"Maria Glymour, an assistant professor of Society, Human Development and Health at Harvard, and her colleagues reported their findings on emotional support in stroke in the journal Neuroepidemiology. In this article, they reported that emotional support led to better thinking ability six months down the line and also greater improvement in thinking at the same time. This suggests that the mental stimulation offered by "emotional support" somehow affected the brain, such that even when there was significant damage to a brain region, the associated brain changes improve thinking."