Musical training produces lasting improvements to a cognitive mechanism that helps individuals be more attentive and less likely to be distracted by irrelevant stimuli while performing demanding tasks.
In a recent learning study they were able to show that new conceptual information is stored along spatial dimensions in form of a mental map located in the hippocampus. Together with colleagues from the Donders Institute at Radboud University in Nijmegen, they observed brain activity patterns that support the idea that the neural mechanisms that support navigation in physical space might also be involved in conceptual learning.
Adult depression has long been associated with shrinkage of the hippocampus, a brain region that plays an important role in memory and response to stress. Now, new research from Washington University in St. Louis has linked participation in team sports to larger hippocampal volumes in children and less depression in boys ages 9 to 11.
Prof. Noam Sobel's team at the Weizmann Institute of Science has shown that we do better on tests when we inhale at the same time we’re presented with a problem. The findings shed light on the evolution of the brain, and may lead to ways of helping people who have attention and learning disorders improve their skills.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine used MRI brain scans and machine learning techniques at birth to predict cognitive development at age 2 years with 95 percent accuracy.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a new method of statistical analysis, researchers have discovered the taste center in the human brain by uncovering which parts of the brain distinguish different types of tastes.
Whether it’s probing a child’s understanding of a topic through questions or engaging in hands-on activities alongside them, parents can guide their children to learn in new ways through simple directions, according to a study by psychology researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.
A five-year follow-up systematic review and meta-analysis of 33 studies—conducted to determine changes in the frequency of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis since the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5 (DSM-5)—was published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Scientists continue to find evidence linking Type 2 diabetes with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia and the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. However, little is understood about the mechanism by which the two are connected.Now, researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, have demonstrated that impaired insulin signaling in the brain negatively affects cognition, mood and metabolism, all components of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Testing an accepted belief knowing it can be disproved at any time is the foundation of science and scientific discovery. The process relies on people being curious; exploring deeply by asking challenging, even probing questions in order to find answers.
Infants as young as five months can differentiate laughter between friends and that between strangers, finds a new study. The results suggest that the ability to detect the nature of social relationships is instilled early in human infancy, possibly the result of a detection system that uses vocal cues.
A new review explores the different areas of the brain that process the meaning of concrete and abstract concepts. The article is published ahead of print in the Journal of Neurophysiology (JNP).
Young children see national identity, in part, as biological in nature, a perception that diminishes as they get older, finds a new study by psychology researchers. But despite changes in views of nationality as we age, the work suggests the intriguing possibility that the roots of nationalist sentiments are established early in life.
I’ve always thought of parenting as a team sport. It works better when we can support each other, learn from each other, and understand that we’re not alone. That’s what The Parent Pep Talk podcast is all about, which you can download today on iTunes or your podcast app.
Irvine, Calif., Feb. 12, 2019 — The University of California, Irvine has received a five-year, $5 million Institute of Education Sciences grant from the U.S. Department of Education to establish the first national research and development center focused on improving the writing skills of middle and high school students. The Writing Research to Improve Teaching and Evaluation Center for Secondary Students will conduct a study on academic writing in English language arts, science and history – in collaboration with researchers and subjects from the nearby Tustin Unified School District – and then create a professional development intervention program for teachers.
The grandchildren of adolescent mothers have lower school readiness scores than their peers, according to a study published February 6, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Elizabeth Wall-Wieler of Stanford University, USA, and colleagues at the University of Manitoba.
Immersive virtual reality (VR) can be remarkably lifelike, but new UBC research has found a yawning gap between how people respond psychologically in VR and how they respond in real life.
Early adult general cognitive ability is a stronger predictor of cognitive function and reserve later in life than other factors, such as higher education, occupational complexity or engaging in late-life intellectual activities.
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center and the MIND Institute at UC Davis have found that mavoglurant, an experimental drug known as an mGluR5 negative modulator, can positively modify a key characteristic behavior in individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS).
Researchers at MIND Institute at UC Davis and Rush University Medical Center have found that mavoglurant, an experimental drug known as an mGluR5 negative modulator, can positively modify a key characteristic behavior in individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS).
Emergency and urgent hospitalizations are associated with an increased rate of cognitive decline in older adults, report researchers at Rush University Medical Center. Results of their study, published in the Jan. 11, 2019, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, shows that hospitalization may be a more of a major risk factor for long-term cognitive decline in older adults than previously recognized.
Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Siddhartan Govindasamy, together with colleagues from JK Lakshmipat University (JKLU) in Jaipur, India, is running an innovative workshop focused on experiential and project-based learning.
Seaver Autism Center study results contribute to understanding of patterns of cognitive functioning in adults with autism and highlight the importance of a broader approach when studying cognition
When expectant parents learn their child will be born with Down syndrome, they invariably have questions about what this diagnosis will mean for their son or daughter and for the rest of their family.
A team of researchers led by Noa Ofen, Ph.D. at Wayne State University and Lisa Johnson, Ph.D., at the University of California-Berkeley, are addressing the critical gap in our understanding of how maturation of the prefrontal cortex drives memory development through the use of electrocorticographic (ECoG) data.
Children’s personalities may influence how they perform in math and reading, according to a study by psychology researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.
When two events occur within a brief window of time they become linked in memory, such that calling forth memory of one helps retrieve memory for the other event, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. This happens even when temporal proximity is the only feature that the two events share.
Digital devices like the iPad have only been around for about 10 years, but in that short amount of time, they have become ingrained into everyday life and research examining their impact on young children is limited.Tune into 60 Minutes this Sunday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. ET/PT as Dr. Dimitri Christakis, director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, discusses with Anderson Cooper the evolving digital age children are growing up in today and how his research hopes to uncover the impact this new era has on a child’s developing mind.
Luis Populin and UW–Madison collaborators published a study this week in the Journal of Neuroscience describing increased connections between key parts of the brains of monkeys who have taken methylphenidate (Ritalin).
When infants are playing with objects, their early attempts to pay attention to things are accompanied by bursts of high-frequency activity in their brain. But what happens when parents play together with them? New research, publishing December 13 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, by Dr Sam Wass of the University of East London in collaboration with Dr Victoria Leong (Cambridge University and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) and colleagues, shows for the first time that when adults are engaged in joint play together with their infant, their own brains show similar bursts of high-frequency activity. Intriguingly, these bursts of activity are linked to their baby’s attention patterns and not their own.
A new tool, developed by researchers from the University of Adelaide, will assist clinicians to assess people suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD).
Researchers find that patients with severe, refractory schizophrenia benefit from targeted cognitive therapy, improving auditory and verbal outcomes and the way they process information.
Older adults who take up drawing could enhance their memory, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Waterloo found that even if people weren't good at it, drawing, as a method to help retain new information, was better than re-writing notes, visualization exercises or passively looking at images.
The study of creativity has a long history. Creative people include those who have the potential to offer progressive ideas, modernize, and implement innovations. Over 16 years, South Ural State University researchers have kept track of the pupils of a Chelyabinsk lyceum.
Using a larger dataset than all previous studies on the subject combined, researchers found a small but significant connection between brain size and cognitive performance
An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of Cyprus and University of California San Diego School of Medicine, have identified a previously unknown, large-scale association between molecular gene expression activity in blood leukocyte cells and altered neural responses to speech in toddlers with autism as measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging.
When it comes to helping infants learn to talk, it’s not just how much parents say, but how they say it. Speaking directly to the baby with a style of speech known as “parentese” — talking slowly and clearly, often with exaggerated vowels and intonation — appears to improve infant language development. A new study from the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) shows that parents who learn how and why to speak parentese can have a direct impact on their children’s vocabulary.
Scientists from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified gene recombination in neurons that produces thousands of new gene variants within Alzheimer’s disease brains. The study, published today in Nature, reveals for the first time how the Alzheimer’s-linked gene, APP, is recombined by using the same type of enzyme found in HIV.
Killer whales display personality traits similar to those of humans and chimpanzees, such as playfulness, cheerfulness and affection, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
Warmer temperatures are pushing mountain-dwelling birds ever higher as they try to stay in their comfort zone. That's the conclusion of a group of scientists who retraced the steps of a 1985 expedition in the Peruvian Andes and documented how birds had shifted in the intervening 30 years. The new study also shows that species that were already living on the ridge-top now have smaller ranges and some have disappeared altogether compared with the 1985 survey.
Rutgers researcher, who studies how exposures early in life shape our subsequent health and developmental trajectories, is available to discus plastic chemicals' impact on children's language.
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, have found that a rare gene mutation alters brain development in mice, impairing memory and disrupting the communication between nerve cells. They also show memory problems could be improved by transplanting a specific type of nerve cell into the brain. The findings were published today in Neuron.
Researchers have developed a new method—“Pixel Approximate Entropy”—that measures the complexity of a data visualization and can be used to develop easier to read visualizations. “In fast-paced settings, it is important to know if the visualization is going to be so complex that the signals may be obscured. The ability to quantify complexity is the first step towards automatically doing something about this.”