Word: neural
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...they can't learn new motor skills. An Alzheimer's patient can learn to draw in a mirror but can't remember doing it; a Huntington's patient can't do it but can remember trying to learn. Yet another region of the brain, an almond-size knot of neural tissue known as the amygdala, seems to be crucial in forming and triggering the recall of a special subclass of memories that is tied to strong emotion, especially fear. The hippocampus allows us to remember having been afraid; the amygdala evidently calls up the goosebumps that go along with each...
Several patrons try to shrug off the icy fear the film's neural refrigerator has locked them into. A trio of teens emerging from a screening in Alexandria, Va., refuse to walk to their car, parked near a woodsy area, because "that movie scared me to death," says Shawna Daniels, 14, "and I'm not ever going near the woods again!" A ticket taker graciously walks them to the car. When asked if he has seen the film, he replies, "Not on your life. I don't want to be that scared." For others, the thaw will take longer...
...paper in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that neuroscientists may be getting a little more daring. A team of researchers reports that they've managed to reverse a neural disorder in mice that affects not just a single region of the brain but the entire organ. The genetically based disease prevents the formation of myelin sheathing around nerve fibers. Without that insulation, signals go awry and the mice develop tremors (similar to what happens to humans with multiple sclerosis...
Consuming products with folic acid helps prevent certain serious birth defects of the brain and spine known as neural-tube defects. The U.S. Public Health Service has recommended that all women of childbearing age consume 400 micrograms of folic acid daily beginning before pregnancy. Despite the encouraging findings in the Journal report, there is no direct evidence that blood-folate levels in women ages 15 to 40 have reached protective levels. DR. JENNIFER L. HOWSE, PRESIDENT March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation White Plains...
...sight of a fist coming toward your face might trigger the pain perception before the fist actually makes contact. Or, alternately, someone might be so ticklish that they don t even need to be touched to cringe. Even if they don t produce pain on their own, these neural patterns can "lower the stimulus intensity so that normally innocuous stimuli produce pain." In this model, Harvard students, aware of what they see as impending danger of RSI, might jump the gun and anticipate the pain. This would fit what Suleiman described as the almost faddish nature of the disorder...