Neuroscience News

Study: Lack of Mathematical Education Negatively Affects Developing Brain

Zacharopoulos et al. examined whether the concentrations of GABA in the adolescent brain could classify whether a student is lacking mathematical education. Image credit: T.J. Evans.
Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

A new study, published this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that within the same society, adolescent students who specifically lack mathematical education exhibited reduced levels of a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in a key brain area involved in reasoning and cognitive learning. Zacharopoulos et al. examined whether the concentrations of GABA in the adolescent brain could classify whether...

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A teacher guides a student through a task in this historical photo of the Abecedarian Project. Image credit: Virginia Tech.

Active Early Learning Shapes Adult Brain Structure, New Research Shows

Jun 1, 2021 by News Staff

In new research published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, low socioeconomic status infants were randomized to either five years of cognitively...

As part of the BrainGate clinical trial, researchers are using tiny electrode arrays to record signals from the motor cortex of the brain; those signals can then be used to control robotic prostheses, computers or other devices; the hope is that such a system may one help restore communication and movement in people with paralysis due to injury or illness. Image credit: BrainGate.org.

Brain-Computer Interface Translates Brain Signals Associated with Handwriting into Text

May 17, 2021 by News Staff

Researchers with the BrainGate Collaboration have deciphered the brain activity associated with handwriting: working with a 65-year-old (at the time of...

Konkoly et al. implemented procedures for two-way communication during polysomnographically verified REM sleep in 36 individuals. Image credit: Konkoly et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.026.

Scientists Demonstrate Two-Way Communication with Dreaming Persons during Lucid Dream

Feb 24, 2021 by News Staff

New research from Northwestern University shows that individuals who are asleep and in the midst of a lucid dream — aware of the fact that they are...

Laham et al. show that mice form memories of their mother within days after birth and that these memories persist into adulthood. Image credit: Laham et al., doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108668.

Mice Form Memories of Their Mother within Three Days after Birth, Study Shows

Jan 28, 2021 by News Staff

Mouse pups recognize their caregiving mother and distinguish her from novel mothers as newborns and remember them after up to 100 days apart, according...

Increased subnetworks in absolute pitch musicians compared to non-musicians obtained in the whole-brain network-based statistic (NBS) analysis for resting-state functional connectivity (A) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)-based structural connectivity (B). Abbreviations: ACC - anterior cingulate cortex; AP - absolute pitch; aSMG - anterior supramarginal gyrus; aSTG - anterior superior temporal gyrus; cOp - central operculum; fOp - frontal operculum; FP - frontal pole; HG - Heschl’s gyrus; IFG, po - inferior frontal gyrus, pars opercularis; L - left; MTG - middle temporal gyrus; PCC - posterior cingulate cortex; postCG - postcentral gyrus; preCG - precentral gyrus; pSTG - superior temporal gyrus, posterior division; pOp - parietal operculum; PP - planum polare; PT - planum temporale; ptFG - posterior temporal fusiform gyrus; R - right; toFG - temporal occipital fusiform gyrus; TP - temporal pole. Image credit: Leipold et al., doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1985-20.2020.

Musicians, Regardless of Innate Pitch Ability, Have More Connected Brains than Non-Musicians: Study

Jan 26, 2021 by News Staff

A new study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that long-term musical training is associated with robust changes in large-scale brain...

Differences in brain activity between connected and disconnected states of consciousness studied with positron emission tomography imaging. Activity of the thalamus, anterior (ACC) and posterior cingulate cortices (PCC), and bilateral angular gyri (AG) show the most consistent associations with the state of consciousness (A = general anesthesia, B = sleep). The same brain structures, which are deactivated when the state of consciousness changes to disconnected in general anesthesia or natural sleep (cool colors in the left columns), are reactivated when regaining a connected state upon emergence from anesthesia (warm colors in the right columns). Image credit: Scheinin et al., doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0775-20.2020.

Neuroscientists Identify Brain Network Critical for Consciousness

Dec 30, 2020 by News Staff

The loss and return of consciousness is linked to the same core brain network for both sleep and anesthesia. Differences in brain activity between connected...

Top: neurons and glial cells. Bottom: the Millennium Simulation of the Universe. Image credit: Center for Brain Injury and Repair, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine / Springel et al.

Human Brain’s Neuronal Network Has Similarities to Cosmic Web, Study Claims

Nov 18, 2020 by News Staff

In a paper published this week in the journal Frontiers of Physics, a duo of researchers from Italy investigated the similarities between the network of...

Professor McFadden argues that consciousness implements algorithms in space, rather than time, within the brain’s electromagnetic field. Image credit: Gerd Altmann.

Consciousness is Brain’s Information-Rich Energy Field, Remarkable New Theory Says

Oct 21, 2020 by News Staff

Consciousness is physically integrated, and causally active, information encoded in the brain’s global electromagnetic field, according to the conscious...

MPS is a novel neuroprotective molecule that is more than two orders of magnitude more potent than the related molecule, ethosuximide. The discovery may enable novel treatments for human neurodegenerative diseases to be developed in the future. Image credit: National Institute on Aging / National Institutes of Health.

Scientists Confirm Long-Suspected Link between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Alzheimer’s Disease

Oct 7, 2020 by News Staff

While the cause of Alzheimer’s disease remains a mystery, amyloid plaques that are toxic to brain cells are known indicators of the disease. A team of...

Heavy smoking has a damaging effect on facial aging. Image credit: Jui Magicman.

Moderate Cannabis Use Has Adverse Effects on Cognitive Functioning, Study Suggests

Sep 7, 2020 by News Staff

Moderate adolescent cannabis use may have adverse effects on cognitive functioning, specifically verbal memory, that cannot be explained by familial factors,...

Coronal section of the human brain; amygdala is colored in purple; from Anatomy of the Human Body by Henry Gray.

Depression in Association with Anxiety Makes Amygdala Bigger

Aug 10, 2020 by News Staff

According to a new review of previous studies, published July 29 in the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, depression is linked to areas of the brain...

The suprachiasmatic nucleus of a mouse. Image credit: McGill University.

Sodium Regulates Circadian Clock in Mice, New Study Shows

Jul 10, 2020 by News Staff

A new study published this week in the journal Nature shows that injecting mice with a salt solution (hypertonic saline) leads to the activation of neurons...

Posterior view of the 3D reconstructed male rat heart: (A) whole-heart view showing the context, extent, and distribution of the intrinsic cardiac neurons (ICN), located on superior and posterior surfaces of the atria; (B-F) a higher-resolution view of the atria and blood vessels that are shown in (B), with various contoured features of heart anatomy that are selectively removed to appreciate the anatomical relationship of the ICN to (C) the pulmonary artery and superior vena cava (SVC), (D) the interatrial septum, (E) the left atrium and pulmonary veins, (F) the right atrium, where clusters #1 and #2 appear to be on the surface of both atria, whereas cluster #3, which is located around the border of the superior vena cava, left atrium, and right atrium, appears on the right atrium. Scale bars - 1,000 μm (A), 500 μm (B-F). Image credit: Achanta et al, doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101140.

Scientists Create 3D Map of Rat Heart’s Neurons

May 27, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has created a comprehensive anatomical 3D map and molecular profile of the rat intracardiac nervous system (ICN). Posterior...

Positive effects of aerobic exercise in Alzheimer’s disease may be mediated by redistribution of blood flow and neural activity in Alzheimer’s disease-sensitive regions of brain. Image credit: Mabel Amber.

Aerobic Exercise Improves Memory in Older Adults, New Study Finds

May 21, 2020 by News Staff

Aerobic exercise boosts blood flow into two key regions of brain associated with memory: the anterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus, according to...

Heller et al reveal a previously unknown connection between our daily physical environments and sense of well-being. Image credit: Frank MoreLight.

Study Reveals Link between Diversity in Daily Experiences and Sense of Well-Being

May 20, 2020 by News Staff

New and diverse daily experiences are linked to enhanced happiness, according to a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Heller et al reveal...

Wang et al built a detailed map of the mouse brain from tiny virtual 3D blocks, or voxels. Image credit: Benedicte Rossi.

Neuroscientists Create High-Resolution 3D Atlas of Mouse Brain

May 7, 2020 by News Staff

Neuroscientists at the Allen Institute for Brain Science have released the third version of their Allen Mouse Brain Common Coordinate Framework (CCFv3). Wang...

Huang et al reveal region-specific transcriptional dependencies for astrocytes and identify astrocytic NFIA as a key transcriptional regulator of hippocampal circuits. Image credit: Huang et al, doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2020.03.025.

Study Reveals New Role of Astrocytes in Brain Function

Apr 27, 2020 by News Staff

Astrocytes play a direct role in the regulation of neuronal circuits involved in learning and memory, according to new research from Baylor College of...

Auditory dorsal and ventral pathway strength and lateralization in macaques, chimpanzees and humans. Left: bar plots showing the individual results and mean fiber counts for the left and right dorsal and ventral pathways for each of the three species. Right: schematic summary of the dorsal (purple) and ventral (dark green) pathway results in macaques, chimpanzees and humans, overlaid on previous observations (light yellow and light green). Image credit: Balezeau et al, doi: 10.1038/s41593-020-0623-9.

Human Brain’s Language Pathway Much Older than Thought

Apr 22, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by Newcastle University Medical School has discovered an earlier evolutionary origin to the human language pathway...

Reconstructed sagittal 5-mm orthogonal midline images in the brain using the sagittal 3D T1-weighted data set: (left) preflight baseline image and (right) matching postflight image (postflight day 1) in the same astronaut; the black arrowheads show upward expansion of the anterior, middle, and posterior superior margins of the lateral ventricle with associated narrowing of the marginal sulcus of the cingulate sulcus (white arrowhead); there is subtle expansion of the third ventricle (indicated by a 3), which has displaced the thalamus (T) from midline, making it less visible; there is thickening of the intermediate signal scalp soft tissues (arrows). Image credit: Kramer et al, doi: 10.1148/radiol.2020191413.

Study: Long-Duration Spaceflight Affects Brain Volume

Apr 16, 2020 by News Staff

A new study led by Professor Larry Kramer from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston suggests that the impact of microgravity is far-reaching,...

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