Neuroscience News

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...

Yeung et al. examined the effect of daily multivitamin/multimineral supplementation on memory in older adults. Image credit: Ri Butov.

Daily Multivitamin Supplementation Improves Memory in Older Adults, New Study Finds

May 25, 2023 by News Staff

Multivitamin supplementation holds promise as a safe and accessible approach to maintaining cognitive health in older age, according to new research led...

Cho et al. found a link between regular use of the Internet and a lower risk of dementia. Image credit: StockSnap.

Study: Regular Use of Internet Reduces Risk of Dementia

May 4, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Regular Internet usage was associated with approximately half the risk of dementia compared to non-regular usage in new research from New York University. Cho...

Overview of nanowire network device and setup for supervised learning, physical reinforcement learning, and the N-Back task protocol. Image credit: Loeffler et al., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg3289.

Nanowire Networks Can Exhibit Both Short- and Long-Term Memory Like Human Brain

Apr 24, 2023 by News Staff

The brain’s powerful information processing capacity can be largely attributed to neuronal microcircuits established by synaptic connectivity patterns....

Huang et al. showed that the brain’s functional geometry (e.g., network distance in the gradient space) and temporal dynamics (e.g., occurrence rates of co-activation patterns) covary with the state of consciousness. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Brain’s Functional Geometry Encodes Dimensions of Consciousness, Neuroscientists Say

Jan 12, 2023 by News Staff

Consciousness is a multidimensional phenomenon, but key dimensions such as awareness and wakefulness have been described conceptually rather than neurobiologically....

Naqvi et al. recently developed a data-driven approach to phenotyping complex, multidimensional traits; this multivariate approach, when applied to facial surface images, revealed numerous genomic loci with no previously known role in human face shape variation; in the new study, the team implemented this approach to discover associations between common genetic variants and brain shape, using MRI data from middle-aged participants in the UK Biobank. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Study: Voice and Face Recognition are Linked More Intimately than Previously Thought

Jan 3, 2023 by News Staff

In the study, five epilepsy surgery patients were presented with images of famous speakers (U.S. presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton)...

Network modeling of fluid intelligence. Image credit: Cipolotti et al., doi: 10.1093/brain/awac304.

Neuroscientists Identify Brain Regions Necessary for Fluid Intelligence

Jan 3, 2023 by News Staff

Fluid intelligence is arguably the defining feature of human cognition. It predicts educational and professional success, social mobility, health, and...

Allen et al. developed a new predictive coding model of respiratory brain coupling, in which breathing rhythmically modulates both local and global neural gain. Image credit: Gerd Altmann / Clker Vector Images / Sci.News.

Breathing Impacts Our Emotions, Attention and Cognition, Scientists Say

Nov 9, 2022 by News Staff

A new review of more than a dozen previous studies with rodent, monkey, and human brain imaging demonstrates that the act of breathing exerts a substantive,...

Christian Matthias Kerskens & David López Pérez believe our brains could use quantum computation. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Neuroscientists May Have Found Signs of Quantum Processes in Human Brain

Oct 20, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience say they may have witnessed entanglement mediated by consciousness-related brain functions. Christian...

Abidemi Otaiku suggests nightmares may become prevalent several years or even decades before the characteristic memory and thinking problems of dementia set in. Image credit: Bingo Naranjo.

Study: Distressing Dreams Predict Cognitive Decline and Dementia in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

Sep 22, 2022 by News Staff

Adults who report having nightmares during middle and older age may experience accelerated cognitive decline and are at increased risk of developing dementia,...

Vocal learning is thought to have evolved in three orders of birds (songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds), with each showing similar brain regions that have comparable gene expression specializations relative to the surrounding forebrain motor circuitry; Schuppe et al. searched for signatures of these same gene expression specializations in previously uncharacterized brains of seven assumed vocal non-learning bird lineages across the early branches of the avian family tree. Image credit: Premek Hajek.

Study: Woodpecker Drumming is Neurologically Similar to Songbird Vocalization

Sep 20, 2022 by News Staff

A team of scientists from the United States and Denmark has found specialized pecking-related regions in the woodpecker forebrain that show characteristics...

van der Meulen et al. show that both systemic and inhaled glucocorticoid use are associated with an apparently widespread reduction in white matter integrity, which may in part underly the neuropsychiatric side effects observed in patients using glucocorticoids. Image credit: Steve Buissinne.

Glucocorticoid Use Associated with Structural and Volume Changes in White and Gray Matter

Sep 1, 2022 by News Staff

New research from the Leiden University Medical Center shows that both systemic and inhaled glucocorticoids — a class of synthetic steroids —...

Characterization of human accumbens electrophysiological signal provoked by exposure to preferred food stimuli: (a) schematic of the multi-stage, staggered enrollment, early feasibility study design; the current stage of each participant within the trial is highlighted (blue - subject 1; green - subject 2); (b) two quadripolar depth electrodes placed bilaterally in the nucleus accumbens; (c) the multi-item buffet of preferred foods allowing us to examine nucleus accumbens electrophysiology during LOC eating as well as the preceding in-lab standardized meals. Image credit: Shivacharan et al., doi: 10.1038/s41591-022-01941-w.

Deep Brain Stimulation May Help Treat Binge-Eating Disorder

Aug 30, 2022 by News Staff

In a pilot study led by Pennsylvania Hospital and the Stanford University School of Medicine, deep brain stimulation — guided by patterns of neural...