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Neuroscience news

Psychology & Psychiatry

Do animals fall for optical illusions? What fish and birds can teach us about perception

Have you ever looked at two circles of exactly the same size and sworn one was larger? If so, your eyes have been tricked by the Ebbinghaus illusion, a classic example of how context can shape what we see. Place a circle ...

Neuroscience

Social media usage linked to lower cognitive performance in preteens

Increasing social media usage among children has been linked to a decline in cognitive performance. A JAMA study involving 6,554 adolescents aged 9–13 found that those who spent more time on social media scored lower in ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Missing molecule holds clues to Down syndrome

New research suggests a missing brain molecule may hold the key to understanding—and potentially treating—the faulty neural circuits seen in Down syndrome. Restoring the molecule, called pleiotrophin, could enhance brain ...

Health

Mapping overlooked challenges in stroke recovery

Researchers at the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital conducted one of the largest qualitative studies with stroke survivors and care partners within the United States to better understand what well-being ...

Neuroscience

'Kiss-shrink-run' mechanism resolves neurotransmission mystery

A research team has resolved a 50-year-old controversy in neuroscience. By employing a self-developed, time-resolved cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) technique, the team, led by Prof. Bi Guo-Qiang from the University of ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Why do we remember some life moments—but not others?

Some memories are easy to recall—lush with detail, fresh as the moment itself. Others are more tenuous, like faded sketches, and the most stubborn ones can refuse to resurface at all. Why do our brains enshrine some memories ...

Genetics

How a 'speech gene' could help treat Huntington's

In fatal genetic diseases like Huntington's and spinocerebellar ataxia, proteins develop long stretches of repeating letters that are prone to sticking together like Velcro.

Neuroscience

Astrocytes emerge as the unexpected conductors of brain networks

A collaborative French–Swiss study reveals a previously unknown role for astrocytes in the brain's information processing. Published in the journal Cell, the research shows that these glial cells are capable of integrating ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Groove is in the brain: Music supercharges brain stimulation

Music affects us so deeply that it can essentially take control of our brain waves and get our bodies moving. Now, neuroscientists at Stanford's Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute are taking advantage of music's power to synchronize ...