Physiological Psychology Course Blog

Link http://neurosciencenews.com/synapse-loss-alzheimers-drug-7952/ Summary Synapse loss is a key factor in Alzheimer’s disease that is initiated by amyloid beta peptides.There are two Wnt signalling pathways. The canonical pathway (Wnt–catenin) promotes synapse and neuronal maintenance. The non-canonical pathway (Wnt-PCP) promotes synaptic disassembly and degradation. The pathways work together to provide a balanced maintenance of synapses. In an Alzheimer disease brain the Wnt-PCP pathway is overactive and causes too much synaptic loss. The increased presence of amyloid beta protein triggers the Wnt-PCP synaptic signalling. Researchers investigated whether they could disrupt this pathway to stop the synaptic damage and spreading.  The researchers treated mice with a drug called fasudil, which targets a protein called ROCK in the Wnt-PCP signalling pathway. This derais the synaptotoxic cascade of amyloid production. Fasudil shutting off the Wnt-PCP pathway, which protected syn...

Summary: In this study the researchers conducted an experiment with two groups, the sleep group and the non-sleep group.  Each of the participants were shown a word on the screen and asked to later point to where they thought it was.  The sleep group was allowed a 90-minute nap and the non-sleep group did not receive any nap.  The research showed that those who did nap were able to closer show where the word on the screen was compared to the non-sleep sleep group.  Our sleep helps to strengthen our memories.  It keeps the original memory we have but also refreshes it.   As tested in the article, the brain holds onto the old memory and makes a new version of it.  A problem with this could be that our brain could rewire a memory differently. Relationship to book: As we read in Brain Rules sleep has many benefiting factors for us but especially memory enhancement.  Sleep helps us to refresh our memories from the day and also strengthen them. Ref...

A Heroin Vaccine? http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2017/06/26/a-heroin-vaccine     This article discusses a potential vaccine to treat heroin addiction. While this idea has been around for many year, it has never been researched or implemented. Due to the rapidly increasing opioid epidemic in America, people are re-evaluating the current treatment methods and looking for alternative and possibly more effective options. Most psychoactive compounds are small molecules which are far to small to trigger any kind of autoimmune antibody reaction within the body. However, if the drug is bound to a protein which the body does recognize, it can effectively be trained to eventually react solely to the target drug molecule by itself. The vaccine is constructed using a tetanus toxide core, which is the same as used in the commonly used tetanus vaccine. However, this core is then attached to heroin molecules by chemical bridges called linkers. It is these linkers which...

Summary : This article states that emotions are not innate but rather cognitive. We experience emotions by observing the environment we are in. Current research propose that emotions and feelings are innate and intrinsic to who we are. However, LeDoux and Brown refute that claim. They argue that emotions has the same processes as consciousness. The brain structures required to process a conscious experience are the same structures that are engaged when processing an emotional producing stimulus after receiving cues from the environment. They believe an emotion is the "conscious experience that occurs when you are aware that you are in a particular situation."  Therefore a visual stimulus elicits a physiological and behavioral response and not the other way around. Reflection : I found this article very interesting because it reminded me of what we have been discussing in class about emotions. This view reminded me of the "Cognitive theory" in connection to emotio...

Summary: Recent studies have shown that playing video games can affect, not only the functioning of the brain, but the physical structure of it as well. Marc Palaus and his colleages collected the results of 116 different studies in order to try and find a link between video games and brain function. Out of the 116 articles they compiled, 100 of them showed that there was a change in brain function, while 22 of the studies showed actual change to the brains physical structure. Many of the studies show that playing video games helps improve some types of attention. The research also shows that video games can increase the size and efficiency of the area of the brain involved in visuospacial skills (parietal lobe). The research also states that despite the positive results, negative results have also been found. Video game addiction, which is also known as "Internet Gaming Disorder", can be a big issue for some people. The research results have shown an increase in function an...

Two very common issues with aging are lack of physical fitness and deterioration of the brain. This article explains how the effects of dancing can improve both of those elements. Many elderly people do not get a lot of exercise, so dancing is a great way to get some exercise. It does not have to be elaborate dancing, but just moving around to music is better than nothing, and it is more fun than other exercises. According to the article, dancing effects the hippocampus, which controls memory and other functions such as learning. Dancing directly effects the hippocampus because it works the learning function of the brain when the elderly are learning the dances. This ties into my psychology of aging class because we spent a lot of time talking about how the brain ages and different ways to help your brain age properly. We also discussed how important it is to exercise while you are young because it will help you be able to move around better and be able to do more things on your own as...

Music Training Changes Children's Brain Structure and Boosts Decision Making Network  By, Collin Morley Link:  http :// neurosciencenews .com/kids-music-brain-structure-7941/ Summary: Three studies were conducted at The University of Southern California to examine how music training for children can improve their brain networks. The first study involved  neuroscientists  monitoring the brain development and behavior of children from under served neighborhoods   in Los Angeles. Some of the children were learning to play music with the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles at HOLA. Scientists used behavioral testing, structural and functional MRI scans, and EEG to examine the impact of music training on the children's brains. Results showed that music training improves maturity areas in the brain responsible for sound processing, language development, speech perception, and reading skills. In the second...