Poor Phineas Gage. In 1848, the supervisor for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont was using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7-inch rod to pack blasting powder into a rock when he triggered an explosion that drove the rod through his left cheek and out of the top of his head. As reported at the time, the rod was later found, “smeared with blood and brains.” Miraculously, Gage lived, becoming the most famous case in the history of neuroscience — not only because he survived a horrific accident that led to the destruction of much of his left frontal lobe but also because of the injury’s reported effects on his personality and behavior, which were said to be profound. Gage went from being an affable 25-year-old to one that was fitful, irreverent and profane. His friends and acquaintances said he was “no longer Gage.” Over the years, various scientists have studied and argued about the exact location and degree of damage to Gage’s cerebral cortex and the impact it had on his personality. Now, for the first time, researchers at UCLA, using brain-imaging data that was lost to science for a decade, have broadened the examination of Gage to look at the [...]

People respond to facial cues and this affects their level of trust, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research that looks at the way consumers react to morphed photo images. Authors Robin J. Tanner and Ahreum Maeng (both University of Wisconsin-Madison) explore the effect of morphing unfamiliar facial images with those of two famous individuals: George W. Bush and Tiger Woods. “We digitally create composite faces that are made up of 35 percent of the celebrity face and 65 percent of unknown model faces,” the authors write. “When individuals view these morphed faces they universally fail to consciously recognize the presence of the celebrity images and instead believe they are viewing the faces of unfamiliar people.” Even though they weren’t aware of the similarity, participants in the authors’ experiments rated the celebrity-morphed images as being more trustworthy than control faces. “It becomes clear that individuals are subliminally influenced by celebrity facial cues,” the authors write. In one intriguing experiment, the authors asked participants how likely they were to do business with a salesperson whose picture was morphed with Tiger Woods’. Participants’ reactions became more negative in the midst of the Tiger Woods scandal. “Individuals were considerably [...]

According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers are influenced by a strong association of meat with masculinity. “We examined whether people in Western cultures have a metaphoric link between meat and men,” write authors Paul Rozin (University of Pennsylvania), Julia M. Hormes (Louisiana State University), Myles S. Faith (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), and Brian Wansink (Cornell University). The answer, they found, was a strong connection between eating meat—especially muscle meat, like steak—and masculinity. In a number of experiments that looked at metaphors and certain foods, like meat and milk, the authors found that people rated meat as more masculine than vegetables. They also found that meat generated more masculine words when people discussed it, and that people viewed male meat eaters as being more masculine than non-meat eaters. Most of the studies took place in the United States and Britain, but the authors also analyzed 23 languages that use gendered pronouns. They discovered that across most languages, meat was related to the male gender. “To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American food,” the authors write. “Soy is not. To eat it, they would [...]

Attention, college students cramming between midterms and finals: Binging on soda and sweets for as little as six weeks may make you stupid. A new UCLA rat study is the first to show how a diet steadily high in fructose slows the brain, hampering memory and learning — and how omega-3 fatty acids can counteract the disruption. The peer-reviewed Journal of Physiology publishes the findings in its May 15 edition. “Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and a professor of integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science. “Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.” While earlier research has revealed how fructose harms the body through its role in diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, this study is the first to uncover how the sweetener influences the brain. The UCLA team zeroed in on high-fructose corn syrup, an inexpensive liquid six times sweeter than cane sugar, that is commonly added to processed foods, [...]

When it comes to cancer, there are obvious mind-body links. Stress, pessimism and other emotional factors have been proven to play a role, increasing the risk of cancer, metastasis and early mortality. This is a double-whammy for cancer patients, who must overcome anxiety from the moment they are diagnosed. In particular, stress has been shown to depress the immune system, increase inflammation and affect our bodies on the molecular level, even damaging DNA. In a recent lecture in Phoenix, AZ at the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) Fellowship, integrative medicine pioneer Isaac Eliaz, M.D., L.Ac. discussed how negative emotions hinder immune response and fuel cancer formation and metastasis. He followed by sharing research on mind-body therapies such as meditation, yoga and Qigong which work to counteract the negative effects of stress and boost health in numerous ways. Highlighting an array of published studies, Dr. Eliaz showed how chronic stress can be deadly to lymphocytes and DNA integrity, and conversely, how mind body therapies and emotional support can ramp up immunity and provide numerous health benefits. “The contrasts are amazing,” says Dr. Eliaz. “Chronic stress significantly reduces the immune response, while something as simple as family support or mindful meditation [...]