Stress in humans and animals is linked to shrinkage of the hippocampus. Regular practice of yoga can help enhance nerve connections in many of the same brain regions that benefit from aerobic exercise, according to a study reviewing 11 other previous research on Hatha yoga—which includes body movements, meditation, and breathing. Researchers said the brain health of participants were compared at the beginning and at the end of the intervention.
OH 2020
Science on the InsideHow neuroscience graduate students are bringing science education to youth behind bars
Llano Recieves Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
Pulling Apart the BrainThe Interactive 3D brain model from BrainFacts.org.
More Department News
- Cowbirds outsource parenting to other species, but an innate password tells their children to copy cowbird songs. Now, a new paper describes how the cowbird chicks may learn to recognize and sing their own species’ songs. "We kind of opened the paper with this existential question," said Sarah London, a neuroscientist at the University of Chicago. "How do you know who you are if no one's shown you who you are?"
- A new study, co-authored by Northeastern University professor Charles Hillman and Naiman Khan at the University of Illinois, found that drinking water and staying hydrated increased children’s ability to multitask and improved their reaction times. “Kids who were more hydrated performed better on tasks of mental flexibility — multitasking — and working memory,” Hillman tells The Post. “This is the first study that used a randomized controlled crossover design to study the relationship of hydration and cognition in children.”
- Rogers and Mudar said the primary research aims are to understand challenges adults with cognitive disability deal with every day, and to identify existing and emerging technology that can help. Three segments of the population are part of the study group: Adults 60 and older with mild cognitive impairment, cognitive impairments due to stroke and those who have sustained a traumatic brain injury.
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Faculty Spotlight
How would you describe your background? My bachelors and masters training is in psychology. My master’s was specifically in counseling psychology and I practiced as a counselor for a couple of years. I used to be an athlete—I played tennis— and that is how I was always interested in exercise and sport. I decided why not bring exercise, sport, and psychology all together? I started looking for academic programs that examine exercise psychology or exercise science. In India, unfortunately, this area of studying is not quite developed. So I came to the US to pursue my Ph.D. in kinesiology. That is where my masters and Ph.D. in and I’ve been here since.
Alumni Spotlight
What field in Neuroscience did you study? I was fortunate enough to work in a laboratory where interesting questions were pursued no matter the field or technique needed to answer them. While the overall field was learning, memory, and neuroplasticity, this laboratory studied it with molecular, biological, anatomically, electrophysiological, and fMRI techniques, and I am sure I left some out. My specific focus was on the translation of mRNA at synapses in response to synaptic activity, and it happened to fortuitously overlap with a common clinical condition. Fortuitous for me, as I was in the Medical-Scholars Program.