Feature Channels: Cognition and Learning

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A study published in the journal Pediatrics expands validation evidence for a new screening tool that directly engages preschool-age children during clinic visits to assess their early literacy skills. The tool, which is the first of its kind, has the potential to identify reading difficulties as early as possible, target interventions and empower families to help their child at home, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

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Although an expert FDA panel voted ten to one to withhold approval for a Biogen anti-Alzheimer's drug candidate, the Alzheimer's Association endorsed the compound. Serious questions have been raised about why, including conflict of interest.

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Although exercise is known to enhance cognitive function and improve mental health, the neurological mechanisms of this link are unknown.

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NeuroVision Imaging Inc., announced today it has received an investment from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) to support developing reliable, affordable biomarker tests for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia and neurodegenerative disorders.

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When it comes to developing drugs for mental illnesses, three confounding challenges exist:

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Alcohol dependence is associated with impairments in social cognition – for example, the ability to identify the emotional state of others – that persist despite abstinence from alcohol during inpatient treatment, according to new study findings. Cognitive deficits are common in alcohol use disorder (AUD), and often involve difficulties with working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control; however, it has become clear that social cognition, including the ability to recognize facial emotion, can also be affected. Poor social cognition contributes to interpersonal difficulties and conflicts. It may also have an important clinical impact, in that poorer recognition of facial emotion has been linked to poorer outcomes of treatment for alcohol dependence and a greater risk of relapse. However, research on social cognition is lacking, and it was not known if social cognitive deficits persist or might naturally improve with abstinence from alcohol. The study at the Medical University of I

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As yet there is no prescription drug to cure mild cognitive impairment (MCI), often a harbinger of Alzheimer's disease. Medical research journals reveal curcumin can sometimes bolster cognition. It merits a try.

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For the first time, scientists have identified the individual neurons critical to human social reasoning, a cognitive process that requires us to acknowledge and predict others' hidden beliefs and thoughts.

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For mice, the earliest social memories can form at three days old and last into adulthood, scientists report on January 26 in the journal Cell Reports.

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Toddlers with high daily touchscreen use are quicker to look at objects when they appear and are less able to resist distraction compared to toddlers with no or low touchscreen use - according to new research from Birkbeck, University of London, King's College London and University of Bath.

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Study conducted by researchers from the GIGA CRC In vivo Imaging laboratory at ULiège demonstrates, for the first time in humans, how the first deposits of tau proteins in the brainstem are associated with neurophysiological processes specific to the early stages of Alzheimer's disease development.

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A research team led by psychology and neuroscience professor Sylvie Belleville has just targeted an early biomarker of the disease.

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Loyola Medicine is providing multidisciplinary care for patients with long-term neurological, cognitive and other symptoms associated with COVID-19.

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Anyone who has tried and failed to meditate knows that our minds are rarely still. But where do they roam? New research led by UC Berkeley has come up with a way to track the flow of our internal thought processes and signal whether our minds are focused, fixated or wandering.

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If you're a bit more forgetful or having more difficulty processing complex concepts than in the past, the problem may be your menopause stage.

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A study from Arizona State University’s REACH Institute has found that when children are exposed to conflict between their divorced or separated parents, they experience fear of abandonment. This worry about being abandoned in response to interparental conflict was associated with future mental health problems in children, especially for children who had strong relationships with their fathers.

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Study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center finds adding more foods that are part of Western diet may reduce cognitive benefits of Mediterranean diet.

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In the early decades of televised news, Americans turned to the stern faces of newsmen like Walter Cronkite, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather as trusted sources for news of the important events in America and around the world, delivered with gravitas and measured voices.

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Although cardiologists often decry coconut oil because of certain fats it contains, they overlook the growing evidence that other fatty constituents, especially medium-chain triglycerides, may alleviate some cases of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

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In older people with type 1 diabetes, damage to the retina may be linked to memory problems and other cognitive conditions.BOSTON – (December 31, 2020) – As they age, people with diabetes are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive disorders than are people without diabetes. Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center now have shown that routine eye imaging can identify changes in the retina that may be associated with cognitive disorders in older people with type 1 diabetes.

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The introduction of computer simulation to the identification of symptoms in children with ADHD could provide an additional objective tool to gauge the presence and severity of behavioral problems, researchers suggest in a new publication.

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As COVID cases rise, physically distancing yourself from other people has never been more important. Now a Nature study reveals how your brain navigates places and monitors someone else in the same location.

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The identification of people wearing masks has often presented a unique challenge during the pandemic. A new study by researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in Israel and York University in Canada reveals the impact of this predicament and its potentially significant repercussions.

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Scientists from the MIPT Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases have joined forces with their colleagues from Jülich Research Center, Germany, and uncovered how sodium ions drive glutamate transport in the central nervous system. Glutamate is the most important excitatory neurotransmitter and is actively removed from the synaptic cleft between neurons by specialized transport proteins called excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs)

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People hospitalized with COVID-19 and neurological problems including stroke and confusion, have a higher risk of dying than other COVID-19 patients, according to a study published online today by researchers at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the journal Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. These findings have the potential to identify and focus treatment efforts on individuals most at risk and could decrease COVID-19 deaths.

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Preschoolers living in impoverished communities who have access to a nurturing home environment have significantly higher intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in adolescence compared to those raised without nurturing care.

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Individuals with high ADHD-traits that do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis are less able to perform tasks involving attentional regulation or emotional control after a sleepless night than individuals with low ADHD-traits, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging reports.

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Researchers report that hearing loss and high blood sugar are associated with poor cognitive performance among middle-aged and older Latinos.

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People with the advanced form of multiple sclerosis (MS) called secondary progressive MS who took the drug siponimod for one to two years had improved cognitive processing speed compared to those who did not take the drug, according to a new study published in the December 16, 2020, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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A team of researchers, including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, explore ways to potentially improve the recall of eyewitnesses in a new paper in the Journal of Cognitive Psychology.

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This holiday season will be a lonely one for many people as social distancing due to COVID-19 continues, and it is important to understand how isolation affects our health.

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Being socially and emotionally competent from an early age is likely to help children win acceptance by their peers, build better relationships with teachers, and facilitate academic learning.

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FAST (the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics) today announced that Virtually Unstoppable, their annual Summit & Gala benefitting Angelman syndrome (AS) raised over $2.2 million during their virtual two-day conference.

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A new drug discovered through a research collaboration between the University at Buffalo and Tetra Therapeutics took a major step toward becoming a first-in-class treatment for Fragile X Syndrome, a leading genetic cause of autism.

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Researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) in Japan show that melatonin and its metabolites promote the formation of long-term memories in mice and protect against cognitive decline.

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The foods we eat may have a direct impact on our cognitive acuity in our later years. The study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, is a first-of-its-kind large scale analysis that connects specific foods to later-in-life cognitive acuity.

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Harvard Medical School neuroscientists have discovered genes that memory neurons use to rewire connections after new experiences. The findings shed light on the biology of long-term memory, with implications for new approaches to intervene when memory deficits occur with age or disease.

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DALLAS – Dec. 8, 2020 – Two studies led by UT Southwestern researchers shed new light on how the brain encodes time and place into memories. The findings, published recently in PNAS and Science, not only add to the body of fundamental research on memory, but could eventually provide the basis for new treatments to combat memory loss from conditions such as traumatic brain injury or Alzheimer’s disease.

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Researchers have identified factors that make children with diabetic ketoacidosis more likely to experience acute kidney injury. Analyzing data from a large, multicenter clinical trial, the researchers also found that children who experience acute kidney injury are more likely to also experience subtle cognitive impairment and demonstrate lower IQ scores, suggesting a pattern of multiple organ injury.

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A new study by the UC Davis MIND Institute finds a connection between gestational age and ADHD in children with Down syndrome. An earlier gestational age is linked to higher ADHD symptoms later in childhood.

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Children diagnosed with dyslexia show greater emotional reactivity than children without dyslexia, according to a new collaborative study by UC San Francisco neuroscientists with the UCSF Dyslexia Center and UCSF Memory and Aging Center.

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More frequent exposure to air pollution spikes were associated with reduced test scores for third graders in Salt Lake County. Schools with a higher proportion of students of color and from households experiencing poverty were exposed to more peak pollution days than were schools serving middle- to upper- class and predominately white students.

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In a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Virginia Tech neuroscientists at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC show that observing peers making sound decisions may help young people play it safe. The discovery may one day inform measures to help teens make healthy decisions.

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A new study led by researchers at UC San Francisco has found that among older Americans with cognitive impairment, the greater the air pollution in their neighborhood, the higher the likelihood of amyloid plaques - a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

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Imagine seeing a photo of a beautiful mountain scene with a cat in the foreground. You may admire the mountains. Kids only see the cat, a new study suggests.

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Increased consumption of flavanols - a group of molecules which occur naturally in fruit and vegetables - can increase your mental agility, according to new research at the University of Birmingham.

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Research from the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences in Arts & Sciences finds a new relationship between memory and the ability to incorporate changes into one's understanding of the world.

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In addition to enabling us to communicate with others, languages are our instrument for conveying our thoughts, identity, knowledge, and how we see and understand the world.

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Mild cognitive impairment affects millions of seniors. There is no curative drug. Seven possibly helpful supplements gleaned from medical journal articles are described