(C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“The fact that pictures are better remembered than words has been reported in the literature for over 30 years. While this picture superiority effect has been consistently found in healthy young and older adults, no study has directly evaluated the presence of the effect in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Clinical observations have indicated that pictures enhance memory in these

patients, suggesting that the picture superiority effect may be intact. However, several studies have reported visual processing impairments in AD and MCI patients which might diminish the picture superiority effect. Using a recognition memory paradigm, we tested AZD9291 price memory for pictures versus words in these patients. The results showed that the picture superiority effect is intact,

and that these patients showed a similar benefit to healthy controls from studying pictures compared to words. The findings are discussed in terms of visual processing and possible clinical importance. Published by Elsevier Ltd.”
“Extraversion www.selleckchem.com/products/epz-6438.html and neuroticism influence behaviour and mood. Extreme expressions of these personality traits may predispose individuals to developing chronic functional pains and mood disorders that predominantly affect women. We acquired anatomical MRI scans and personality scores from healthy male and female adolescents and measured gray matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness to test the hypothesis that neuroticism and extraversion contribute to sex differences in fronto-limbic cortical development during a crucial period of social and biological maturation. In females, extraversion correlated negatively with medial frontal gyrus GMV and neuroticism correlated positively

with subgenual anterior cingulate cortex GMV and cortical thickness. Interestingly, correlations between GMV and personality in males showed an opposite effect. Given the association of these cortical areas with social cognition and emotional processing, we suggest that a neuro-maturational divergence during adolescence OSBPL9 accounts for the higher prevalence of specific chronic pains and mood disorders in females. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“While there is consistent evidence from neuropsychological and brain imaging studies for an association between the left angular gyrus and mental arithmetic, its specific role in calculation has remained poorly understood. It has been speculated that the angular gyrus mediates the retrieval of arithmetic facts during problem solving, but this hypothesis has not been directly tested. In the present functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging study comprising 28 adults, we used trial-by-trial strategy self-reports to identify brain regions underpinning different strategies in arithmetic problem solving.