Behavioral & Neuroscience Law Committee (BNLC)

News and Research Blurb

Dear Readers,
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Sincerely,
James Andris
Eric Y. Drogin
BNLC Chair, Section of Science & Technology Law
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
877.877.6692
eyd@drogin.net
edrogin@bidmc.harvard.edu

Linda Berberoglu
BNLC Vice Chair, Section of Science & Technology Law
Fourth Judicial District Court,
Psychological Services Division
Minneapolis, MN
612.348.7182
linda.berberoglu@courts.state.mn.us
linda.berberoglu@wmitchell.edu

James M. Andris, Jr.

Editor, BNLC News and Research Blurb
William & Mary Law School, 2015
Williamsburg, VA
267.615.1399
jmandris@email.wm.edu

BNLC BlurbNovember 2014

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ALCOHOL & SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Repeated Pot Use Linked to Lower IQ. TIME. According to a new study, repeated marijuana use is
correlated with lower IQ scores and less volume in the region of the brain that helps make decisions.
The study, which compared 50 marijuana users to a control group, suggests that at first brains
affected by marijuana compensate for the deficit in brain volume by increasing connectivity, a key
brain function. However, the structural connectivity or wiring of the brain starts degrading with
prolonged marijuana use. (November 11, 2014)
http://time.com/3577914/marijuana-pot-study-brain-iq/
Heavy Drinking in Adolescence Associated With Lasting Brain Changes, Animal Study Suggests.
SCIENCEDAILY. According to an animal study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, heavy drinking
during adolescence may lead to structural changes in the brain and memory deficits that persist into
adulthood. The study found that, even as adults, rats given daily access to alcohol during
adolescence had reduced levels of myelin -- the fatty coating on nerve fibers that accelerates the
transmission of electrical signals between neurons. These changes were observed in a brain region
important in reasoning and decision-making. Animals that were the heaviest drinkers also performed
worse on memory tests later in adulthood. The findings suggest that high doses of alcohol during
adolescence may continue to affect the brain even after drinking stops. (October 28, 2014)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141028214137.htm
ER Visits Linked to Synthetic Pot More Than Double, Report Finds. U.S. NEWS. Between 2010 and 2011,
emergency room visits involving patients who had used "synthetic marijuana" nearly tripled,
according to a new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA). Pamela Hyde, administrator at SAMHSA, stated "synthetic cannabinoids are a
growing public health risk -- made even more dangerous by the widespread misconception that they
are safe and legal." Reported health problems caused by synthetic marijuana include anxiety, severe
agitation, nausea, vomiting, tremors, seizures, hallucinations, paranoia, rapid heart rate and blood
pressure, unresponsiveness and death. Additionally, the SAMHSA report noted that regular use of
the drug can lead to withdrawal symptoms. (October 16, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/oxe6s7b
MEMORY
Brain Dissociates Emotional Response From Explicit Memory In Fearful Situations. SCIENCEDAILY. A new
study published in the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory describes how our brain encodes
the contextual memory of a negative event (the place, what we saw, etc.) and the associated
emotional response differently than neutral events. The study measured the electrodermal activity of
86 individuals tasked with learning a list of words in laboratory-generated fearful situations and in
neutral situations. Weeks after the experiment they were tested to see which words they
remembered. In both circumstances, the subjects eventually forgot the memorized words. However,
the words learned during fearful situations induced emotional reactions even after the subjects could
no longer recall them. This may explain why individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress
disorders experience an uncontrolled emotional response linked to a negative event without
knowing why the event results in such a reaction. (November 5, 2014)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/11/141105112618.htm
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Wisconsin Studies Music and Memory Program. WASHINGTON POST. This study, led by the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is the largest yet on the impact of the Music and Memory program, which is
in hundreds of nursing homes across the U.S. and Canada. Researchers are monitoring the
responses of 1,500 Alzheimers and dementia patients who were given iPods in nursing homes.
Their mental state will then be compared to the same number of people in other nursing homes
who have not received iPods. Researchers hope to determine whether music improves mood and
behavior and accordingly tailor nursing home residents activities. They also want to see if music
could someday reduce the need for prescription drugs. (October 30, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/oa238ml
To Improve Memory, Consider Chocolate. N.Y. TIMES. In a small study in the journal Nature Neuroscience,
healthy people, ages 50 to 69, drank cocoa flavanols, a mixture high in antioxidants, for three
months and performed better on a memory test than people who drank a low-flavanol mixture. The
researchers reported that on average, the improvement of high-flavanol drinkers meant they
performed like people two to three decades younger on the studys memory task. Besides
improvements on the memory test researchers also found increased function in an area of the
hippocampus called the dentate gyrus. There was no increased activity in the entorhinal cortex,
another hippocampal region, which is impaired early in the onset of Alzheimers disease. This
reinforces the idea that age-related memory decline is different than that associated with mental
illness and suggests that flavanols might not help Alzheimers, even though they might delay
normal memory loss. (October 26, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/l7ct9cw
DECISION-MAKING & RESPONSIBILITY
This Is Your Brain on 10 Years of Working the Night Shift. TIME. A study in Occupational & Environmental
Medicine looked at more than 3,000 people living in France, about half of whom had experience
working shifts. Those who had done so, either in the past or present, had lower scores on tests of
memory, processing speed and overall brainpower than those who worked normal office hours.
Long-term shift workers, subjects who worked night shifts for ten years or more, had worse
memory than those who had always worked days, plus cognitive deficits so steep that the study
authors equated them to 6.5 years of age-related cognitive decline. (November 4, 2014)
http://time.com/3556130/night-shift-brain-work-health/
Pathological Gambling is Associated With Altered Opioid System in the Brain. SCIENCEDAILY. New research
demonstrates that the opioid system of pathological gamblers responds differently than that of
healthy volunteers. The researchers took 14 pathological gamblers and 15 volunteers, and used PET
scans to measure opioid receptor levels in the subjects brains. The researchers found that there were
no differences between the receptor levels in pathological gamblers and non-gamblers. The
researchers then repeated the PET scan after all subjects were given an amphetamine tablet that
released endorphins (natural opiates) in the brain. The test results showed that the pathological
gamblers released less endorphins than non-gambling volunteers during the manufactured
endorphin rush. This is different than addiction to alcohol, heroin or cocaine where increases are
seen in opioid receptor levels. These results could open doors to new treatment methods for
pathological gamblers. (October 18, 2014)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141018205407.htm
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PERCEPTION
The Brain Makes Its Own Ghosts. THE ATLANTIC. The sense of someone near you when no one is
actually there is called a feeling of presence (FOP). A new study in Current Biology identified the
regions of the brain associated with this sensation and recreated it in a lab setting. First the
researchers studied the brains of 12 patients with neurological disorders (mainly epilepsy) who had
experienced FOP, and found lesions in three regions of their brains: the insular cortex,
frontoparietal cortex, and temporoparietal cortex. These areas deal with self-awareness, movement,
and spatial positioning, suggesting that when sensorimotor signals get confused, people can feel
presences that are not there. Then, the researchers had a robot give confusing sensorimotor signals
to healthy people with no neurological disorders, and were able to create FOP on command. These
findings could have implications for how science understands the symptoms of schizophrenia,
which may include feelings of control by an alien presence. (November 8, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/m7ghts3
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/INVESTIGATION
Two Genes Linked With Violent Crime. BBC. A genetic analysis of almost 900 offenders in Finland has
revealed two genes associated with violent crime. Individuals with the genes were 13 times more
likely to have a history of repeated violent behavior. The authors of the study, published in the
journal Molecular Psychiatry, said at least 5-10% of all violent crime in Finland could be attributed to
individuals with the MAOA and CDH13 genes. The study, which involved analysis of almost 900
criminals, is the first to have looked at the genetic make-up of so many violent offenders in this way.
The researchers stressed that the genes could not be used to screen criminals. (October 28, 2014)
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29760212
In Interrogations, Teenagers Are Too Young to Know Better. N.Y. TIMES. Recent research published in Law
and Human Behavior adds to accumulating evidence that teenagers are psychologically vulnerable at
the gateway to the criminal justice system. Researchers analyzed footage of 57 videotaped teenager
interrogations, ages 13 to 17, from 17 police departments around the countrynone of the
teenagers exercised their constitutional rights and it was not clear that they even understood them.
Research about adolescent interrogations is usually drawn from laboratory experiments, surveys or
court records. Only a few researchers have had access to actual encounters. This study is the first to
examine interrogations from a variety of jurisdictions. The sample, however, is small and limited to
agencies that willingly provided videos. (October 13, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/kdx93qj
TRIAL ISSUES
Judge Delays Competency Decision in Slenderman Stabbing Case. CHICAGO TRIBUNE. A Wisconsin judge
delayed a decision on the mental competency of a girl accused of luring a classmate into the woods
and stabbing her to impress a fictional, online bogeyman that she insisted was real. Morgan Geyser
and Anissa Weier were both 12 when they stabbed a friend 18 times and were subsequently charged
as adults with first-degree attempted homicide. An expert found Geyser competent to stand trial,
but her lawyer asked for time to review the findings and the judge granted that request. Wisconsin
BNLC BlurbNovember 2014

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law requires attempted homicide cases involving suspects at least 10 years old to begin in adult court
before attorneys can ask a judge to move the case to juvenile court. If convicted as adults, the girls
could be sentenced to up to 60 years in prison. They could be held until age 25 if convicted as
juveniles. (November 12, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/q4f8dqu
White House Jumper Dominic Adesanya Ordered by Judge to Mental Health Facility. WASHINGTON POST. A
D.C. Department of Behavioral Health psychologist determined that Dominic Adesanya, the
Maryland man accused of scaling the White House fence, was incompetent to stand trial. The
psychologist included that she had grave concerns regarding Adesanyas ability to adhere with
court ordered release conditions ... given the nature and gravity of the [his] delusions coupled with
his poor insight and judgment. According to court records, Adesanya believed that the National
Security Agency and President Obama had placed cameras and electronic devises in various rooms
in his home as a means of spying on him. D.C. Magistrate Judge Facciola ordered him to a federal
mental health facility. (October 27, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/ondxg2c
MILITARY
Studies Link Mental Issues and the Rigor of the Military. N.Y. TIMES. Two papers published in the journal
Depression and Anxiety, concluded that new recruits enter the Army with roughly the same rates of
mental problems as their civilian peers, but their disorders persist longer amid the demands of
service than in civilian life. These papers draw their information from anonymous surveys of more
than 38,000 men and women in basic training and suggest that the higher rates of mental problems
recently recorded in the military are rooted in the rigors of service, not in the loosening of
enlistment standards. The two papers are part of an investigation into mental health in the Army
that began in 2008, after the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers exceeded the suicide rate among
young, healthy civilian adults for the first time. The findings from both papers suggest that early
treatment of mental health symptoms could avert problems later on. (October 23, 2014)
http://tinyurl.com/ollf5kg

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BNLC BlurbNovember 2014

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