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Deconstructing the most sensationalistic recent findings in Human Brain Imaging, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Psychopharmacology
The Neurocritic
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- June 14, 2013
- 05:45 AM
- 82 views
A New Biomarker for Treatment Response in Major Depression? Not Yet.
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Is a laboratory test or brain scanning method for diagnosing psychiatric disorders right around the corner? How about a test to choose the best method of treatment? Many labs around the world are working to solve these problems, but we don't yet have such diagnostic procedures (despite what some might claim). A new study by McGrath et al. (2013) might be a step in that direction, but the results are very preliminary and await further validation.The principal investigator of that study is Dr. Hel........ Read more »
McGrath CL, Kelley ME, Holtzheimer PE, Dunlop BW, Craighead WE, Franco AR, Craddock RC, & Mayberg HS. (2013) Toward a Neuroimaging Treatment Selection Biomarker for Major Depressive Disorder. JAMA psychiatry (Chicago, Ill.), 1-9. PMID: 23760393
- June 10, 2013
- 05:37 AM
- 106 views
How to Measure Female Desire
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
A Sexual Laboratory of One's Own, aka A Clean Well-Lighted Place for SexPsychophysiologic studies of sexual response should be done in a comfortable, well-designed laboratory to minimize subject anxiety and discomfort (Woodard & Diamond, 2009, Fig. 5). How do scientists measure the physiological aspects of sexual arousal in women? A 2009 paper by Woodard and Diamond reviewed 45 years of research using instruments that measure female sexual function. These devices include the vagina........ Read more »
Bloemers, J., Gerritsen, J., Bults, R., Koppeschaar, H., Everaerd, W., Olivier, B., & Tuiten, A. (2010) Induction of Sexual Arousal in Women Under Conditions of Institutional and Ambulatory Laboratory Circumstances: A Comparative Study. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7(3), 1160-1176. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01660.x
Woodard, T., & Diamond, M. (2009) Physiologic measures of sexual function in women: a review. Fertility and Sterility, 92(1), 19-34. DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2008.04.041
- May 27, 2013
- 07:05 AM
- 144 views
Can Pot Smoking Counter the Negative Metabolic Consequences of Atypical Antipsychotics?
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
DISCLAIMER: This is a hypothetical question and not a medical recommendation. But it might be an idea worth investigating in epidemiological studies.Everyone knows that pot gives you the munchies. So the paradoxical finding that marijuana use is associated with a lower prevalence of obesity and diabetes came as a quite surprise to me. Now, a new study has concluded that pot smokers also have lower fasting insulin levels and smaller waistlines (Penner et al., 2013).I'll let the authors summarize ........ Read more »
Koola, M., McMahon, R., Wehring, H., Liu, F., Mackowick, K., Warren, K., Feldman, S., Shim, J., Love, R., & Kelly, D. (2012) Alcohol and cannabis use and mortality in people with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46(8), 987-993. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.04.019
Le Foll, B., Trigo, J., Sharkey, K., & Strat, Y. (2013) Cannabis and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for weight loss?. Medical Hypotheses, 80(5), 564-567. DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2013.01.019
Lev-Ran, S., Le Foll, B., McKenzie, K., George, T., & Rehm, J. (2013) Cannabis use and cannabis use disorders among individuals with mental illness. Comprehensive Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2012.12.021
Penner, E., Buettner, H., & Mittleman, M. (2013) The Impact of Marijuana Use on Glucose, Insulin, and Insulin Resistance among US Adults. The American Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2013.03.002
- May 22, 2013
- 06:19 AM
- 80 views
The Mental Health of Lonely Marijuana Users
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Mr. Lonely 1Does Smoking Pot Offer Relief to the Lonely? A new paper by the original Tylenol and social pain researchers claims that it does (Deckman et al., 2013). Let's take a closer look.Comfortably Numb: Marijuana Use Reduces Social Pain, Research FindsMarijuana use buffers people from experiencing social pain, according to research published online on May 14 in Social Psychological and Personality Science."Prior work has shown that the analgesic acetaminophen, which acts indirectly throu........ Read more »
Deckman, T., DeWall, C., Way, B., Gilman, R., & Richman, S. (2013) Can Marijuana Reduce Social Pain?. Social Psychological and Personality Science. DOI: 10.1177/1948550613488949
- May 15, 2013
- 04:50 PM
- 55 views
What RDoC Research Might Look Like
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
The month of May is a violent thingIn the city their hearts start to singWell, some people sing, it sounds like they're screamingI used to doubt it, but now I believe itMonth Of May ------The Arcade FireToday is Mental Health Month Blog Day, sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA). It's designed to:...educate the public about mental health, decrease stigma about mental illness, and discuss strategies for making lasting lifestyle and behavior changes that pro........ Read more »
Vaidyanathan, U., Nelson, L., & Patrick, C. (2011) Clarifying domains of internalizing psychopathology using neurophysiology. Psychological Medicine, 42(03), 447-459. DOI: 10.1017/S0033291711001528
Dichter, G., Damiano, C., & Allen, J. (2012) Reward circuitry dysfunction in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic syndromes: animal models and clinical findings. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 4(1), 19. DOI: 10.1186/1866-1955-4-19
- April 28, 2013
- 08:22 AM
- 134 views
Want to remember something? Clenching your fist doesn't help!
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Image Credits: fist and brain.You might have seen this news story the other day:Want to remember something? Clench your fists!Giving a speech and need to remember what to say? Just clench your right fist while rehearsing. Then, when it's time to give the speech, clench your left fist, and voila, you’ll recall what you rehearsed! That's what a new study found, which was published April 24 online at PLOS ONE. Sounds too easy now, doesn't it? And if you're exclaiming, "that's just too goo........ Read more »
Propper, R., McGraw, S., Brunyé, T., & Weiss, M. (2013) Getting a Grip on Memory: Unilateral Hand Clenching Alters Episodic Recall. PLoS ONE, 8(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062474
Tulving E, Kapur S, Craik FI, Moscovitch M, & Houle S. (1994) Hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry in episodic memory: positron emission tomography findings. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 91(6), 2016-20. PMID: 8134342
- April 19, 2013
- 08:25 PM
- 94 views
Does Tylenol Exert its Analgesic Effects via the Spinal Cord?
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
What do we (not) know about how paracetamol (acetaminophen) works? (Toussaint et al., 2010). . .From the beginning, the focus of the search for paracetamol’s analgesic mechanism has concentrated on the central nervous system. When administered intraventricularly [i.e., directly into the ventricular system of the brain], acetaminophen produces no significant analgesia (115, 132). This finding lead to attempts to inject acetaminophen into the spinal cord (i.t.), which produced marked dos........ Read more »
Toussaint, K., Yang, X., Zielinski, M., Reigle, K., Sacavage, S., Nagar, S., & Raffa, R. (2010) What do we (not) know about how paracetamol (acetaminophen) works?. Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 35(6), 617-638. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2710.2009.01143.x
- April 18, 2013
- 09:02 PM
- 140 views
Existential Dread of Absurd Social Psychology Studies
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Scene from Rabbits by David Lynch“In a nameless city, deluged by a continuous rain, three rabbits live with a fearful mystery.”The latest "elegant and breathtaking"1 paper in Psychological Science presents a rather muddled view of film aesthetics, continental philosophy, surrealism, mortality salience, and stigmatizing attitudes towards sex work (Randles et al., 2013). Oh, and how Tylenol® brand acetaminophen can ease the existential dread evoked by all of these modern horrors.The authors ........ Read more »
Randles, D., Heine, S., & Santos, N. (2013) The Common Pain of Surrealism and Death: Acetaminophen Reduces Compensatory Affirmation Following Meaning Threats. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612464786
- March 31, 2013
- 06:56 PM
- 235 views
Are Cognitive Factors Related to Criminal Reoffending?
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Image from Graphic SociologyCan Brain Activity Predict Criminal Reoffending? The previous post discussed a functional MRI study suggesting that the level of error-related activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) might have value in predicting whether a recently released prisoner will be rearrested within 4 years (Aharoni et al. 2013):The odds that an offender with relatively low anterior cingulate activity would be rearrested were approximately double that of an offender with high........ Read more »
Aharoni, E., Vincent, G., Harenski, C., Calhoun, V., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., Gazzaniga, M., & Kiehl, K. (2013) Neuroprediction of future rearrest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219302110
Kiehl, K., Liddle, P., & Hopfinger, J. (2000) Error processing and the rostral anterior cingulate: An event-related fMRI study. Psychophysiology, 37(2), 216-223. DOI: 10.1111/1469-8986.3720216
- March 28, 2013
- 04:13 PM
- 175 views
Can Brain Activity Predict Criminal Reoffending?
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Is it possible for a brain scan to predict whether a recently paroled inmate will commit another crime within 4 years? A new study by Aharoni et al. (2013) suggests that the level of activity within the anterior cingulate cortex might provide a clue to whether a given offender will be rearrested.Dress this up a bit and combine with a miniaturized brain-computer interface that continuously uploads EEG activity to the data center at a maximum security prison. There, machine learning algorith........ Read more »
Aharoni, E., Vincent, G., Harenski, C., Calhoun, V., Sinnott-Armstrong, W., Gazzaniga, M., & Kiehl, K. (2013) Neuroprediction of future rearrest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219302110
- March 15, 2013
- 05:16 AM
- 318 views
How Neuroscientists Scan the Media
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
In case you missed it, I had a guest post this week in Nature's SpotOn NYC series on Communication and the Brain (#BeBraiNY), held in conjunction with Brain Awareness Week. The theme concerned the challenges of engaging the public's interest in cognitive sciences, and communicating the knowns (and unknowns) of brain disorders:In the current funding climate of budget cuts and sequestration, there’s a wide latitude between overselling the immediate clinical implications of "imaging every spike........ Read more »
Joachim Allgaier, Sharon Dunwoody, Dominique Brossard, Yin-Yueh Lo, & Hans Peter Peters. (2013) Journalism and Social Media as Means of Observing the Contexts of Science. BioScience. info:/10.1525/bio.2013.63.4.8
- March 12, 2013
- 02:28 AM
- 264 views
What Is This Thing Called Neuroscience?
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
"It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is." -President Bill Clinton, August 17, 1998image: Brain electrodes, by laimagendelmundoDr. Vaughan Bell at Mind Hacks wrote a terrific post on The history of the birth of neuroculture as a follow-up to his Observer piece on Folk Neuroscience. That article explained how neuro talk has invaded many aspects of everyday discourse. In the new post he briefly covers the history of modern neuroscience, a necessary prelude to contemporary neuroc........ Read more »
Adelman, G. (2010) The Neurosciences Research Program at MIT and the Beginning of the Modern Field of Neuroscience. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 19(1), 15-23. DOI: 10.1080/09647040902720651
LEWIS, N. (1948) SUGGESTIVE RESEARCH LEADS IN CONTEMPORARY NEUROCHEMISTRY. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 136(13), 866. DOI: 10.1001/jama.1948.02890300016005
- February 27, 2013
- 10:47 PM
- 253 views
Can a Slow-Growing Brain Tumor Cause a Gambling Problem?
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Maureen O’Connor, former mayor of San Diego and heir to her late husband Robert O. Peterson’s Jack-in-the-Box fortune, won over $1 billion playing video poker over the course of 9 years (2000-2009), according to U-T San Diego. However, she lost an even greater amount during that time, resulting in a net gambling debt of $13 million. To cover some of these losses, she transferred $2 million from her husband's nonprofit foundation to her personal bank account. She was recently charged with m........ Read more »
Bechara A, Damasio AR, Damasio H, & Anderson SW. (1994) Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50(1-3), 7-15. PMID: 8039375
Koenigs, M., & Tranel, D. (2007) Irrational Economic Decision-Making after Ventromedial Prefrontal Damage: Evidence from the Ultimatum Game. Journal of Neuroscience, 27(4), 951-956. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4606-06.2007
Tomasello, F., Angileri, F., Grasso, G., Granata, F., De Ponte, F., & Alafaci, C. (2011) Giant Olfactory Groove Meningiomas: Extent of Frontal Lobes Damage and Long-Term Outcome After the Pterional Approach. World Neurosurgery, 76(3-4), 311-317. DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2011.03.021
- February 10, 2013
- 03:53 AM
- 282 views
The Neuroanatomical Correlates of Self-Sabotage
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Self-Sabotage, by jesse.millanI should be preparing for a Very Important Presentation at an upcoming meeting. But I'm not. I'm sitting at home on a Saturday night, blogging about self-sabotage."Self Sabotage is when we say we want something and then go about making sure it doesn't happen."-AlyceI do have a lot of clever ideas and useful data that are relevant for the meeting in question, I just haven't been able to start preparing my presentation yet. Am I afraid of failing? Angry at the complet........ Read more »
Hikaru Takeuchi, Yasuyuki Taki, Rui Nouchi, Hiroshi Hashizume, Atsushi Sekiguchi, Yuka Kotozaki, Seishu Nakagawa, Carlos Makoto Miyauchi, Yuko Sassa, Ryuta Kawashima. (2013) Anatomical correlates of self-handicapping tendency. Cortex. info:/
- January 30, 2013
- 01:12 AM
- 289 views
Dr. David H. Barlow and Aversion Therapy for Gays
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Should a professional society honor a highly accomplished investigator who conducted studies in the past that would now be considered unethical? Distinguished professor and clinical psychologist Dr. David H. Barlow was recognized for his achievements by the Association for Psychological Science (APS) last year as the recipient of the 2012 James McKeen Cattell Fellow Award:David H. Barlow has made enormous theoretical and empirical contributions in many areas of clinical psychology. He is best........ Read more »
Barlow DH, Abel GG, & Blanchard EB. (1977) Gender identity change in a transsexual: an exorcism. Archives of sexual behavior, 6(5), 387-95. PMID: 921523
Barlow DH, Agras WS, & Leitenberg H. (1972) The contribution of therapeutic instruction of covert sensitization. Behaviour research and therapy, 10(4), 411-5. PMID: 4637499
Barlow DH, Leitenberg H, & Agras WS. (1969) Experimental control of sexual deviation through manipulation of the noxious scene in covert sensitization. Journal of abnormal psychology, 74(5), 597-601. PMID: 5349402
Hayes SC, Brownell KD, & Barlow DH. (1983) Heterosocial-skills training and covert sensitization. Effects on social skills and sexual arousal in sexual deviants. Behaviour research and therapy, 21(4), 383-92. PMID: 6138027
- January 23, 2013
- 02:09 PM
- 179 views
Is CTE Detectable in Living NFL Players?
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease seen most often in athletes with repeated concussions.1 The condition has drawn extensive media attention due to the number of cases reported among retired NFL players. The disease can only be diagnosed at autopsy, because the brain tissue has to be stained for characteristic protein abnormalities which cannot be visualized in a living human.Until now, that is, according to a new study by Gary Small and colle........ Read more »
McKee, A., Stein, T., Nowinski, C., Stern, R., Daneshvar, D., Alvarez, V., Lee, H., Hall, G., Wojtowicz, S., Baugh, C.... (2012) The spectrum of disease in chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Brain. DOI: 10.1093/brain/aws307
Gary W. Small, Vladimir Kepe, Prabha Siddarth, Linda M. Ercoli, David A. Merrill, Natacha Donoghue, Susan Y. Bookheimer, Jacqueline Martinez, Bennet Omalu, Julian Bailes, Jorge R. Barrio. (2013) PET Scanning of Brain Tau in Retired National Football League Players: Preliminary Findings. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. info:/
- January 20, 2013
- 04:15 AM
- 243 views
Possession Trance Disorder in DSM-5
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
American Horror Story: Asylum takes place in 1964 at Briarcliff Manor, a terrifying mental institution for the criminally insane. The show uses every over-the-top stereotype in the book — straightjackets, isolation cells, shock treatment, the chronic masturbator, the nymphomaniac, the sadistic nun, the evil mad doctor, unethical experimentation, wrongful commitment, alien abduction, demonic possession, you name it — yet it still manages to be scary and stylish and suspenseful.The episode abo........ Read more »
Tajima-Pozo, K., Zambrano-Enriquez, D., de Anta, L., Moron, M., Carrasco, J., Lopez-Ibor, J., & Diaz-Marsa, M. (2011) Practicing exorcism in schizophrenia. Case Reports, 2011(feb15 1). DOI: 10.1136/bcr.10.2009.2350
Duijl, M., Kleijn, W., & Jong, J. (2012) Are symptoms of spirit possessed patients covered by the DSM-IV or DSM-5 criteria for possession trance disorder? A mixed-method explorative study in Uganda. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. DOI: 10.1007/s00127-012-0635-1
Spiegel, D., Loewenstein, R., Lewis-Fernández, R., Sar, V., Simeon, D., Vermetten, E., Cardeña, E., & Dell, P. (2011) Dissociative disorders in DSM-5. Depression and Anxiety, 28(9), 824-852. DOI: 10.1002/da.20874
- January 12, 2013
- 04:50 PM
- 219 views
Fisher-Price Synesthesia
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Synesthesia is a rare perceptual phenomenon in which the stimulation of one sensory modality, or exposure to one type of stimulus, leads to a sensory (or cognitive) experience in a different, non-stimulated modality. For instance, some synesthetes have colored hearing while others might taste shapes.GRAPHEME-COLOR SYNESTHESIA is the condition in which individual printed letters are perceived in a specific, constant color. This occurs involuntarily and in the absence of colored font. It is t........ Read more »
Witthoft, N., & Winawer, J. (2013) Learning, Memory, and Synesthesia. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1177/0956797612452573
- January 5, 2013
- 10:06 PM
- 249 views
Spirit Possession as a Trauma-Related Disorder in Uganda
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a long and brutal campaign to overthrow the government of Uganda. Rape and torture are commonly used tactics. Children are kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers — children and youth comprise almost 90% of the LRA, according to the UN. These child soldiers experience incredibly high rates of trauma exposure, post-traumatic stress, and depression.A recent study examined the culturally-specific psychological syndrome of spirit possession in this popu........ Read more »
Neuner, F., Pfeiffer, A., Schauer-Kaiser, E., Odenwald, M., Elbert, T., & Ertl, V. (2012) Haunted by ghosts: Prevalence, predictors and outcomes of spirit possession experiences among former child soldiers and war-affected civilians in Northern Uganda. Social Science , 75(3), 548-554. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2012.03.028
- December 30, 2012
- 09:15 PM
- 428 views
More Music, More Empathy
by The Neurocritic in The Neurocritic
Fig. 1 (Molnar-Szakacs & Overy, 2006). Model of the possible involvement of the human mirror neuron system in representing meaning and affective responses to music. ... The shared recruitment of this neural mechanism in both the sender and the perceiver of the musical message allows for co-representation and sharing of the musical experience. Music notes from ‘The Lady Sings the Blues’ by Billie Holiday and Herbie Nichols.The previous post examined the relationship between music and empa........ Read more »
Babiloni, C., Buffo, P., Vecchio, F., Marzano, N., Del Percio, C., Spada, D., Rossi, S., Bruni, I., Rossini, P., & Perani, D. (2012) Brains “in concert”: Frontal oscillatory alpha rhythms and empathy in professional musicians. NeuroImage, 60(1), 105-116. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.12.008
Chapin, H., Jantzen, K., Scott Kelso, J., Steinberg, F., & Large, E. (2010) Dynamic Emotional and Neural Responses to Music Depend on Performance Expression and Listener Experience. PLoS ONE, 5(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0013812
Rabinowitch, T., Cross, I., & Burnard, P. (2012) Long-term musical group interaction has a positive influence on empathy in children. Psychology of Music. DOI: 10.1177/0305735612440609
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