Dana Foundation Blog

From the Archives: Mother’s Day

With Mother’s Day just around the corner (put your cards in the mail today!), it’s a good time to revisit what articles from Dana’s archives tell us about mother-child relationships.

Some of the studies highlighted on Dana.org may seem bleak, as they study parenting in situations of abuse and neglect. But they all highlight how important a supportive, caring parent is to a developing child.

From the Archives: Smells

I associate many smells with spring—flowers blooming, strawberries arriving at the farmer’s market, horseradish, matzo, and wine (Passover’s nearly here).

A few days ago, a tweet from @FragrantMoments reminded me of a Cerebrum article from 2001, “Ah, Sweet Skunk! Why We Like or Dislike What We Smell,” by Rachel S. Herz.

Our reactions to smells, writes Herz, are not innate (except, maybe, my aversion to those flowers thanks to the resulting itchy eyes and sneezing):

New Cerebrum Article: Musical Creativity and the Brain

In a new Cerebrum article, Dana grantee Charles Limb, faculty member at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and postdoctoral fellow Mónica López-González describe their research into musical creativity and the brain.

They are using brain imaging to study the neural underpinnings of spontaneous artistic creativity, from jazz riffs to freestyle rap. So far, they have found that brain areas deactivated during improvisation are also at rest during dreaming and meditation, while activated areas include those controlling language and sensorimotor skills. Even with relatively few completed studies, researchers have concluded that musical creativity cannot be tied to just one brain area or process.

As Limb and López-González conclude, there is much left to study—they would like research to branch out into visual and performing arts to “formulate a more generalizable theory on artistic creativity.”

To see video of jazz musicians and hip-hop freestylers in an fMRI scanner, watch Dr. Limb’s TED talk.

--Johanna Goldberg

From the Archives: Love and Lust in the Brain

Since love is on the brain today, it seemed the perfect opportunity to look back at Dana’s articles on love, lust, and attraction. The selected articles span more than a decade, and included in the mix is a Cerebrum piece from Rutgers’ anthropologist Helen Fisher, who is something of a go-to love expert for the media and is sure to be quoted in numerous articles today.

Brains Do It: Lust, Attraction, and Attachment
By Helen E. Fisher
January 01, 2000  

With classic understatement, anthropologist Helen Fisher suggests that the three emotional systems—lust, attraction, and attachment—“are somewhat disconnected in human beings...” But the situation is not hopeless, Fisher argues; the role of the prefrontal cortex in humans is to control and direct these emotions—if we so choose.

Neurobiology Affects Love and Attraction
By Kathlyn Stone
January 02, 2009  

Research presented at the 2008 Society for Neuroscience meeting revealed aspects of what happens in the brain of someone feeling intense love, as well as the sensory and molecular processes involved in love and mating.

The Chemistry of Love: In Search of the Elusive Human Pheromones
By Brenda Patoine
February, 2009

Chemical messages wafting off other people’s bodies clearly influence sexual attraction and mating behavior in humans. Just don’t call them pheromones - yet. 

The Brain Signature of Love
By Kayt Sukel
February 10, 2011

Neuroscientists are demonstrating that romantic love is represented by a unique pattern of activation in the brain.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

-Ann L. Whitman

From the Archives: Suicide Prevention

In this month’s Cerebrum article, “Suicide and the United States Army,” Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a retired Army colonel, explains how the U.S. Military now collects data on suicides. She recommends ways to put that data to use through new strategies—like means restriction and service animals—that could bring down the high suicide rate in the military.

In July of 2011, Kay Redfield Jamison wrote the Cerebrum article “Suicide in the Young: An Essay.” She said:

“We know, first, that suicide is a terrible killer of the young. In the United States, suicide is the third major cause of death in 15-to-19-year-olds and the second leading cause of death in college-age students. In 1996, more teenagers and young adults died from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, stroke, and lung disease combined. Suicide kills the young dreadfully and disproportionately. And, across the world, in those between the ages of 15 and 44, suicide is the second leading killer of women and the fourth of men.”

These numbers have not changed much. According to the CDC, suicide is still the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds, and for every completed suicide in this age range, there are 100-200 unsuccessful suicide attempts.

Dr. Ritchie says in her new article that military suicide differs from civilian suicide in part due to the role of mental illness. Most soldiers who commit suicide have not been diagnosed with a mental illness, although substance abuse issues can be a factor. She writes that an accumulation of stressors, like pain, disability, and estrangement from friends and family are more common risk factors among active duty personnel.

In contrast, in the civilian population, writes Dr. Jamison:

“We have compelling evidence from a large number of studies that the single most important factor in suicide is psychopathology: More than 90 percent of all people who kill themselves suffered from a major psychiatric or addictive illness (depression, manic-depression, schizophrenia, or alcohol and drug abuse), a severe anxiety disorder, or borderline or antisocial personality disorder. Those who are victims of both depression and alcohol or drug abuse are especially at risk. Most people who were depressed will not kill themselves. But of those who do, the majority were profoundly depressed.”

This, too, remains true today.

So what can be done to prevent suicide in the civilian population? The National Institute for Mental Health recommends treating underlying disorders, like depression and substance abuse, while addressing suicide risks. Studies have shown that cognitive behavior therapy can effectively reduce the number of suicide attempts. A combination of medication and therapy may be even more effective. In addition, primary care physicians should be better trained to recognize warning signs of suicide.

If someone you know talks to you about suicide, take him or her seriously. Call 911 or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

--Johanna Goldberg