Neuroscience News

Fernandez-Velasco et al. show that left-handedness is not associated with either a benefit or a deficit in spatial ability. Image credit: Adrian.

Left-Handedness is Not Linked to Better Spatial Skills: Study

Nov 10, 2023 by News Staff

There is an active debate concerning the association of handedness and spatial ability. Past studies used small sample sizes. Determining the effect of...

Lai et al. developed a novel system combining virtual reality and a brain-machine interface to probe the rat’s inner thoughts.

Rats Have Imagination, New Study Reveals

Nov 6, 2023 by News Staff

The hippocampus holds a model of the environment that can be mentally traversed during recall or simulation. It is unknown whether animals can intentionally...

Jiang et al. used maternal separation (MS) as a stress model to investigate whether MS causes abnormal behavior in adolescence. Image credit: WOKANDAPIX.

Anxiety is Contagious, New Mouse Study Suggests

Oct 17, 2023 by News Staff

New research from Guangzhou University and South China Normal University reveals neural mechanisms underlying the transmission of adolescent anxiety to...

Ward et al. suggest that the presence of an odor can bias an observer’s decision of what their perceived version of a neutral gray is. Image credit: Kerstin Herrmann.

Study: Presence of Different Odors Influences How We Perceive Colors

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

Human brain constantly combines multisensory information from our surrounding environment. Odors for instance are often perceived with visual cues; these...

Harrison et al. investigated whether the human visual system represents environmental attributes that are critical for optimal inference. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Human Brain is Naturally Wired to Perform Advanced Calculations, New Study Confirms

Sep 15, 2023 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has developed a specific mathematical model that closely matches how a human brain works when it comes to reading vision....

Schematic diagram of the mechanism of action of irisin. Image credit: Kim et al., doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.08.012.

Irisin-Based Therapies May Help Combat Alzheimer’s Disease

Sep 11, 2023 by News Staff

Irisin is a hormone released mainly from muscles after exercise which increases adipose tissue energy expenditure. Schematic diagram of the mechanism of...

White matter degenerating microglia are a novel therapeutic target to potentially reduce the impact of white matter injury and myelin loss on the progression of cognitive impairment. Image credit: Miroslaw Miras.

New Cause of Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia Discovered

Sep 5, 2023 by News Staff

Ferroptosis, which is caused by a buildup of iron in cells, appears to be a major mechanism of white matter injury in Alzheimer’s disease and vascular...

Detection of brain spirals based on moment-by-moment fMRI signals. Image credit: Xu et al., doi: 10.1038/s41562-023-01626-5.

Neuroscientists Detect Spiral-Shaped Signals that Organize Brain Activity

Sep 5, 2023 by News Staff

New research led by University of Sydney and Fudan University neuroscientists shows that spiral-like, rotational wave patterns (brain spirals) are widespread...

Orexigenic appetitive processing relies on the integration of sensory, interoceptive and hormonal signals to govern consummatory behaviors. Dysregulation of this process leads to maladaptive eating behavior such as binge eating and is associated with obesity. This circuit, however, was elusive in humans --- until now. Image credit: Barbosa et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06459-w.

Neuroscientists Find Link between Appetite and Memory in Human Brain

Sep 5, 2023 by News Staff

Obese individuals possess impaired connections between the dorsolateral hippocampus and the lateral hypothalamus, which may impact their ability to control...

Educational attainment is protective and moderates the effect of apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype on cognition. Image credit: WOKANDAPIX.

Higher Educational Attainment May Have Protective Effect Against Alzheimer’s Disease

Sep 4, 2023 by News Staff

New research illustrates that when it comes to risk of Alzheimer’s disease, even genetically determined forms of this disease, genetics is only one piece...

Complex sugar molecules control the formation of perineuronal nets (shown here in green) that surround neurons to help stabilize connections in the brain. Image credit: Hsieh-Wilson et al.

Sulfate Groups on Complex Sugar Molecules Affect Brain Plasticity, Animal Study Suggests

Aug 16, 2023 by News Staff

Sulfate groups on complex sugar molecules called glycosaminoglycans affect ‘plasticity’ in the brains of mice, according to a team of researchers led...

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus). Image credit: University of Melbourne.

Study: Brain of Tasmanian Tiger Was Typical of Carnivorous/Scavenger Marsupials

Aug 1, 2023 by News Staff

The thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) is the largest of modern-day carnivorous marsupials and was hunted to extinction by European settlers in Australia....

Increasing olive oil intake in place of margarine and mayonnaise represents a potential strategy to reduce fatal dementia risk. Image credit: StockSnap.

Regular Olive Oil Consumption Reduces Fatal Dementia Risk, Study Suggests

Jul 25, 2023 by Natali Anderson

In a large study of U.S. adults, higher olive oil intake was associated with a moderately lower risk of fatal dementia, irrespective of diet quality. Increasing...

Using NMR-based analysis, Tira et al. were able to identify the most abundant constituents of espresso coffee. Image credit: Sci.News.

Espresso Coffee Mitigates Aggregation and Condensation of Alzheimer’s Protein in Lab Experiments

Jul 19, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Espresso coffee is among the most consumed beverages in the world. Recent studies report a protective activity of the coffee beverage against neurodegenerative...

Wu et al. investigated the association of adult literacy activities (taking education classes, using a computer, and writing letters or journals) and active mental activities (playing games, cards, or chess and doing crosswords or puzzles) with dementia risk among older individuals. Image credit: Steve Buissinne.

Study: Engagement in Literacy and Active Mental Activities May Help Prevent Dementia in Older Age

Jul 17, 2023 by Natali Anderson

In a cohort study of over 10,000 older individuals in Australia, more frequent participation in adult literacy activities (taking education classes, using...

Goh et al. show that silences can substitute for sounds in three prominent auditory illusions caused by event representation. Image credit: Finmiki.

Silence is Truly Heard, New Research Suggests

Jul 11, 2023 by News Staff

Do we only hear sounds? Or can we also hear silence? These questions are the subject of a centuries-old philosophical debate between two camps: the perceptual...

Western honeybees (Apis mellifera). Image credit: PollyDot.

New Research Reveals How Honeybees Make Fast, Accurate Decisions

Jul 10, 2023 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal eLife elucidates the honeybee’s behavioral strategy to associate sensory cues with rewards of different values....

Habitual coffee consumers justify their life choices by arguing that they become more alert and increase motor and cognitive performance and efficiency; however, these subjective impressions still do not have a neurobiological correlation. Using functional connectivity approaches to study resting-state fMRI data in a group of habitual coffee drinkers, Picó-Pérez et al. show that coffee consumption decreased connectivity of the posterior default mode network (DMN) and between the somatosensory/motor networks and the prefrontal cortex, while the connectivity in nodes of the higher visual and the right executive control network (RECN) is increased after drinking coffee; the data also show that caffeine intake only replicated the impact of coffee on the posterior DMN, thus disentangling the neurochemical effects of caffeine from the experience of having a coffee. Image credit: Sci.News.

Study: Boost from Morning Coffee Can’t Be Replicated with Plain Caffeine

Jun 29, 2023 by News Staff

Plain caffeine only partially reproduces the effects of drinking a cup of coffee, activating areas of the brain that make you feel more alert but not the...

Dopamine release following intragastric glucose and lipid infusions in lean participants and participants with obesity before and after weight loss. Image credit: van Galen et al., doi: 10.1038/s42255-023-00816-9.

Brain Responses to Nutrients are Severely Impaired in Humans with Obesity, Study Shows

Jun 13, 2023 by News Staff

Importantly, the impaired neuronal responses are not restored after diet-induced weight loss, according to a new study led by Amsterdam University Medical...