laurence Bayer and her colleagues demonstrated the possible benefits of a slight rocking motion on falling asleep for a nap. This new research, led by L. Bayer and S. Schwartz, involved consolidating these results by studying whether the positive effects could be generalized to longer periods of ...

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On a morphological level, research has already shown that men's and women’s brains are different. A recent study from Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis has shed light on metabolic differences between the two. Indeed, sex appears to have an influence on brain aging...

In humans, normal aging is associated with a decrease in brain metabolism. We know that the brain metabolizes glucose, but the way it’s used changes as we age. As babies and children, our brain draws on this "fuel” to develop and mature. This process is called aerobic glycolysis. The remaining sugar is burned to fuel the daily tasks of thinking and acting. As adolescents and adults, a ...