The human brain is an incredibly complex organ, one that scientists appear to learn more about every day. With so many different types of cells, different parts of the brain and unique functions assigned to the smallest aspects of neurological behavior, the brain can be, well, mind-boggling.

New research from the University of Rochester Medical Center may have overturned another stone. The scientists investigated a family of brain cells known as glial cells, which have been thought to act predominantly as “housekeeper” cells, However, in this study, the scientists transplanted human glial cells into the brains of mice and tracked the results. The mice with the human cells learned to connect a mild electric shock with a particular sound much more quickly than other mice and also made it through a maze twice as fast.

This led the researchers to conclude that glial cells actually play an important role in communication within the brain.

The scientists also found that subsets of glial cells – known as astrocytes – are larger and more complex in human brains than in other species. The evolution of these cells could be the reason that humans are capable of higher cognitive functions.

Sourced from: Science Daily, Support Cells Found in Human Brain Make Mice Smarter

Researchers at the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, in Orangeburg, N.Y say they may have found an early indicator of mental decline:  Forgetting the first few words in a longer list.  They believe that’s more reflective of mental decline that not remembering words in the middle or the end of a list.

The study examined 200 people between the ages of 60 to 91 who initially showed no signs of dementia or psychiatric illness.  The participants were read a list of 15 words five times and told to memorize it. After 20 minutes, they were asked to remember the list. In a follow-up four years later, the participants who had been unable to remember the first words on the list were more likely to perform poorly on a cognitive test than those who could remember the beginning of the list.

Generally, a healthy brain is more likely to remember the earliest words on the list - which is called the primacy effect - than words in the middle of a list, as memorizers often go over the words at the beginning of the list more often. This primacy effect is thought to be controlled by the hippocampus, the part of the brain which controls memory. But when someone is unable to remember the words at the beginning of the list, this could raise a red flag for future mental decline.

This type of test could help doctors catch mental decline at its earliest stages and provide treatment to prevent further decline.

Sourced from: Live Science, Forgetting First Words on a List May Signal Mental Decline

One way to help children and young adults get better at controlling their impulses is to get them to exercise, even for only 30 minutes. That’s the conclusion of research at VU University in Amsterdam, which analyzed 24 previous studies related to physical activity and its impact on making people a bit more inhibited.

The research, which involved patients from ages six to 35, showed that a half-hour run or bike ride could have  cognitive benefits, including better self control. It specifically studied the effects of short bouts of moderate exercise, which raise the heart rate to roughly 60 percent of maximum capacity. Results were inconsistent in tests of longer or routine bouts of exercise.

The results could be applied to patients of ADHD or autism, for example, who may have impaired inhibition. The researchers found that the exercise improves blood circulation to the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which could provide benefits to patients in academic and social settings.

Sourced from: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_134655.html, Short-Term Exercise Might Boost Young People’s Self-Control