Articles tagged with Cognitive Neuroscience
Research found that bilingualism can slow down age-related changes in the human brain, with longer language proficiency linked to improved conflict resolution skills. Bilingual speakers showed better performance in a flanker task, indicating enhanced inhibitory executive control.
Researchers found that mice with the Val89 gene variant exhibit attention deficit disorder-like problems, including diminished cognitive performance and increased vulnerability to distraction. The study provides direct evidence of the genetic variant's effects on acetylcholine availability and its resulting cognitive impacts.
Researchers at Kyoto University found that chimpanzees exhibit a preference for faces and skulls of their own species, similar to previous studies with African elephants. This suggests the presence of a face module in chimpanzee brains that detects and processes facial cues.
A study found a shift in the profile of specialized lipid mediators from pro-resolving to pro-inflammatory in patients with cognitive impairment, correlating with severity of cognition impairment. The researchers identified novel mechanisms of brain health and potential therapeutic targets for slowing down Alzheimer's disease onset.
Researchers discovered newborn neurons and immature astroglia in patients with epilepsy, which could lead to new anti-seizure medications. The study suggests that targeting immature astroglia may be an effective approach to controlling seizures without aggressive brain surgery.
A new study reveals that people who are resistant to vaccines often had adverse childhood experiences, including abuse and neglect. These early traumas can lead to a legacy of mistrust, causing individuals to view institutions and authority figures with skepticism.
Neural speech processing matures significantly in infancy, but certain abilities like sound discrimination still develop. A study found that children from birth to 2.5 years show varying levels of maturation in auditory skills essential for language learning.
A systematic review of animal studies suggests that regular caffeine consumption can increase attention and retention capacity in people with ADHD. The study found improved concentration, learning benefits, and memory improvements without adverse effects on blood pressure or body weight.
A new American Heart Association scientific statement finds that timely treatment can help avoid additional disability and health impacts in people with pre-existing disabilities or dementia. The statement also highlights the need for increased awareness of potential biases and improved patient-centered care.
A study found that older people are more positively reactive to emotional stimuli and better at reframing negative experiences into positives. Despite a decline in basal negative affect with age, participants were able to extract more positivity from given negative situations.
Researchers found that aesthetically appealing experiences trigger fast gamma waves after a one-second delay, indicating active meaning formation. Alpha waves were also observed, reflecting increased attention for high- or low-rated artworks.
Researchers Frans de Waal and Kristin Andrews highlight scientific evidence suggesting animals experience positive and negative emotions. Recognizing animal sentience is bound to complicate an already complex moral world.
A new study published in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders found that individuals with multiple sclerosis experienced increased depression, anxiety, and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research suggests that pandemic-related stress may exacerbate mental health issues in MS patients.
A recent study found that approximately 1 in 3 heart attack survivors experience significant mental decline in the days and months following their heart attack. Cognitive deficits can impact quality of life and treatment adherence, emphasizing the need for cardiologists to monitor patients regularly.
Researchers at the University of Iowa have identified a fundamental biochemical mechanism underlying memory storage, which is impaired in Alzheimer's disease models. The study reveals that restoring this protein folding mechanism reverses memory impairment in mouse models.
A new study finds that maternal feedback, not biological predisposition, influences reward-related brain activity in children of mothers with clinical depression. The research suggests that interventions coaching parents to encourage positive emotions may have a powerful impact on child development.
A study by HSE University and University of Basel found that the brain's pleasure centre is suppressed when resources are depleted, but responds differently to private and public resources. This understanding may help identify measures to preserve common natural resources.
The Mini2P allows for live imaging of thousands of neurons, recording complex behavior and cognitive functions in a naturally behaving animal. By mapping neural landscapes across the cortex, researchers can gain insights into high-resolution brain activity and function.
A study published by Boston University researchers reveals that social interactions can activate vivid memories and elicit emotional responses. The study found that animals' fear memories were enhanced by observing a stressed cage mate, but not by direct physical interaction.
A study of 181 long COVID patients found that seven in ten experience concentration and memory problems, with many performing worse than their peers on cognitive tests. Cognitive symptoms were more pronounced in people whose overall ongoing symptoms were more severe.
A study by researchers at the University of Quebec in Montreal found that mindfulness meditation can help people cope with internal conflicts. The experiment involved 121 volunteers who underwent either a mindfulness body scan or read magazines for 15 minutes, then completed a questionnaire about their emotional state.
Lindsay De Biase and Saul Villeda will investigate microglia-ECM interactions and caloric restriction's impact on the aged brain. The goal is to identify molecular pathways for therapeutic modulation of these interactions to preserve cognition.
Ben-Gurion University researchers found that participants overwhelmingly preferred virtual reality for short-term cognitive tasks, but split over the long term. A combination of both virtual reality and socially adaptive robots may be key to keeping people engaged in remote cognitive training.
Researchers at MIT and University of London found that collective electric fields produced by neurons provide a stable and consistent signal of information in working memory. This allows the brain to function even if individual neurons die or change.
A new study by Thomas Pepinsky challenges the idea that language shapes thought and behavior, finding no evidence that linguistic differences affect social and economic outcomes. The study reveals that statistical methodologies used in previous research are prone to producing false positives.
Researchers found that alpha oscillations are involved in two distinct processes: one related to observation accuracy and the other to internal representation of sensory events. Increasing or decreasing alpha speed and amplitude can independently modulate perception accuracy.
A study found that intact astrocyte networks are essential for neural homeostasis, synaptic plasticity, and spatial cognitive abilities in adult mice. Disrupting these networks impairs spatial learning and memory due to altered neuronal excitability and compromised synaptic transmission.
A pooled data analysis of 18 studies found that shift workers performed significantly worse than non-shift workers in five cognitive outcomes. The results suggest that shift work may increase the risk of workplace injuries and errors due to impaired brain function, particularly in impulse control and situational response.
Cedars-Sinai researchers identified two types of brain cells that divide continuous human experience into distinct segments, enabling the brain to recall memories. The discovery provides new hope for treatments of memory disorders like dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
A new MIT study found that lawyers' frequent use of long definitions in sentences makes legal texts difficult for non-lawyers to understand. Center-embedding, a common feature of legal writing, was the biggest contributor to comprehension difficulty. The researchers suggest reducing center-embedding and simplifying jargon to improve ac...
A new mathematical model developed by UCI researchers combines human and algorithmic predictions and confidence scores to improve AI accuracy. The hybrid model outperforms individual human or machine predictions, demonstrating the potential of human-AI collaboration in building smarter AI systems.
A comprehensive analysis of brain cellular composition across amniotes shows that mammals and birds have dramatically increased neuron numbers in the telencephalon and cerebellum, associated with higher cognition. The study suggests that only a handful of unique evolutionary events augmented brain processing power in these groups.
A study by researchers at the University of Waterloo found that higher education and advanced language skills can protect against dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment. Almost one-third of participants reverted to normal cognition, while over 80% never developed dementia.
A new study by EPFL researchers finds that stress during early adolescence leads to increased body fat and reduced sociability in males, but not females. The researchers identified a biological link between stress-induced fat gain and impaired brain function, specifically the NAD+/Sirtuin-1 pathway.
Adversarially robust models capture aspects of human peripheral processing, with results showing similarity in image transformations and perception alignment. The study's findings shed light on the goals of peripheral processing in humans and could help improve machine learning models.
Researchers at MIT and Harvard University applied cognitive science theories to human-robot interaction, finding that humans need to see variation in robot behavior to build accurate mental models. Theories suggest that strategic variation can reveal concepts that might be difficult for a person to discern otherwise.
Researchers investigated the association between acute respiratory failure in early childhood and long-term neurocognitive outcomes. The study found that children who experienced severe respiratory distress were more likely to have impaired cognitive function and behavioral problems later in life.
A new study by Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine found higher mortality rates among older adults with cognitive impairment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study showed a 24% increase in mortality for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and a 36% increase for nursing home residents with ADRD.
Research finds that subconcussive head impacts in youth football can impair cognitive brain function, particularly in attention and processing sensitivity. The study used brain vital signs to track changes in brain function over time, providing a predictive relationship between head impact exposure and cognitive impairment.
A large-scale study aims to understand how individual brains change over time, identifying factors that increase cognitive decline risk and those that confer resilience. The Adult Aging Brain Connectome study will follow 1,000 participants across a decade, collecting brain scans, blood samples, and demographic data.
A new study found that siblings of children with disabilities score higher in self-reported cognitive empathy than typically developing peers. This may be due to the specific 'advantage' of cognitive empathy in understanding and supporting their sibling relationship.
Researchers discovered a population of neurons in the auditory cortex that responds specifically to singing, but not speech or instrumental music. The study uses electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings to gain higher-resolution data, revealing fine-grained segregation of function within the auditory cortex.
Research reveals that the brain's electrical rhythms fluctuate between high precision and low precision states several times per second, affecting how relevant information is transmitted. Cross-frequency coupling enables selective attention by modulating the strength of different frequencies, while distinguishing between different type...
Researchers studied how diverse neural network training datasets impact generalization. They found that data diversity is key to overcoming bias, but also degrade performance when neural networks are trained for multiple tasks simultaneously. The study highlights the importance of designing diverse and controlled datasets in machine le...
Researchers at UC San Diego's Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind discovered that fruit flies possess more sophisticated cognitive abilities than previously known. Using virtual reality and real-time brain imaging, they found attention, working memory, and conscious awareness-like capabilities in flies.
A new study published in Neurology found that people with mild traumatic brain injuries are more likely to have cognitive impairment and cognitive decline one year after their injury. Researchers also discovered a link between poor cognitive outcomes and other symptoms like anxiety and lower life satisfaction.
Researchers studied 100 babies' eye movements and brain activity to reveal that by 4 months, they can categorize objects into animate or inanimate groups. This ability emerges early, with refined categories appearing between 10-19 months.
Researchers at Goethe University Frankfurt recorded brain waves of bats to understand how they filter out essential signals from echolocation calls and communication signals. The study shows that rare sounds elicit stronger neuronal responses than frequent ones.
A team of researchers from MIT created a comprehensive atlas of cerebrovascular cells in human brain tissue, identifying 11 subtypes and their functions. The study reveals differences between healthy and diseased cells, potentially leading to new targets for treating Huntington's disease.
A study tracking 425 patients post-COVID-19 found high prevalence of cognitive deficits, psychiatric impairments, and significant memory decline. Researchers observed no correlation between the severity of the disease or socio-economic factors with psychiatric alterations, suggesting a possible link to delayed inflammatory processes.
Researchers will test the effectiveness of WeCAN, a group-based treatment designed to teach long-lasting management skills to individuals with traumatic brain injury and dementia. The study aims to identify behavioral, neuroimaging, and blood biomarkers that correlate with treatment efficacy.
Scientists demonstrate a definitive link between mitochondrial oxidative damage and cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease using a transgenic mouse model. The study found that Aβ1-42 aggregation in the hippocampus caused cognitive impairment, while oxidation led to mitochondrial dysfunction.
A new study on the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) has found that group-level scores lack significance on an individual level. The normative study recommends a higher cut-off score for SDMT to accurately assess changes over time and predict disease progression.
A new study by Tohoku University researchers found that brain training with neurofeedback enhances cognitive functions, particularly episodic memory and working memory. The study, published in Brain Sciences, suggests that increased brain activity during training is key to unlocking its benefits.
Researchers developed a user-centered virtual reality system to engage stroke survivors with spatial neglect in intensive therapy, showing promising results. The system uses head-mounted displays and hand-tracking technology to deliver standardized treatment in an engaging environment.
As people age, their brains allocate more space to accumulated knowledge, making memory retrieval challenging. However, this prior experience can also enhance creativity and decision-making skills.
Researchers at Lancaster University have identified a genetic change that impacts insulin signaling and glucose metabolism in the brain, which may lead to effective drug treatments for autism. The study found that individuals with a specific DNA deletion are more likely to develop neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.
A Finnish twin study found that individuals with lower education are more susceptible to the negative effects of cardiovascular risk factors on late-life cognition. The study suggests that higher education can act as a cognitive reserve, helping to mitigate dementia risk.
Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have made a groundbreaking connection between the gut microbiome and cognitive decline in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease. Fecal implants induced significant behavioral and cognitive changes in mice, offering new avenues for treating or forestalling dementia.
A study from MIT and UC Berkeley found a relationship between Tsimane' individuals' counting ability and their success in matching tasks up to 25. The researchers suggest that representing exact quantities larger than four requires words for those numbers.