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YOUNG & OLD / MENTAL FITNESS

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

YOUNG & OLD Brain scans reveal the different ways young and old brains process information. When young and old test subjects look at pictures, the young brains experience most activity in the right hemisphere, in a region known as the right visual cortex. Older brains activate the visual cortices of the right and left hemispheres…

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CHANGES IN PERFORMANCE

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

CHANGES IN PERFORMANCE Nevertheless, some decline in brain function is inevitable as we age. The first system to show its age is memory. Brains begin requiring more time to learn and store information in late middle age. At the same time, the prefrontal cortex experiences a drop in its ability to hold information in so…

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A MATURE VISION / THE AGING BRAIN

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

A MATURE VISION SHE WAS BORN on a New York farm before the Civil War, when high technology meant steam railroad engines and telegraph lines. By the time of her death, America had sent rockets into space. In between those events, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses learned to adapt, not only with the changing times…

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MATURITY – FINDING BALANCE AS THE BRAIN AGES [ REGISTERING EMOTIONS ]

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

MATURITY – FINDING BALANCE AS THE BRAIN AGES AFTER ADOLESCENCE, the brain transitions into adulthood. A fully functioning prefrontal cortex is the highest expression of the human brain. The balance of reason and emotion marks the emergence of the adult brain. Only in functional adulthood does society expect a person to have the ability to…

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JOHN NASH’S LONG JOURNEY

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

JOHN NASH’S LONG JOURNEY ECONOMIST and mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr., started hearing things when he was young. He became convinced that aliens were communicating through the New York Times, and he rambled through Europe in a vague quest of becoming a refugee. At Princeton University he scribbled late into the night on blackboards, earning…

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SCHIZOPHRENIA – RESEARCH & TREATMENT [ WAVES OF CHANGES ]

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

SCHIZOPHRENIA – RESEARCH & TREATMENT [ WAVES OF CHANGES ] RESEARCH & TREATMENT Research for treatment and a future cure focuses on imbalances of dopamine and other neurotransmitters in the brain’s neural networks. In particular, the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate is believed to play a significant role in schizophrenic episodes. Imbalances damage brain cells, and the…

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SCHIZOPHRENIA / MADNESS

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

SCHIZOPHRENIA / MADNESS SCHIZOPHRENIA As the prefrontal cortex completes its final wiring, about one percent of adolescents and young adults develop the brain disease schizophrenia. People with the disease typically hear voices, experience other delusions and hallucinations, and have emotional disturbances.Neuroscientists believe that the foundation for the disease is laid in infancy, as neurons migrate…

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ADHD – CAUSES & TREATMENTS [ WAVES OF CHANGES

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

ADHD – CAUSES & TREATMENTS [ WAVES OF CHANGES ] Research points to a lack of efficient dopamine use in the brain of those with ADHD. Medications such as Ritalin, Cylert, and Dexedrine increase the amount of dopamine and other neurotransmitters, either through introducing more of them into the synapses or inhibiting their reuptake so…

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SIGNS OF ADHD [ WAVES OF CHANGES – AN ADOLESCENT BRAIN ]

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

SIGNS OF ADHD [ WAVES OF CHANGES – AN ADOLESCENT BRAIN ] Children with ADHD typically squirm and cannot sit still, have trouble playing quietly, have difficulty managing their time, talk all the time, fail to focus on the details of their school lessons, and are easily distracted. The disorder usually appears before age seven,…

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ATTENTION DEFICITS [ WAVES OF CHANGES – AN ADOLESCENT BRAIN ]

ByTeam HUMANITYUAPD

ATTENTION DEFICITS [ WAVES OF CHANGES – AN ADOLESCENT BRAIN ] Much scientific research has historically focused on the brain of infants as they begin to develop their mental abilities, and on diseases that begin to sap the brain power of elderly. Only recently has the adolescent and teenage brain gotten its proper due. Neuroscientists…