Neuroscience News - AI, Neuroscience, Psychology Research

·May 14, 2025·5 min read

Eureka Moments Double Memory by Rewiring the Brain

New brain imaging research reveals that sudden “aha!” moments not only feel satisfying but actually restructure how the brain stores information, enhancing long-term memory. Participants solving visual puzzles were more likely to recall solutions that came to them in a flash of insight than those they reached methodically.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·May 14, 2025·5 min read

Tiny Gene Fragment Key to Memory Revealed

Researchers have discovered that a nine–amino acid microexon spliced into the DAAM1 gene is critical for memory formation, functioning exclusively in neurons. Deleting this microexon in mice resulted in fewer synaptic spines—essential structures for learning and memory—and caused a 40% decline in memory performance.

Featured Neuroethics Neuroscience

·May 14, 2025·4 min read

Does AI Have Free Will? New Study Says We’re Getting Close

A new study argues that some generative AI agents meet all three philosophical criteria for free will: agency, choice, and control. Drawing from theories by Dennett and List, researchers examined AI agents like Minecraft’s Voyager and fictional autonomous drones, concluding that they exhibit functional free will.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 14, 2025·4 min read

Incel Culture Links Work Avoidance to Group Loyalty

A new study reveals that many self-identified incels reject employment not only due to mental health challenges, but as a deliberate expression of identity reinforced by online communities. By analyzing over 1,200 forum posts, researchers found that incel spaces often celebrate unemployment and isolation as signs of ideological purity, pressuring others to remain disengaged from work or education.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 14, 2025·4 min read

Stress of Long Work Hours May Physically Alter the Brain

Preliminary research suggests that working more than 52 hours per week may physically alter brain regions involved in emotional regulation, memory, and decision-making. MRI scans from healthcare workers revealed increased grey matter volume in key areas like the middle and superior frontal gyri and the insula.

This shows a brain and people looking with disgust at a steak.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 14, 2025·5 min read

Disgust, Not Taste, Drives Vegetarian Meat Avoidance

A new study finds that vegetarians reject meat with the emotion of disgust, rather than simple distaste, mirroring the strong aversion meat-eaters feel toward taboo foods like human flesh or feces. In contrast, disliked vegetables like beets or sprouts are typically rejected due to distaste—an aversion based on taste or texture.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 14, 2025·6 min read

New Insights Into Why Stress Is So Hard to Treat

A new review reveals key differences in how stress hormone systems function in primate versus rodent brains, offering insight into why treatments for stress-related disorders often fail in humans. Researchers found that corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) interacts with dopamine circuits in more complex and widespread ways in primates, with dopamine neurons often releasing multiple neurotransmitters.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 13, 2025·5 min read

Chronic Illness Combinations Double Depression Risk

A new study reveals that people with multiple chronic physical conditions face a significantly higher risk of developing depression, especially when conditions like heart disease and diabetes co-occur. Researchers analyzed health data from over 142,000 adults and found that certain multimorbidity profiles more than doubled the chance of a depression diagnosis within 10 years.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 13, 2025·5 min read

Soft Robots Learn to Grasp with Human-Like Flexibility

A new study reveals how a soft, compliant robotic hand—built with silicone skin, springs, and bendable joints, can self-organize grasps without needing precise environmental data or complex programming. The ADAPT hand succeeded in grasping 24 different objects with a 93% success rate using only four programmed motions, adapting naturally through mechanical flexibility.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 13, 2025·6 min read

Hormone Cycles Reshape the Brain and Boost Learning

A new study reveals that natural hormone fluctuations during the estrous cycle dramatically alter neuron structure and activity in the mouse hippocampus, a brain region key to learning and memory. Using advanced laser microscopy, researchers observed that high estrogen levels increase dendritic spine density and enhance signal propagation in neurons—both critical for synaptic plasticity.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·May 13, 2025·5 min read

How the Brain Links Sound to Meaning

A new study has mapped how the brain retrieves words during speech, identifying two distinct but overlapping networks in the prefrontal cortex. Researchers used high-resolution electrocorticography in 48 patients to reveal that semantic processing and articulatory planning occur in neighboring yet functionally distinct regions.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 13, 2025·4 min read

Social Status Shapes Addiction Risk Through Dopamine Circuitry

A new study reveals how social rank influences addiction vulnerability by altering dopamine pathways in the brain. Low-ranking male mice showed stronger reward signals and weaker control circuits, making them more prone to seek methamphetamine, while high-ranking mice had better balance and resistance.

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