Neuroscientists exploring the lasting impacts of COVID-19 on the brain hope their newest study will provide answers for health-care professionals and improved care for millions of patients around the globe. The COVID-19 Brain Study looks to recruit 50,000 individuals...
Adrian Owen
Despite social and employment benefits, bilingualism does not make you ‘smarter’
Being bilingual does not improve general mental ability, according to a new study conducted by a team of researchers at Western University’s renowned Brain and Mind Institute. More than 11,000 participants from around the world completed 12 online cognitive tests that...
New study of football players shows concussions have long-term effects on inhibition
World renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen and his team at Western University have developed a new strategy for predicting cognitive performance in Canadian university football players based on results from online surveys completed by the general population. The most...
New study advances quest to better understand consciousness
In his landmark 2006 study, Western University’s renowned neuroscientist Adrian Owen and his collaborators showed for the first time ever that functional neuroimaging can reveal conscious awareness in some patients who appear to be entirely vegetative and can even...
ICU patients with non-brain-related injuries may suffer undetected cognitive dysfunction
A new study led by Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute has found that most patients entering hospital intensive care units (ICU) for non-brain-related injuries or ailments also suffer from some level of related cognitive dysfunction that currently...
Two brains prove better than one for inaugural round of McGill-Western Collaboration Grant program
The first round of the McGill-Western Collaboration Grant awards were announced today, showcasing the unique research partnership between Western University’s BrainsCAN and McGill University’s Healthy Brains for Healthy Lives (HBHL) initiative. In the inaugural round,...
World’s largest sleep study shows too much shut-eye can be bad for your brain
Preliminary results from the world’s largest sleep study have shown that people who sleep on average between 7 to 8 hours per night performed better cognitively than those who slept less, or more, than this amount. Neuroscientists from Western University’s renowned...
Brain game doesn’t offer brain gain
A new study led by a team of Western University neuroscientists has debunked claims that getting better at a brain training game can translate to improved performance in other, untrained cognitive tasks. This study, published in the journal Neuropsychologia, set out...
World’s largest sleep study launches from Western’s Brain and Mind Institute
Renowned Western University neuroscientist Adrian Owen has launched the world’s largest sleep-and-cognition study to help researchers learn the effects on our brains of sleep and sleep deprivation. “Many of us are working more erratic hours and sleeping less, while...
Western neuroscientist’s book explores the borderlines of consciousness
Western neuroscientist Adrian Owen’s work has transformed how medical teams, families and philosophers understand the spaces between life and death for people in a vegetative state. And now Owen is sharing his discoveries and insights more broadly in his book, Into...
The story behind a vegetative patient’s shocking recovery
Western University's Adrian Owen provided expert analysis to award-winning science writer Kate Lunau for her long-form, feature story about the "shocking" recovery of a patient in a vegetative state, which was published by Maclean's on December 31, 2015. Owen is the...
Western University develops first-ever ethical framework for fMRI research
A team of doctors, neuroscientists and philosophers from Western University have developed the first-ever ethical framework for researchers and research ethics committees to design, conduct and review functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies for severely...