How to Effectively Prescribe Exercise (Psychiatric Times):
Exercise can be a useful tool in managing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Learn how you can integrate exercise prescriptions into your treatment plans. [Read more…] about Debate: How should doctors prescribe exercise to ensure compliance and engagement?
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Brain-wave pattern can identify people likely to respond to antidepressant, study finds (Stanford Medicine press release):
“A new method of interpreting brain activity could potentially be used in clinics to help determine the best treatment options for depression, according to a study led by researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine.
Stanford researchers and their collaborators used electroencephalography, a tool for monitoring electrical activity in the brain, and an algorithm to identify a brain-wave signature in [Read more…] about Machine-learning study finds EEG brain signatures that predict response to antidepressant treatments
We’ve all heard that exercise is good for us—how it strengthens our hearts and lungs, and helps us prevent diseases like diabetes. That’s why so many of us like to make New Year’s resolutions to move more, knowing it will make us healthier and live longer.
But many people don’t know about the other important benefits of exercise—how it can help us find happiness, hope, connection, and courage.
Around the world, people who are physically active are happier and more satisfied with their lives. They have a stronger sense of purpose and experience more gratitude, love, and hope. They feel more connected to their communities, and are less likely to suffer from loneliness or become depressed.
These benefits are seen throughout the lifespan, including [Read more…] about Five profound ways physical exercise shapes your brain and mind
Dear Elkhonon, a pleasure to have you with us. Let’s get out the gate by discussing how are new ideas born — for example, how exactly did you first think about writing your new book, Creativity: The Human Brain in the Age of Innovation?
Originally, I set out to write a book about how the brain deals with novelty — a long-standing focus of my own research. But the more I thought about it, the more the subject of creativity was coming up, so I decided to tackle novelty and creativity at the same time.
Do we need yet another book on Creativity?
We absolutely do. Creativity is not just an individual feat; it is embedded into a culture which either foster, stifles, or shapes it in a variety of ways. And it is never a strictly solitary process, since even the most creative mind draws on the previously accumulated knowledge. So, in order to truly understand creativity, we must integrate neuroscientific and cultural perspectives into a coherent narrative. 
To my knowledge, this has not been done before, and this is what my book aims to accomplish.
I am particularly fascinated by the dynamic relationship between over- and underactivation of prefrontal cortex areas in the creative process and discuss it extensively in the book. This is one of the most intriguing and possibly most consequential aspects of the brain machinery of creativity.
What have we learned about the brain mechanisms of creativity over the last five to ten years?
We have learned a lot: that creativity is not a monolithic trait; that is consists of many moving parts and may take many paths even within the same arena of human endeavor; that it is not linked to any single brain structure or to a single gene or even a small group of genes.
How do you define Creativity, and what can Neuroscience contribute to its understanding?
Creativity is often defined as the ability to come up with content which is both novel and salient. [Read more…] about A conversation with Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg on Creativity, Neuroscience, and Technological Innovation
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Learning to read and write rewires adult brain in six months (New Scientist):
“Learning to read can have profound effects on the wiring of the adult brain – even in regions that aren’t usually associated with reading and writing.
That’s what Michael Skeide of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and his colleagues found when they taught a group of illiterate adults in rural India to read and write [Read more…] about Neuroimaging study finds extensive brain rewiring–in just six months–among illiterate adults learning to read and write
Autism First: Brain Patterns May Predict Treatment Response (Medscape):
“It’s possible to predict whether a young child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) will respond to an evidence-based behavioral intervention by analyzing brain activity patterns with functional MRI (fMRI) prior to treatment [Read more…] about Next: Harnessing brain scans to personalize autism-related behavioral interventions
