ReportWire

Tag: Brain

  • This Brain Supplement Delivers Daily Power & Lifelong Support

    This Brain Supplement Delivers Daily Power & Lifelong Support

    This advanced nootropic supplement has become an integral part of my daily endeavors to support a healthy brain span. Alongside the essential practices of improving my sleep hygiene, consuming a nutrient-rich and balanced diet, and getting consistent exercise and movement, brain guard+ provides the daily brainpower and lifelong neuroprotective support that helps round out my brain health rituals.*

    Source link

  • U. Md. researchers examine how naptime impacts brain development in preschoolers – WTOP News

    U. Md. researchers examine how naptime impacts brain development in preschoolers – WTOP News

    When should young children drop their afternoon nap? University of Maryland researchers are looking to better understand why the transition happens. 

    When should young children drop their afternoon nap? University of Maryland researchers are looking to better understand why the transition happens. 

    “We know sleep is very good for the brain, and it’s very good for our memories,” said University of Maryland professor Tracy Riggins. “Preschoolers are sponges that soak up a bunch of information about the world. They learn so much every day. Isn’t it interesting that that’s also the same time they’re transitioning out of the afternoon nap?”

    Riggins and her colleague Rebecca Spencer, from UMass Amherst, are conducting a first-of-its-kind study on preschoolers, sleep, memory and the brain.

    Riggins said children typically drop the nap between two and eight years of age. They want to understand why the transition happens, and why it might occur at different points in time for different kids.

    “We hope it’s a first step in understanding those intricate relations between memory, sleep, and the brain,” Riggins said. “We know they’re tied together, but we don’t actually know how they’re tied together.”

    She hopes the research provides more answers for educators, day care providers and parents. Riggins said there are currently no scientifically-based recommendations for napping in preschoolers, which is why daycares handle naptime differently.

    “Some of them have a mandatory two-hour rest period. Others have a 45-minute optional rest period, and some have no rest period at all,” she said. “And they might not remember anything from that class if they’re not able to take a nap, which will help them consolidate the information.”

    Riggins says they are looking to recruit about 180 children, ages 3-5, to participate in this study. Those children should be napping on average five days a week or more. Researchers would measure memory and brain activity while the kids are awake as well as when they’re sleeping. Participants will be compensated.

    If you’re interested in learning more about the study, visit the university’s Neurocognitive Development Lab website.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Linh Bui

    Source link

  • ‘Collective Mind’: Researchers Examine Social Effects of Watching the Same Thing Together | High Times

    ‘Collective Mind’: Researchers Examine Social Effects of Watching the Same Thing Together | High Times

    More than 123 million people tuned in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs (and Taylor Swift) claim yet another Super Bowl triumph on Sunday, making it the most-watched television program in history.

    That’s useful grist for recently published research examining how watching the same thing can bring people together. 

    It is known as the “theory of the collective mind,” which refers to the human ability to take in a collective perspective. 

    Garriy Shteynberg, a professor of psychology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, published the research on the theory last year, and recently expounded upon the scholarship in a piece published last month.

    “Theory of mind research has traditionally focused on the ascription of mental states to a single individual. Here, we introduce a theory of collective mind: the ascription of a unified mental state to a group of agents with convergent experiences. Rather than differentiation between one’s personal perspective and that of another agent, a theory of collective mind requires perspectival unification across agents,” Shteynberg and his colleagues wrote in the study’s abstract last year.

    “We review recent scholarship across the cognitive sciences concerning the conceptual foundations of collective mind representations and their empirical induction through the synchronous arrival of shared information. Research suggests that representations of a collective mind cause psychological amplification of co-attended stimuli, create relational bonds, and increase cooperation, among co-attendees.”

    In his piece last month, Shteynberg noted the relevance of such research, given the increased polarization and decline in institutional trust in the United States. 

    “Only about 1 in 4 Americans said that they had trust in the nation’s institutions in 2023 – with big business (1 in 7), television news (1 in 7) and Congress (1 in 12) scraping the very bottom,” he wrote.

    “While institutional trust is decreasing, political polarization is increasing. The majority of Republicans (72%) and Democrats (64%) think of each other as more immoral than other Americans – a nearly 30% rise from 2016 to 2022. When compared with similar democracies, the United States has exhibited the largest increase in animus toward the opposing political party over the past 40 years.”

    In a context in which we can’t agree on anything where, Shteynberg wonders, does that leave us? 

    “When public trust and political consensus disappear, what remains? This question has occupied my research for the past 20 years, both as a scholar trained in social anthropology, organizational science and social cognition and as a professor of psychology,” he said.

    “Researchers don’t have all the answers, but it seems that even in the absence of public trust and agreement, people can share experiences. Whether watching a spelling bee or a football game, ‘we’ still exist if ‘we’ can witness it together.”

    Shteynberg goes on to explain that he and his colleagues have been driven to explore the “foundation of collective mind,” saying that what they study in the lab “is shared attention, instances when people experience the world with others.”

    Those lab experiments, he says, underscore the value of “shared experiences,” saying they “amplify psychological and behavioral reactions to the world” in adults.

    “My colleagues and I find that compared with attending to the world alone, or at different times than others, synchronous attention with others yields stronger memories, deeper emotions and firmer motivations. Studies show that seeing words together renders them more memorable, watching sad movies together makes them sadder, and focusing together on shared goals increases efforts toward their pursuit. Sharing attention to the behavior of others yields more imitation of that behavior,” he says.

    “Critically, those experiencing something with you need not be physically present. Although in some experiments participants sit side by side, in other studies participants believe they are attending together from different lab rooms or even across the nation. Irrespective of the location, the sense that ‘we are attending’ to something together at the same time – as compared with in solitude or on your own schedule – amplifies the experience.”

    Shteynberg highlights two examples of disparate sizes –– watching a movie in a theater or watching the Super Bowl –– as important instances of shared experiences with Americans, who are increasingly isolated in a society that conducts more and more business online.

    “Before the advent of the internet, Americans shared attention broadly – they watched the same nightly news together, even if they did not always agree whether it was good or bad. Today, with people’s attention divided into media silos, there are more obstacles than ever to sharing attention with those with whom you disagree,” he says. “And yet, even when we can no longer agree on what ‘we’ believe, sharing attention to the basic sights and sounds of our world connects us. These moments can be relatively small, like watching a movie in the theater, or large, like watching the Super Bowl. However, remembering that we are sharing such experiences with Americans of all political persuasions is important.”

    Thomas Edward

    Source link

  • The Best Way To Support Brain Longevity, From A Neuroscientist

    The Best Way To Support Brain Longevity, From A Neuroscientist


    As Kirin Central Research Institute’s lead researcher, Eri Nakazaki, Ph.D., has engaged in many clinical research trials on nutritional bioactives to determine their brain health potential. After all, there’s a lot of research and development that goes into nootropic ingredients. 



    Source link

  • Bullying may leave teens at greater risk of psychosis

    Bullying may leave teens at greater risk of psychosis


    Bullying may leave teens at greater risk of psychosis, research has found.

    The study from researchers at the University of Tokyo, which is published in the Journal of Molecular Psychiatry, reports that bullying was linked to a chemical change in the brain, that increased the risk of psychosis-like symptoms. Psychosis is a disconnect from reality and comes in the form of several disorders, such as schizophrenia. The researchers found that the psychotic episodes experienced by these teens did not meet the criteria needed in order to diagnose them with a psychotic disorder; however, there was a clear increased risk of hallucinations, radical change in behavior or thinking, and paranoia.

    A stock photo shows a girl being bullied by peers. A study found that teens who are bullied are more likely to have psychotic disorders.

    Daisy-Daisy/Getty

    “Studying these subclinical psychotic experiences is important for us to understand the early stages of psychotic disorders and for identifying individuals who may be at increased risk for developing a clinical psychotic illness later on,” Naohiro Okada, lead author of the study and project associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s International Research Center for Neurointelligence said in a summary of the research findings.

    To reach these findings, the researchers measured the glutamate levels in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) region of Japanese teenagers’ brains. The ACC is a neurotransmitter in the brain that works to regulate the body’s emotions and cognitive control. They compared the changes in glutamate levels when the teenager had experienced bullying, and when they had not experienced bullying.

    They also considered whether the teenager had sought help for the bullying.

    Along with an increased risk of psychotic episodes, the scientists found that being bullied had a significant impact on the teens’ well-being, the study reported.

    Scientists already knew that bullying at school can be highly determinantal to an adolescent’s wellbeing. But the link between bullying, the ACC, glutamate levels and teenagers, has never been studied before.

    These findings suggest that the neurotransmitter could be a future target for treatments in psychotic disorders.

    However, the researchers stress that non-medical treatment options, such as talking therapy, remain important for psychotic disorders. It is also vital to provide support to those who are experiencing bullying, the study reports.

    “First and foremost, anti-bullying programs in schools that focus on promoting positive social interactions and reducing aggressive behaviors are essential for their own sake and to reduce the risk of psychosis and its subclinical precursors,” Okada said in the summary. “These programs can help create a safe and supportive environment for all students, reducing the likelihood of bullying and its negative consequences.”

    Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about mental health? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.