The journal of opinion that can change your mind.

Your Brain and Heart Surgery

Your Brain and Heart Surgery

by Guy McKhann, M.D., and Brenda Patoine

Cognitive problems sometimes follow heart bypass surgery, but that does not mean the surgery is the cause. In fact, the same things that harm the heart before surgery may also be subtly harming the brain.

January 2008

Coming Apart: Trauma and the Fragmentation of the Self

Coming Apart: Trauma and the Fragmentation of the Self

by David Spiegel, M.D.

The controversial diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder (DID) has replaced what once was called "multiple personality disorder." David Spiegel, M.D., explains how new research supports the diagnosis and what may have gone wrong in patients' brains.

December 2007

"Go" and "NoGo"

"Go" and "NoGo"

Learning and the Basal Ganglia

by Michael J. Frank, Ph.D.

Many human behaviors are, in essence, reflexes programmed into our brains when we are rewarded or punished for taking a particular action. New research is showing how the basal ganglia, deep inside the brain, are important in learning from feedback, in the formation of good and bad habits, and even in brain disorders as diverse as Parkinson's disease, ADHD, and addiction.

December 2007

Seeking Insights into the Human Mind in Art and Science
BOOK REVIEW

Seeking Insights into the Human Mind in Art and Science

British neuroscientist Steven Rose reviews a new book exploring how artists such as Virginia Woolf, Paul Cezanne, and Igor Stravinsky discovered truths about the human mind that are now being confirmed by brain science.

November 2007

Harnessing the Brain's Power to Adapt After Injury

Harnessing the Brain's Power to Adapt After Injury

by Michael E. Selzer, M.D., Ph.D.

Whether a brain or spinal cord injury is caused by a weapon of war, an accident, or a disease such as stroke, rehabilitation focuses on enabling people to make the most of what functions they still have. For neurorehabilitation to offer the hope of curing the underlying brain damage, writes an expert in the field, it must look to basic science and better clinical trials to put to work the power of the brain’s plasticity. 

November 2007

My Insula Made Me Do It
BOOK EXCERPT

My Insula Made Me Do It

by Sandra Blakeslee and Matthew Blakeslee

Our bodies and minds interact through a constantly changing network of “body maps” in our brains. As described in Sandra and Matthew Blakeslee’s new book, The Body Has a Mind of Its Own, these maps create our ability to navigate our inner world and the social world of our interactions with other people, as well as the physical world.  In Chapter 10, excerpted here, the authors discuss how the abilities to interpret sensations within our bodies and to be emotionally aware of other people are linked.

October 2007

Stress and Immunity

Stress and Immunity

From Starving Cavemen to Stressed-Out Scientists

by Fabienne Mackay, Ph.D.

Scientists in Australia have recently discovered the first clear molecular process that helps to explain how stress suppresses our immune defenses and makes us more vulnerable to getting sick.  Has a biological system that worked well for early humans faced with starvation turned against those of us living with the many new stresses of modern society? 

September 2007

Seeking Free Will in our Brains: A Debate

Seeking Free Will in our Brains: A Debate

by Mark Hallett, M.D., and Paul R. McHugh, M.D.

Some argue that free will is only an illusion—a perception not congruent with the unconscious biochemical processes that they see as leading to thought and action. Two senior scientists, a neurologist and a psychiatrist, debate the meaning of free will and whether brain science can, now or ever, fully explain it.

August 2007

When Music Stops Making Sense

When Music Stops Making Sense

Lessons from an Injured Brain

by Petr Janata, Ph.D.

In 2004, Ian McDonald, M.D., a British neurologist and amateur classical pianist, experienced a stroke that damaged a fairly small area of his brain. As a result, he temporarily lost his ability to read and play music from a score, as well as to appreciate music emotionally. What does his experience teach us about how the brain binds together what we perceive into a seamless flow?

July 2007

"Cosmetic Neurology" and the Problem of Pain

"Cosmetic Neurology" and the Problem of Pain

by Anjan Chatterjee, M.D.

Is taking a drug to lessen the pain of our common daily struggles a “cosmetic” enhancement of human life, even a danger to character, or is it an ethical choice?

Cerebrum 2007: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science
New Book from Dana Press

Cerebrum 2007: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science

Foreword by Bruce S. McEwen

"Cerebrum is excellent, exciting, and important food for the brain."

— Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., author of Exuberance: The Passion for Life 

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