Monthly Archives: May 2011

Cognitive Enhancement: Promises and Perils Quotes from this very philosphical article on cognitive enhancers: “To prosper and flourish in a rapidly changing world, we must make the most of all our resources-both mental and material. Globalization and its associated demands … Continue reading →

Cognitive enhancement and IGF-II IGF-II is a growth factor with high expression in the hippocampus, a region important for learning and memory. Chen and coworkers have now found that IGF-II can promote memory retention in animal studies. IGF-II via the … Continue reading →

Cognitive enhancement Currently available drugs for enhancement of cognitive function have demonstrated relatively modest overall effects, in part likely to be due to variability in response both across and within individuals. Husain and Mehta discuss biological factors that might account … Continue reading →

Changes in fear memories during adolescence Highly conserved neural pathways in rodents and humans have allowed for in-depth characterization of behavioral and molecular processes associated with emotional learning and memory. Despite increased prevalence of affective disorders in adolescent humans, few … Continue reading →

Brain activity predicts second language learning skills Tan and coworkers used functional MRI to study second language learning skills in children with repeat testing one year apart for each subject. They found that the activity level of the left caudate … Continue reading →

Amygdala circuitry mediating reversible and bidirectional control of anxiety. Anxiety-a sustained state of heightened apprehension in the absence of immediate threat-becomes severely debilitating in disease states. Anxiety disorders represent the most common of psychiatric diseases (28% lifetime prevalence). Although it … Continue reading →

A role for Serotonin in Moral Behavior Researchers enhanced serotonin in healthy human volunteers with citalopram, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and antidepressant. In judging moral behavior, these subjects became more likely to judge harmful actions as forbidden, but only in … Continue reading →