The area of the brain responsible for self-control—where the decision not to do something occurs after thinking about doing it—is separate from the area associated with taking action, scientists say in the August 22 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Scientists have provided new insight into how a gene is related to schizophrenia. In a study to be published in the August 17 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Amanda J. Law, Medical Research Council Fellow and Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and Visiting Scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), along with colleagues at NIH describe for the first time a genetic variation that causes a gene to be overexpressed in the human brain.

Neuroscientists have long believed that vision is processed in the brain along circuits made up of neurons, similar to the way telephone signals are transferred through separate wires from one station to another. But scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center discovered that visual information is also processed in a different way, like propagating waves oscillating back and forth among brain areas.

The hearing precision that lets common barn owls find prey is helping researchers fine tune their quest to diagnose a variety of problems rooted in the human brain, not only with hearing but also with behavior and potentially damaged areas.

The following case provides evidence that the human brain can adapt itself to a pathology that occurred earlier. Despite the pathology, the sufferer’s neurological and physical development was not severely hampered. He was able to lead a life that can be considered normal.

An important clue to how anaesthetics work on the human body has been provided by the discovery of a molecular feature common to both the human brain and the great pond snail nervous system, scientists say today.

Neuroscientists say a recent report indicates moderate drinking may have a positive effect on the health of a person's brain.

People who meditate show signs they are surprisingly alert, the first study of its kind has found. Australian PhD researcher Dylan DeLosAngeles, at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, shows that meditation produces changes in brainwaves usually associated with increased alertness.

Almost everyone suffers from anxiety at one time or another. It plays a role in helping us stay safe and empathize with people around us. But for some people, anxiety can be crippling, keeping them from doing what they want and need to do.

Self-injuring individuals display implicit associations between cutting and the self.

When it comes to estimating the intelligence of various animal species, it may be as simple measuring overall brain size. In fact, making corrections for a species' body size may be a mistake. The findings were reported by researchers at Grand Valley State University and the Anthropological Institute and Museum at the University of ZÑŒrich, Switzerland.

Mice whose brain cells respond to a flash of light are providing insight into the complexities of the sense of smell and may ultimately yield a better understanding of how the human brain works.