Here you will be able to see Costa Lab in action, on the media, as well as in different research outreach activities. Stay tuned.
In Pursuit of Pleasure, Brain Learns to Hit the Repeat Button Mar 01, 2018 | by Anne Holden PhD; Zuckerman Institute
New study in mice shows how the brain learns to reproduce patterns of brain activity that lead to reward; provides insights for treating addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Patterns of brain activity are altered in order to increase the frequency of the release of dopamine, the “reward hormone”. (Image: Gil Costa)
How the Brain Pursues Pleasure Mar 01, 2018 | by Adam Tozer PhD; Technology Networks – Neuroscience News and Research
“The results reveal that the brain learns which activity patterns lead to feel-good sensations, and reshapes itself to more efficiently reproduce those patterns.”
Interview with Neuroscience News and Research Mar 02, 2018
The Brain Science of Figure Skating: How Practice Makes Perfect
Olympic figure skaters make it look easy. But their grace and power comes from years of training away from the cameras and crowds — practice that strengthens not only their bodies, but their minds. Controlling our bodies is one of most amazing and complicated things our brains do, and scientists have just begun to understand how they do it.
In celebration of the 2018 Winter Olympics, Silver Medalist Paul Wylie joins Drs. Rui Costa and Nathaniel Sawtell, neuroscientists at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, on a journey inside the minds of some of the world’s most elite athletes.
Check video here: https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/brain-science-figure-skating-how-practice-makes-perfect
In the News!
MOVING MUSCLES. Dr Rui Costa – AAAS radio interview for “Science Update” with Bob Hirshon. Feb. 6, 2018.
A little dopamine at the right moment is all muscles need to get moving…
www.scienceupdate.com/2018/02/move/
Pico de dopamina serve de empurrão para o início de um movimento
Neurocientistas da Fundação Champalimaud perceberam que os neurónios que libertam um mensageiro químico são essenciais para iniciar um movimento. Descoberta pode ter implicações no tratamento da doença de Parkinson.
