Through the brain-imaging work at the Amen Clinics during the past 20 years with tens of thousands of people from 75 different countries, we have come to see that when your brain works right, you tend to be more thoughtful, playful, romantic, intimate, committed, and loving with your partner — all necessary things for great relationships.

When your brain has trouble, you are much more likely to be impulsive, distracted, addicted, unfaithful, angry, and even hateful — all things that undermine relationships.

Even though it feels genital, the vast majority of love and sex occurs in the brain. Your brain decides who is attractive to you, how to get a date, how well you do on a date, what to do with the feelings that develop, how long those feelings last, when to commit, and how well you do as a partner and parent. Your brain helps you be enthusiastic in the bedroom or drains you of desire and passion. Your brain helps you process and learn from a breakup or makes you vulnerable to depression or obsession.

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The ability of humans to learn, remember, and adapt is directly related to the changeableness (plasticity) of the human brain. Whenever we learn new information, the connections between nerve cells in the brain are modified. The activity of some connections (called synapses) increases, while the activity of other synapses decreases. The initial changes involve local chemical alterations in the way synapses transmit and receive information from other neurons. These initial chemical changes eventually lead to structural changes in the brain; that is, more connections and more complex connections form. The longer lasting of these changes require the turning on and turning off of specific genes; therefore, learning involves gene expression. Changes in synaptic connections represent a major way by which memories are formed. But some memories fade, and it is likely that the newly formed connections must be reinforced by ongoing brain activity in order for these connections to survive. The important points to remember are that learning alters the actual structure of the brain and that genes are involved in learning.

Neurogenesis

Neurogenesis (the formation of new nerve cells in the adult brain) is really part of the larger story about brain plasticity. Neurogenesis reflects the amazing resilience and plasticity of our brains. Expanding upon observations initially made years ago about birds, it has become clear that certain parts of the human brain are capable of generating new neurons throughout life, even during old age.  Not all regions of the brain appear to have this ability to grow new nerve cells, but two regions, the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and the areas near the lateral ventricles in the olfactory system (which is involved in the sense of smell), are really good at it. The dentate gyrus plays a key role in the function of the hippocampus, the region that is so critical for memory processing. A thousand or more new neurons are born in this region each day and can be incorporated into the circuitry of the hippocampus where they help enhance certain types of learning. These new neurons may be particularly important for processing new information.

There have been prior clues that creativity benefits from ample cross-talk between the brain hemispheres. For example, patients who’ve had a commissurotomy – the severing of the thick bundle of nerve fibers that joins the two hemispheres – show deficits on creative tasks. Now Elizabeth Shobe and colleagues have provided the first evidence that creativity is boosted by an intervention designed to increase hemispheric cross-talk.

Shobe’s team tested 62 participants on a version of the “Alternative Uses Test”, a divergent thinking challenge that involves dreaming up unconventional uses for everyday objects such as bricks and newspapers.

An important factor that the researchers took note of was the participants’ handedness. Prior research has suggested that people who have one hand that is particularly dominant, so-called “strong-handers”, have less cross-talk between their brain hemispheres compared with people who are more ambidextrous or “mixed handed”.

After an initial attempt at the creativity task, half the participants spent thirty seconds shifting their eyes horizontally back and forth. This exercise is thought to help increase inter-hemispheric communication. The remaining participants acted as controls and just stared straight ahead for 30 seconds.

The key finding is that on their second creativity attempt, strong-handers who’d performed the horizontal eye movements subsequently showed a significant improvement in their creativity, in terms of being more original (i.e. suggesting ideas not proposed by others) and coming up with more categories of use. Staring straight ahead, by contrast, had no effect on creativity.

Another finding was that, overall, the mixed-handed participants performed better on the creativity task than the strong-handers, thus providing further evidence for a link between inter-hemispheric interaction, which mixed-handers have more of, and creativity. But it also turned out that mixed-handers didn’t benefit from the horizontal eye movement task. It’s as if they already have an optimum amount of hemispheric cross-talk so that the eye movements make no difference. This meant that after the strong-handers had performed the horizontal eye movements, their performance matched that of the mixed-handed participants.

The researchers also showed that, for strong-handers, the beneficial effects of the eye movement exercise lasted nine minutes for originality, but just three to six minutes in terms of coming up with more categories of use.

“Our findings may not apply to more unique populations who are characterized as ‘highly creative’,” the researchers said, “nor can we conclude … that the thirty seconds bilateral eye movement task will turn an average individual into an artist, poet, scientist, philosopher, actor or sculptor. However, we certainly do propose that the … eye movement task will result in a temporary increase in strong-hander’s ability to think of creative uses for various house-hold objects.”

These new findings complement research published in 2008 showing that horizontal eye movements aid memory performance for strongly-right handed people, but impair the performance of left-handers and mixed-handers.

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To make memories, new neurons must erase older ones

Short-term memory may depend in a surprising way on the ability of newly formed neurons to erase older connections. That’s the conclusion of a report in the November 13th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, that provides some of the first evidence in mice and rats that new neurons sprouted in the hippocampus cause the decay of short-term fear memories in that brain region, without an overall memory loss.

The researchers led by Kaoru Inokuchi of The University of Toyama in Japan say the discovery shows a more important role than many would have anticipated for the erasure of memories. They propose that the birth of new neurons promotes the gradual loss of memory traces from the hippocampus as those memories are transferred elsewhere in the brain for permanent storage. Although they examined this process only in the context of fear memory, Inokuchi says he “thinks all memories that are initially stored in the hippocampus are influenced by this process.”

In effect, the new results suggest that failure of neurogenesis will lead to problems because the brain’s short-term memory is literally full. In Inokuchi’s words, we may perhaps experience difficulties in acquiring new information because the storage capacity of the hippocampus is “occupied by un-erased old memories.”

Of course, Inokuchi added, “our finding does not necessary deny the important role of neurogenesis in memory acquisition.” Hippocampal neurogenesis could have a dual role, he says, in both erasing old memories and acquiring new ones.

Earlier studies had shown a crucial role for the hippocampus in memorizing new facts. Studies in people with impaired and normal memories and in animals also showed that information recall initially depends on the hippocampus. That dependence progressively decays over time as memories are transferred to other regions, such as the neocortex. Scientists have also observed a similar decay in the strength of connections between neurons of the hippocampus, a phenomenon known as long-term potentiation (LTP) that is considered the cellular basis for learning and memory.

Scientists also knew that new neurons continue to form in the hippocampuses of adults, even into old age. But it wasn’t really clear what those newborn brain cells actually do. Inokuchi’s team suspected that the integration of new neurons was required to maintain neural connections, but they realized it might also go the other way. The incorporation of new neurons into pre-existing neural circuits might also disturb the structure of pre-existing information, and indeed that is what their new findings now show.

The researchers found that irradiation of rat’s brains, which drastically reduces the formation of new neurons, maintains the strength of neural connections in the hippocampus. Likewise, studies of mice in which hippocampal neurogenesis was suppressed by either physical or genetic means showed a prolonged dependence of fear memories on that brain region.

On the other hand, voluntary exercise, which causes a rise in the birth of new neurons, sped up the decay rate of hippocampus-dependency of memory, without any memory loss.

“Enhanced neurogenesis caused by exercise may accelerate memory decay from the hippocampus and at the same time it may facilitate memory transfer to neocortex,” Inokuchi said. “Hippocampal capacity of memory storage is limited, but in this way exercise could increase the [brain's overall] capacity.”

The study sets the stage for further examination of the connections between neurogenesis and learning capacity, the researchers say. They also plan to examine how the gradual decay of memory dependence on the hippocampus relates to the transformation of memory over time from a detailed and contextually-rich form to a more generic one.

Playing memory games like Myfitbrain can indicate if your short-term memory is degrading and needs your attention.

Bad drivers may in part have their genes to blame, suggests a new study by UC Irvine neuroscientists.

People with a particular gene variant performed more than 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it – and a follow-up test a few days later yielded similar results. About 30 percent of Americans have the variant.

“These people make more errors from the get-go, and they forget more of what they learned after time away,” says Dr. Steven Cramer, neurology associate professor and senior author of the study published recently in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

This gene variant limits the availability of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor during activity. BDNF keeps memory strong by supporting communication among brain cells and keeping them functioning optimally. When a person is engaged in a particular task, BDNF is secreted in the brain area connected with that activity to help the body respond.

Previous studies have shown that in people with the variant, a smaller portion of the brain is stimulated when doing a task than in those with a normal BDNF gene. People with the variant also don’t recover as well after a stroke. Given these differences, the UCI scientists wondered: Could the variant affect an activity such as driving?

“We wanted to study motor behavior, something more complex than finger-tapping,” says Stephanie McHughen, graduate student and lead author of the study. “Driving seemed like a good choice because it has a learning curve and it’s something most people know how to do.”

The driving test was taken by 29 people – 22 without the gene variant and seven with it. They were asked to drive 15 laps on a simulator that required them to learn the nuances of a track programmed to have difficult curves and turns. Researchers recorded how well they stayed on the course over time. Four days later, the test was repeated.

Results showed that people with the variant did worse on both tests than the other participants, and they remembered less the second time. “Behavior derives from dozens and dozens of neurophysiologic events, so it’s somewhat surprising this exercise bore fruit,” Cramer says.

The gene variant isn’t always bad, though. Studies have found that people with it maintain their usual mental sharpness longer than those without it when neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and multiple sclerosis are present.

“It’s as if nature is trying to determine the best approach,” Cramer says. “If you want to learn a new skill or have had a stroke and need to regenerate brain cells, there’s evidence that having the variant is not good. But if you’ve got a disease that affects cognitive function, there’s evidence it can act in your favor. The variant brings a different balance between flexibility and stability.”

A test to determine whether someone has the gene variant is not commercially available.

“I’d be curious to know the genetics of people who get into car crashes,” Cramer says. “I wonder if the accident rate is higher for drivers with the variant.”

In addition to Cramer and McHughen, Paul Rodriguez, Laura Marchal-Crespo and Vincent Procaccio of UCI worked on the study, along with researchers from the University of Florida. The National Institutes of Health funded the study.

Drinking eight cups of tea daily might sound a bit too much for some people, but health experts say the intake can help fight heart disease, improve brain power and also boost longevity.

Independent Dietician, Dr. Carrie Ruxton’s research on caffeine at King’s College, London, saw her review 47 published studies to reach the conclusion that caffeinated drinks such as tea, coffee and cocoa have positive effects on mental function, increasing alertness, feelings of well-being and short-term memory.

Previous studies have already linked the drink’s healthy antioxidant properties and high flavonoid content to preventing heart disease and cutting the risk of some cancers.

Ruxton has supported earlier reports by claiming that an optimal intake of 400mg of caffeine a day leads to “key benefits in terms of mental function and heart health”.

She assessed three studies, accounting for almost 90,000 patients, to find that drinking four cups of tea or coffee a day reduced chances of cardiovascular disease.

She referred to another study of 26,500 middle-aged smokers, which hinted that men who ingested more than two cups of tea a day pulled down the probability of getting a stroke by 20 percent.

Ruxton insisted that she aimed to “debunk” false beliefs surrounding caffeine.

Moreover, she asserted that people who avoid drinking team might be doing more harm than good.

“People who cut out caffeinated drinks may miss out on the potential health benefits of the compounds they contain,” the Daily Express quoted her as saying.

She further suggested that there was “no need” for parents to stop children from drinking tea and coffee. In fact, she claimed it was better than juice in some regards.

Also, Dr Catherine Hood, of the Tea Advisory Panel, agreed to Ruxton’s claims.

She said, “Caffeinated drinks have been unfairly demonized. Black tea, in particular, contains polyphenols, which are natural plant antioxidants.”

“These have beneficial effects on many biochemical processes in the body because they protect cells against harmful free radicals.” she said.

“Flavonoids are thought to be especially useful, with a number of studies reporting a link between them and lower risk of heart attack.” she added.

Another way to improve your brain is push your brain in novel ways by playing Myfitbrain.

Nine research teams from universities across the U.S. will study how interactive video games such as the Wii Active could help fight childhood obesity and how mobile phone games could help smokers quit or reduce tobacco use.

The teams will also focus on how video games can be designed to help people change behaviors and self-manage chronic illnesses as well as improve communication with autistic patients.

“Digital games are interactive and experiential, and so they can engage people in powerful ways to enhance learning and [change health-related behavior], especially when they are designed on the basis of well-researched strategies,” said Debra Lieberman, a communication researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research.

Lieberman, a leading expert in the research and design of interactive media for learning and health behavior change, said the new interactive gaming studies will provide “cutting-edge, evidence-based strategies that designers will be able to use in the future to make their health games more effective.”

The nine teams, chosen from among 185 proposals, have been awarded between $100,000 and $300,000 each from $1.85 million in grant money offered by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The researchers will lead one- to two-year studies of digital games that engage players in physical activity and/or motivate them to improve how they take care of themselves through healthy changes in lifestyle, prevention behaviors, cognitive, social or physical skills, chronic disease self-management, and/or adherence to a medical treatment plan.

For example, the research teams will delve into the popular dance pad video game Dance Revolution to see how it might help Parkinson’s patients reduce the risk of falling, or how facial recognition games might be designed to help people with autism better identify others’ emotions.

The studies will focus on diverse population groups that vary by race and ethnicity, health status, income level and game-play setting, with age groups ranging from elementary school children to 80-year-olds. The research teams will study participants’ responses to health games played on a variety of platforms, such as video game consoles, computers, mobile phones and robots.

“The pace of growth and innovation in digital games is incredible, and we see tremendous potential to design them to help people stay healthy or manage chronic conditions like diabetes or Parkinson’s disease. However, we need to know more about what works and what does not, and why,” Paul Tarini, team director for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio, said in a statement.

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