Summary: Infants who were later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at 24 months showed measurable differences in brain regions responsible for visual processing as early as six months of age, according to a new NIH-funded study. Source: NIH Researchers found that infants who went on to receive an ASD diagnosis at 24 months already … Read more

Summary: Not everyone remembers their dreams, and a new study explains why. Researchers found that dream recall is strongly influenced by a person’s attitude toward dreams, their tendency to mind-wander, and specific sleep characteristics. These factors together help explain why some people wake with vivid dream memories while others do not. People who place greater … Read more

Summary: New research shows that a single session of running heightens the brain’s responsiveness to food-related cues, even though it can temporarily reduce how hungry people feel. Researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) found that running increased activity in brain areas involved in attention, anticipating reward, and episodic memory when participants viewed images of … Read more

Summary: A new study finds that taking photos often enhances how much people enjoy their experiences. Source: APA. Contrary to the common assumption that stopping to take pictures detracts from enjoying an event, research published by the American Psychological Association indicates that people who photograph their experiences often report greater enjoyment than those who do … Read more

Summary: Research in experimental models suggests that a sudden drop or loss of the placental hormone allopregnanolone (ALLO) during pregnancy increases the likelihood that offspring will develop autism-like brain changes and behaviors. In these preclinical models, a single prenatal injection of ALLO prevented the brain abnormalities and social deficits linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). … Read more

Summary: An international team led by researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has identified how three previously uncharacterized genes contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders by disrupting the spliceosome, the cellular machinery that processes pre-mRNA. This discovery clarifies molecular pathways underlying developmental delay, intellectual disability and autism, and highlights potential targets for future therapies. Using … Read more

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Toronto report that a computer system can tell real from faked expressions of pain more reliably than human observers. The study, titled “Automatic Decoding of Deceptive Pain Expressions,” appears in the current issue of Current Biology. It demonstrates that machine-vision techniques can detect … Read more

Summary: Researchers have made a significant advance in understanding how obesity alters mitochondrial function. A new study shows that a high-fat diet causes mitochondria in fat cells to fragment into smaller, less efficient units through a process controlled by a single gene. Removing that gene protected mice from diet-induced weight gain, pointing to a potential … Read more

Summary: Researchers identify the FMNL2 gene as a link between cerebrovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Altered FMNL2 activity associated with vascular damage appears to impede the brain’s ability to clear toxic protein aggregates, potentially driving Alzheimer’s pathology. Source: Columbia University For more than two decades, clinical studies have shown that people with hypertension, diabetes, high … Read more

Summary: Understanding how the brain distinguishes new visual information from familiar scenes has long challenged neuroscientists. New research clarifies the mechanisms behind visual recognition memory (VRM), revealing how the brain prioritizes novel inputs and suppresses familiar ones. This study resolves prior conflicting results by showing that brief, pronounced bursts of neural activity—visually evoked potentials (VEPs)—mark … Read more