30 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Reading a Novel Causes a Temporary Boost in Brain Power
We sought to determine whether reading a novel causes measurable changes in resting-state connectivity of the brain and how long these changes persist. Incorporating a within-subjects design, participants received resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans on 19 consecutive days. First, baseline resting state data for a “washin” period were taken for each participant for 5 days. For the next 9 days, participants read 1/9th of a novel during the evening and resting-state dat... 1 
notes
notesStudy finds that reading an engaging novel that puts the reader in the perspective of another person creates new brain connections that last for days, but the effect is not reproduced in ebooks.
16 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Genes Associated with Brain Volume
Identifying genetic variants influencing human brain structures may reveal new biological mechanisms underlying cognition and neuropsychiatric illness. The volume of the hippocampus is a biomarker of incipient Alzheimer's disease1, 2and is reduced in schizophrenia3, major depression4 and mesial temporal lobe epilepsy5. Whereas many brain imaging phenotypes are highly heritable6, 7, identifying and replicating genetic influences has been difficult, as small effects and the high costs of mag...
1 SNPs: rs7294919(T;T), rs10784502(C;T), and rs10494373(A;A) tied to brain volume.
