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brain development

·June 12, 2025·2 min read

Weekend Catch-Up Sleep Boost May Lower Teen Anxiety

A new study reveals that teenagers who get moderate catch-up sleep—up to two extra hours—on weekends report fewer symptoms of anxiety. Sleeping significantly more or less on weekends than on weekdays, however, was linked to higher anxiety levels.

This shows the outline of a child and a brain.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 12, 2025·6 min read

Childhood Trauma Rewires the Brain Through Inflammation

Childhood trauma doesn't just leave psychological scars—it biologically reshapes the brain through chronic neuroinflammation and structural changes, increasing vulnerability to psychiatric disorders later in life. New research shows that early adversity can reprogram immune responses, altering lifelong mental health outcomes.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 10, 2025·6 min read

Baby Talk Enhances Infant Speech Learning

A new meta-analysis confirms that adults exaggerate vowel sounds when speaking to infants, a feature known as vowel hyperarticulation in infant-directed speech (IDS). By analyzing 55 studies across at least 10 languages, researchers found consistent evidence for this speech pattern, though its strength varied depending on language, method, and sample size.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 5, 2025·2 min read

Family Time and Parental Bonding Linked to Better Sleep in Preteens

A new study reveals that strong family relationships and parental engagement are linked to longer, healthier sleep in children aged 9 to 11. Eating dinner together, planning the next day, and participating in community activities were among the habits most associated with sufficient sleep duration.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 3, 2025·7 min read

Infant Brain Wiring Predicts Emotional Growth Months Before It Shows

The brain’s white matter microstructure at just three months of age can predict how an infant’s emotions will develop over time. Using an advanced imaging technique called NODDI, scientists mapped the organization of neural pathways that govern emotional processing. They found that specific brain tracts were linked to increases in either positive or negative emotionality by nine months.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 3, 2025·3 min read

AI Links Early Life Risks to Behavioral Challenges at Age Five

A new study reveals that emotional and behavioral difficulties in five-year-old children can be predicted using prenatal and early-life risk factors, including maternal smoking, low birth weight, and lack of breastfeeding. Researchers used AI to analyze data from nearly 6,000 UK children, uncovering gender-specific vulnerabilities—boys were more impacted by smoking during pregnancy, while girls were more affected by early fussiness.

This shows people working at night and day.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 2, 2025·3 min read

Night Owls More Impulsive Than Morning Larks

A new study reveals that adolescents who identify as “night owls” tend to be more impulsive than their early-rising peers. These teens reported higher negative urgency and lower perseverance, meaning they were more likely to act rashly under stress and abandon difficult tasks.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 30, 2025·5 min read

Study Ties Racial Inequality to Psychosis in Young Adults

A new study finds that racial inequality and police violence may significantly contribute to higher rates of psychotic episodes in low-income young adults of color. While individual factors like trauma and drug use have long been studied, this research highlights the powerful role of structural oppression.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 30, 2025·3 min read

How Early Life Shapes the Adolescent Anxiety Surge

Adolescent anxiety is on the rise globally, and a new Perspective argues that its roots may begin long before birth. Researchers highlight how maternal stress, caregiving quality, and early environmental cues influence the development of brain systems that regulate emotion and executive function.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·May 29, 2025·7 min read

Singing to Infants Boosts Mood and Bonding

A new randomized study found that when parents sing more frequently to their infants, both babies and caregivers experience measurable improvements in mood and wellbeing. The study involved 110 caregiver-infant pairs who participated in a four-week music enrichment intervention via smartphone.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·May 27, 2025·6 min read

Early Autism Traits Show No Sex Differences in Toddlers

A large-scale study of over 2,500 toddlers found no significant clinical differences in autistic traits between males and females at the time of early diagnosis. Conducted over two decades, the study used comprehensive assessments across language, motor skills, cognitive traits, and social behaviors.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·May 24, 2025·7 min read

Scientists Decode Key Motions Behind Brain’s Transport

Cells depend on motor proteins like dynein to shuttle materials along microscopic highways, and dysfunction in these proteins can lead to serious neurological disorders. New research captured real-time, high-resolution “movies” of dynein being activated by its partner protein, Lis1, illuminating the step-by-step process.