Neuroscience
You think I made this up? I can't find the article online yet, but here's the abstract.
Perhaps the current issue of Australasian Psychiatry is similar to the (semi-)joke issue published by the British Medical Journal around Christmas...
- The Brain's Great Connector
Pick two people off the street at random, put them in a brain scanner, and look at the thickness of their corpus callosums – that’s the massive bundle of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain. In all likelihood, you’ll find it’s...
- How Meditation Alters The Brain
New evidence suggests meditating can make parts of the cerebral cortex thicker and protect other parts from age-related thinning. Sara Lazar and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital scanned the brains of 20 people who meditated for an average...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: Cortical Neuroanatomy Of Neuropsychological Deficits
The cortical neuroanatomy of neuropsychological deficits in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: A surface-based morphometric analysis Neuropsychologia. 2011 Oct 15; Ahn HJ, Seo SW, Chin J, Suh MK, Lee BH, Kim ST, Im K, Lee JM, Lee JH,...
- Australia Clinical Neuroscience Centre Opens
Melbourne Brain Centre opens 9News 17:22 AEST Mon Oct 17 2011 Read the report...
- Neuroethics
Natasha Mitchell of Australia's All in the Mind radio show / podcast hosted a great panel discussion at last month's World Conference of Science Journalists [click on "program"], held in Melbourne. Here's the official description of Mitchell's...
Neuroscience
Neurobiological Correlates of Melbourne-Sydney Rivalry
You think I made this up? I can't find the article online yet, but here's the abstract.
Velakoulis D, Fornito A, Walterfang M, Malhi G, Yucel M, Pantelis C. (2007). A tale of two cities: a neuroimaging investigation of Melbourne-Sydney rivalry comparing cortical thickness in healthy adults. Australas Psychiatry 15(1):67-71.[NOTE: the authors are from the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Vic, Australia.]
OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify neurobiological correlates of Melbourne-Sydney rivalry through neuroimaging measures of a key brain region involved in cognitive and emotional regulation. METHOD: Twenty subjects from each city were recruited from two large neuroimaging databases, and were scanned on a GE Signa 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Cortical thickness of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was measured using a tessellated mesh method, after image segmentation. These measures were compared with key sporting, financial and academic variables. RESULTS: Residents of Melbourne had a significantly thicker ACC (p less than 0.0001) than Sydney residents, and this difference remained significant when age and intracranial volume were controlled for (p = 0.001). This difference mirrored that in variables measuring wealth, sporting and academic success. CONCLUSIONS: The thinner ACC seen in Sydney-siders may reflect the effects of increased stress due to elevated property prices, relative lack of sporting success and other variables. An alternative explanation is that a thinner ACC is the result of increasing cortical refinement and efficiency, and a marker of a more mature city. However, if these findings are a result of latitudinal effects, this may have significant implications for residents of more northern regions of the Australian continent.
Perhaps the current issue of Australasian Psychiatry is similar to the (semi-)joke issue published by the British Medical Journal around Christmas...
- The Brain's Great Connector
Pick two people off the street at random, put them in a brain scanner, and look at the thickness of their corpus callosums – that’s the massive bundle of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain. In all likelihood, you’ll find it’s...
- How Meditation Alters The Brain
New evidence suggests meditating can make parts of the cerebral cortex thicker and protect other parts from age-related thinning. Sara Lazar and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital scanned the brains of 20 people who meditated for an average...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: Cortical Neuroanatomy Of Neuropsychological Deficits
The cortical neuroanatomy of neuropsychological deficits in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease: A surface-based morphometric analysis Neuropsychologia. 2011 Oct 15; Ahn HJ, Seo SW, Chin J, Suh MK, Lee BH, Kim ST, Im K, Lee JM, Lee JH,...
- Australia Clinical Neuroscience Centre Opens
Melbourne Brain Centre opens 9News 17:22 AEST Mon Oct 17 2011 Read the report...
- Neuroethics
Natasha Mitchell of Australia's All in the Mind radio show / podcast hosted a great panel discussion at last month's World Conference of Science Journalists [click on "program"], held in Melbourne. Here's the official description of Mitchell's...