Neuroscience News

Study: Woodpecker Drumming is Neurologically Similar to Songbird Vocalization

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.
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 that until now have only been associated with vocal learning in animals and language in humans; instead of being related to vocalization, activity in these brain regions is related to the characteristic tree drumming that gives woodpeckers their name. Vocal learning is thought to have evolved in...

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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...

Dhoundiyal et al. discovered that neurons have an emergency back-up system to enable them to remain functional even when their energy supply is disrupted. Image credit: Colin Behrens.

Neurons Have Emergency Back-Up System, Neuroscientists Say

Aug 29, 2022 by News Staff

The newly-discovered neuronal back-up system safeguards metabolic flexibility of neurons to cope with energy demands of electrical signaling, according...

Yuta Senzai & Massimo Scanziani discovered that the direction and amplitude of rapid eye movements during REM sleep reveal the direction and amplitude of the ongoing changes in virtual head direction. Image credit: Yuta Senzai & Massimo Scanziani, doi: 10.1126/science.abp8852.

Study: Rapid Eye Movements during REM Sleep Mimic Gazes in Dream World

Aug 26, 2022 by News Staff

Sleep includes phases characterized by rapid eye movement (REM) that were known to be associated with dreaming. But are these eye movements related to...

Inadequate sleep represents a significant influential force determining whether humans choose to help one another, observable across micro- and macroscopic levels of civilized interaction. Image credit: Sasin Tipchai.

Inadequate Sleep Makes Us Less Generous, New Study Shows

Aug 25, 2022 by News Staff

New research by University of California, Berkeley scientists shows that a lack of sleep impairs our basic social conscience, making us withdraw our desire...

Ultrasound exposure improved depressive-like behavior in olfactory bulbectomized rats and reduced their plasma corticosterone levels. Image credit: Mary Theresa McLean.

Ultrasound Exposure Improves Depressive-Like Behavior in Rats, New Study Shows

Aug 16, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists from the Tokyo University of Science and FUJIMIC, Inc. have investigated the effects of ultrasound exposure in olfactory bulbectomized rats...

Moncrieff et al. suggest that depression is not likely caused by a chemical imbalance, and call into question what antidepressants do. Image credit: Chenspec.

Serotonin Theory of Depression Debunked

Jul 21, 2022 by News Staff

In a systematic umbrella review of previous relevant studies, a team of scientists from the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Italy synthesized and evaluated...

The language network in native speakers of diverse languages. Image credit: Malik-Moraleda et al., doi: 10.1038/s41593-022-01114-5.

New Study Across 45 Languages Reveals Universal Language Network

Jul 19, 2022 by News Staff

In a large-scale functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, neuroscientists from MIT and Harvard University evaluated the claim of language universality...

Zhou et al. discovered sound reduces pain in mice by lowering the activity of neurons in the brain’s auditory cortex (green and magenta) that project to the thalamus. Image credit: Wenjie Zhou.

Scientists Identify Neural Mechanisms Through Which Sound Induces Analgesia in Mice

Jul 8, 2022 by News Staff

Sound, including music and noise, can relieve pain in humans, but the underlying neural mechanisms are unknown. In new research, scientists from the United...

Petrosino et al. corroborate the hypothesis that LINE elements might be active and functionally important in the central nervous system of highly intelligent organisms such as octopuses. Image credit: Albert Kok / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Study: Same ‘Jumping Genes’ are Active in Octopus and Human Brains

Jun 28, 2022 by News Staff

‘Jumping genes,’ also known as transposons or transposable elements, widely contribute to the evolution of genomes allowing genomic innovations. These...

Healthy brain temperature varies by time of day. Image credit: Rzechorzek et al., doi: 10.1093/brain/awab466.

Study: Human Brain Temperature is Higher and Varies More Than Previously Assumed

Jun 14, 2022 by News Staff

Scientists have established a 4D map of human brain temperature and shown how this parameter varies with time of day, brain region, age, and sex in adults....

Example of illusorily expanding central region or ‘hole;’ viewing the image full screen is best for eliciting the effect. Image credit: Laeng et al., doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.877249.

New Visual Illusion Trick Your Brain into Thinking Static Black Hole is Expanding

Jun 3, 2022 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience shows that the ‘expanding hole’ optical illusion, which is new to science, is...

CCR5 expression and activation in the dorsal hippocampus after contextual fear conditioning. Image credit: Shen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04783-1.

Study: FDA-Approved HIV Drug Restores Memory Linking in Middle-Aged Mice

May 26, 2022 by News Staff

Our real-world memories are formed in a particular context and are often not acquired or recalled in isolation. Time is a key variable in the organization...

Sustained intake of cranberry over a 12-week period produced significant improvements in memory and neural function in older adults who were cognitively healthy. Image credit: MrGajowy3.

Study: Daily Cranberry Consumption Improves Episodic Memory and Neural Function in Older Adults

May 19, 2022 by News Staff

Daily cranberry supplementation (equivalent to 1 small cup of cranberries) over a 12-week period improves episodic memory performance and neural functioning,...

Deperrois et al. suggest that generating new, virtual sensory inputs via adversarial dreaming during REM sleep is essential for extracting semantic concepts, while replaying episodic memories via perturbed dreaming during NREM sleep improves the robustness of latent representations. Image credit: Stefan Keller.

Adversarial Dreaming Helps Brain Learn Better, Study Suggests

May 13, 2022 by News Staff

Humans and other animals learn to extract general concepts from sensory experience without extensive teaching. This ability is thought to be facilitated...

The study sheds new light on the link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Image credit: Sweet Briar College.

New Animal Study Pinpoints Molecular Basis of Deep Sleep

Apr 29, 2022 by News Staff

Identification of mechanisms which increase deep sleep could lead to novel treatments which promote the restorative effects of sleep. Uygun et al. show...

Odor preference rankings were collected from nine culturally and geographically diverse populations. These included the three hunter-gatherer groups, Seri from a coastal desert and Maniq and Semaq Beri from tropical rainforest, one shoreline forager, Mah Meri, from a tropical coast; one swidden-horticulturalist, Semelai, from tropical rainforest; one farmer-foraging community, Chachi, from tropical rainforest; one subsistence agriculturalist community, Imbabura Quichua, from temperate highlands; and two urban dwellers from industrial and postindustrial communities of bustling urban settings, Mexican and Thai. The data from these nine communities were then related to available data from a large dataset on odor preference collected from urban dwellers from New York City, the United States. Image credit: Arshamian et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.02.062.

Culture Plays Minimal Role in Perception of Odor Pleasantness, Says New Study

Apr 5, 2022 by News Staff

Humans share sensory systems with a common anatomical blueprint, but individual sensory experience nevertheless varies. In olfaction, it is not known to...

Daytime napping and cognition may drive each other’s changes bidirectionally. Image credit: StockSnap.

Study Finds Bidirectional Link between Daytime Napping and Cognitive Aging

Mar 28, 2022 by News Staff

In a new cohort study, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, participants tended to nap longer and more frequently with aging; most importantly,...

Weekend recovery sleep doesn’t prevent weight gain or reduce insulin sensitivity. Image credit: Wok & Apix.

Study: Human Brain Selectively Tunes to Unfamiliar Voices during Sleep

Jan 18, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists from the University of Salzburg and the University of Basel has presented sleeping volunteers with their own names and unfamiliar...

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