Wired for Hunger

The Brain and Obesity

by Marcelo O. Dietrich, M.D., and Tamas L. Horvath, D.V.M., Ph.D.

Because food is not always plentiful, humans have evolved to eat whenever it is available. Researchers are starting to tease out the brain circuits that elicit this “eat” message, a network that may contribute to today’s widespread obesity. Effective obesity treatment likely will involve combination of drugs, in addition to psychological approaches and exercise—not just a single pill. An accompanying story addresses what goes wrong in people with anorexia nervosa.

Book Review

Weighing In on 'Conditioned Hypereating'

by Lisa J. Merlo, Ph.D., and Mark S. Gold, M.D.

Author and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David A. Kessler presents a provocative theory of why we overeat, complete with sound (though somewhat limited) science, a pair of addiction researchers write in this review.

Updating the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

by David J. Kupfer, M.D., Emily A. Kuhl, Ph.D., William E. Narrow, M.D., M.P.H., and Darrel A. Regier, M.D., M.P.H.; and Paul R. McHugh, M.D.

How the foremost clinical manual for psychiatric disorders guides doctors to diagnoses has long been controversial. Now, during the early stages of the manual’s revision, complementary articles—one by four scientists involved in the process, the other by a psychiatrist looking in from the outside—address how to make psychiatric diagnosis both more certain and more flexible.

What Can Dance Teach Us About Learning?

by Scott T. Grafton, M.D.

Book Review

Synesthesia: Another World of Perception

by Julian E. Asher, Ph.D.

The authors of Wednesday Is Indigo Blue do well to let people with synesthesia tell their own stories, Julian Asher writes. But the book does have some flaws.

How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition

by Michael I. Posner, Ph.D., with Brenda Patoine

Using Deep Brain Stimulation on the Mind: Handle with Care

by Mahlon R. DeLong, M.D.

The success of deep brain stimulation in treating movement disorders has led to investigations of its use for psychiatric illnesses. While the technique shows early promise in the treatment of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Dr. Mahlon DeLong, M.D., a pioneer in the field, cautions both doctors and patients to be aware of the risks in using this yet unproven method.

Book Review

Our Neurotech Future

by Michael F. Huerta, Ph.D.

In his review of The Neuro Revolution by Zack Lynch, Michael F. Huerta compliments the animated style Lynch uses to describe how our understanding of the brain and newfound ability to affect it via drugs and technology are changing our lives and our societies. Lynch’s predictions for the future are both exciting and within the realm of scientific possibility.

Why So Many Seniors Get Swindled

Brain Anomalies and Poor Decision-making in Older Adults

by Natalie L. Denburg, Ph.D., with Lyndsay Harshman, B.S.

The elderly often fall victim to scams, but is it more than aged neurons causing the problem? One expert argues that such slips result from gene-based abnormalities in the brain’s emotional processing rather than the normal deterioration that goes with aging.

Book Review

Decisions Are Not So Simple

by Scott A. Huettel, Ph.D.

Neuroeconomist Scott A. Huettel praises Jonah Lehrer’s storytelling in How We Decide, but warns that some oversimplification of the science prevents full synthesis and interpretation of the facts.

Video Games Affect the Brain—for Better and Worse

by Douglas A. Gentile, Ph.D.

Headlines about how video games affect the brain range from upbeat to dire. Psychologist Douglas A. Gentile asserts that although violent games in particular can have negative consequences, well-designed games can teach positive skills. He proposes five attributes of video game design that can help explain findings and guide future research.

Neuroimaging: Separating the Promise from the Pipe Dreams

by Russell A. Poldrack, Ph.D.

Vitamin D and the Brain: More Good News

by R. Douglas Shytle, Ph.D., and Paula C. Bickford, Ph.D.

The Teen Brain: Primed to Learn, Primed to Take Risks

by Jay N. Giedd, M.D.

The changes the brain undergoes during adolescence pave the way to adulthood, priming the young person for life away from home and for finding unrelated mates. But this plasticity also can open the door to poor decision making and risky behavior, writes Jay N. Giedd, a child psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health. 

See also

• Webcast: The Teen Brain, with panelists Jay Giedd, Kay Redfield Jamison and Stephen Maistro
• Brief: Brain Development in a Hyper-Tech World

New Dana Press Book

Cerebrum 2009: Emerging Ideas in Brain Science

Pediatric Screening and the Public Good

by Jennifer Kwon, M.D., M.P.H., and Richard H. Dees, Ph.D.

Screening for disorders in children can prevent problems later in life, but potential drawbacks such as ambiguous results, the thin line between screening and research, and competition for funding are reason for further deliberation.

Managing Conflicting Interests in Medical Journal Publishing

by Adam F. Stewart, S. Claiborne Johnston, M.D., Ph.D., and Stephen L. Hauser, M.D.

Working Later in Life May Facilitate Neural Health

by Denise C. Park, Ph.D.

Book Review

Memoirs about Memory: Too Much vs. Too Little

by Suzanne Corkin, Ph.D.

The Impact of Modern Neuroscience on Treatment of Parolees

Ethical Considerations in Using Pharmacology to Prevent Addiction Relapse

by Richard J. Bonnie, J.D., Donna T. Chen, M.D., M.P.H., and Charles P. O'Brien, M.D., Ph.D.

Neuroscience is offering insights into addiction and providing scientists with pharmacological methods, such as the use of injectable naltrexone, for reducing relapse. Richard J. Bonnie, Donna T. Chen and Charles P. O’Brien consider the ethical and legal implications of different methods for administering naltrexone to convicted drug offenders.   

The Meaning of Psychological Abnormality

by Jerome Kagan, Ph.D.

Connectomics

Tracing the Wires of the Brain

by Sebastian Seung, Ph.D.

A Wound Obscure, Yet Serious

Consequences of Unidentified Traumatic Brain Injury Are Often Severe

by Wayne Gordon, Ph.D.

Book Review

The Brain, from Atom to Soul

by Lewis Rowland, M.D.

The Political Brain

by Geoffrey K. Aguirre, M.D., Ph.D.

A Road Paved by Reason

by Elizabeth Norton Lasley

With its emphasis on problem solving, cognitive therapy has helped generations of people with disorders such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder—and other applications may follow.