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Neuroscience News is an independent open access science magazine. Since 2001, we have featured neuroscience research news from labs, universities, hospitals and news departments around the world. Topics include brain research, AI, psychology, neuroscience, mental health and neurotech.

Latest Neuroscience News

Science news articles cover neuroscience, neurology, psychology, AI, mental health, robotics, neurotechnology and cognitive sciences.

Thrill Fatigue: How Dopamine Devalues Repeated Rewards

New research shows that the same dopamine receptor mechanism responsible for drug addiction also governs the natural decline in motivation when we repeat rewarding behaviors. By studying male fruit flies, researchers found that dopamine acting through the D2 receptor promotes persistence during mating, but repeated experiences cause these receptors to desensitize.

AI Interviews Outperform Standard Mental Health Rating Scales

A new study demonstrates that an AI assistant can conduct psychiatric assessment interviews with greater diagnostic accuracy than widely used mental health rating scales. In a sample of 303 participants with confirmed psychiatric conditions, the AI assistant Alba provided DSM-based diagnostic suggestions after a brief conversational interview, outperforming rating scales in eight of nine disorders.

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Unexpected Superhero Cameos Make People Kinder

A new behavioral study demonstrates that sudden, unexpected events can significantly increase altruistic behavior in everyday environments. When a person dressed as Batman appeared on a Milan subway, passengers were nearly twice as likely to give up their seats to a pregnant woman compared to the normal routine condition.

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Language Emerged From Many Roots, Not Just One

A new framework argues that human language did not arise from a single evolutionary leap but from the convergence of many biological abilities and cultural processes. The authors highlight how speech learning, grammar formation, and social cooperation evolved along different paths before merging into the complex communication we use today.

The Brain Has a Dance Mode, And AI Just Mapped It

A team of researchers used a massive dance video dataset and advanced AI models to map how the human brain interprets dance, revealing striking differences between experts and nonexperts. By pairing fMRI recordings with AI-derived cross-modal features, they found that higher-order brain regions outperform simple motion or sound cues when processing choreography.

Neurology News Articles

Neurology news articles cover neurology, brain cancer, traumatic brain injuries, neurosurgery, neuroanatomy, brain research and neurological disorders.

Lithium Fails to Slow Cognitive Decline in Alzheimer’s

A new meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials shows that lithium supplementation does not significantly slow cognitive decline in people with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease. While preclinical evidence suggests lithium supports resilience against amyloid and tau pathology, these benefits failed to translate to clinical outcomes using traditional lithium salts.

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Why Women Face Worse Long COVID

New research reveals that women with long COVID show distinct biological disruptions — including gut inflammation, anemia, and abnormal hormone levels — that may explain their heightened and persistent symptoms. These findings emerged from immune, biomarker, and genetic analyses in people one year after infection.

Low Income, Vision Loss, and Isolation Drive Dementia Risk

A new study reveals that people with lower incomes and those from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups carry a higher burden of modifiable dementia risk factors. Vision loss and social isolation were among the most significant contributors for those living below the poverty line, suggesting that better access to healthcare and community support could have major protective effects.

Alzheimer’s Drug Reduces Amyloid but Fails to Restore Brain Waste Flow

Researchers found that lecanemab, the Alzheimer’s drug designed to clear amyloid-β plaques, does not improve the brain’s waste clearance system in the short term. In a three-month study using MRI-based DTI-ALPS imaging, scientists observed no measurable recovery in glymphatic function after treatment.

Speaking Multiple Languages May Slow Down Biological Aging

A large-scale study of more than 86,000 Europeans found that speaking multiple languages may help slow biological and cognitive aging. Using artificial intelligence to assess “biobehavioral age gaps,” researchers discovered that multilingual individuals were over twice as likely to show signs of healthy aging compared to monolinguals.

AI News Articles

AI news articles cover science articles about artificial intelligence including ChatGPT, Bard, Dalle, neural networks, machine learning, LLMs, AGI and other AI related topics.

AI Models Form Theory-of-Mind Beliefs

Researchers showed that large language models use a small, specialized subset of parameters to perform Theory-of-Mind reasoning, despite activating their full network for every task. This sparse internal circuitry depends heavily on positional encoding, especially rotary positional encoding, which shapes how the model tracks beliefs and perspectives.

Brain Decoder Translates Visual Thoughts Into Text

A new brain decoding method called mind captioning can generate accurate text descriptions of what a person is seeing or recalling—without relying on the brain's language system. Instead, it uses semantic features from vision-related brain activity and deep learning models to translate nonverbal thoughts into structured sentences.

This shows a woman running while listening to music.

Adaptive Music Tech Makes Workouts More Fun, Helps People Stay Active

Researchers have shown that adaptive music systems that adjust tempo and rhythm to match a user’s movement can make exercise significantly more enjoyable and motivating. These personalized interactive music systems use real-time data from wearables to keep music aligned with walking, cycling, or weightlifting intensity, helping users stay in rhythm and maintain effort.

AI-Driven Brain Implant Brings “Two-Way” Artificial Vision Closer to Reality

Scientists have created an advanced visual neuroprosthesis that communicates bidirectionally with the brain, marking one of the biggest steps yet toward restoring functional vision. Unlike earlier devices, this closed-loop implant adapts in real time to neural activity, allowing the system and the brain to “learn” from each other.

AI Creates the Most Detailed 3D Map of the Human Brain Ever Made

A new AI-powered atlas called NextBrain allows researchers to visualize the human brain in unprecedented detail, down to hundreds of tiny subregions previously invisible on MRI scans. Built from 10,000 microscopic slices of post-mortem brains and aligned with AI, the atlas precisely maps 333 brain regions in 3D.

Psychology News Articles

Science research articles cover psychology, depression, mental health, schizophrenia, mental disorders, happiness, stress, PTSD, autism, psychiatry and therapy.

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Shocking Disparities: Women Face Higher Risk of ECT

A large international survey of 858 electroconvulsive therapy recipients found that women are twice as likely as men to receive ECT and experience more adverse effects. Women reported higher rates of memory loss, greater feelings of coercion, and more harmful emotional outcomes, often describing the treatment as retraumatizing.

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Cannabis Blunts Alcohol Cravings

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial shows that cannabis with active THC reduces immediate alcohol cravings and lowers drinking levels in heavy-drinking young adults. After smoking THC, participants not only drank less, they waited longer before taking the first sip and reported lower urges to drink.

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Maternal Stress Speeds Up Baby Teething

New research shows that infants whose mothers had higher cortisol levels during late pregnancy experience significantly earlier eruption of primary teeth. Babies of mothers with the highest cortisol levels had, on average, four more teeth by six months than those of mothers with the lowest levels.

Deep Brain Stimulation Promising for Severe, Resistant Depression

A new clinical trial shows that deep brain stimulation (DBS) improved symptoms in half of adults with treatment-resistant depression, with one-third reaching remission. Researchers found that theta-frequency brain activity in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) predicted how well each patient responded.

Rare ADHD Gene Variants Linked to 15-Fold Higher Risk

A massive international genetic study has uncovered rare, high-effect variants in three specific genes—MAP1A, ANO8 and ANK2—that dramatically increase the likelihood of developing ADHD. These variants, though extremely uncommon, strongly affect genes expressed in dopaminergic and GABAergic neurons, influencing brain development from fetal life onward.

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How Storytelling Style Shapes the Way the Brain Forms Memories

The way an event is described—through feelings or sensory detail—changes how the brain stores and recalls it. In this study, participants listened to stories that emphasized either conceptual details (thoughts and emotions) or perceptual details (sights and sounds).

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Brain Learning Power Peaks at Specific Times of Day

A new study reveals that the brain’s responsiveness and capacity for learning shift with the time of day, governed by molecules like adenosine that link metabolism, sleep, and neural signaling. Using optogenetics, researchers found that identical stimuli activated brain cells differently at sunrise versus sunset, suggesting that neuronal excitability and plasticity follow daily rhythms.

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Human Mind Prefers Simple Explanations Over Complex Truths

New research shows that people tend to prefer simple explanations even when complex ones are more accurate. The study found that individuals focus mainly on visible or known causes while neglecting hidden or absent ones, leading to oversimplified reasoning.

Rotating Brain Waves Help the Mind Refocus After Distraction

Neuroscientists have discovered that when the brain is distracted, coordinated “rotating” waves of neural activity help it steer back to focus. Using electrical recordings in animals, the team found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex synchronize in circular patterns—like starlings in flight—to recover from cognitive interruptions.

This shows an older lady listening to music.

Listening to Music After 70 May Cut Dementia Risk by Nearly 40%

Older adults who regularly listen to or play music may significantly lower their risk of dementia, according to a study of more than 10,800 people over age 70. Those who always listened to music showed a 39% lower risk of developing dementia and better memory performance, while those who played instruments had a 35% lower risk.

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