Regulatory epigenetic changes to genomic regions in the brain are essential for human cognition and mental health. Read More
Soccer players who feel anxious at the thought of kicking a penalty kick and who miss the goal show more activity in the prefrontal cortex. Overthinking the shot, researchers say, could play a role in missing a goal. Read More
Computer-generated, or virtual humans, prove to be just as good as humans in helping people practice leadership skills. Read More
Post mortem tissue samples of people with depression revealed a lower number of astrocytes in the brain. The findings add to the growing body of literature that implicates astrocytes in depression pathology. Read More
Promoting and maintaining a better gut microbial balance may help to protect against symptoms of anorexia in those with the eating disorder. Read More
Do you experience the chills when you hear your favorite song? Researchers used EEG to map brain activity while people listened to their favorite tunes. Findings reveal specific brain areas work together to process music, triggering the reward system and increasing dopamine release. Read More
Children who learn to play musical instruments have an edge over their non-musical peers when it comes to learning, memory, and attention. Those who learn musical instruments showed greater activity in the inferior frontal gyrus and the supramarginal gyrus, which are parts of the "phonological loop". The phonological loop is associated with working memory involved in auditory processing. Researchers say learning an instrument also has positive implications on creativity and quality of life overall for children. Read More
Couples who sleep next to one another have increased REM sleep and less disrupted sleep than couples who slept individually. Read More
Elevated pulse pressure in blood traveling to the brain causes inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in the blood-brain barrier that leads to brain damage. Read More
Gastrointestinal symptoms, coupled with a fever or history of exposure to COVID-19, could indicate coronavirus infection in children. Read More
Males who contract COVID-19 have 2.5 times the death rate of women. Being males is a significant risk factor for worse disease severity, regardless of age. Researchers found a similar trend in data from the 2003 SARS outbreak. The study speculates the reason why males are more prone to negative outcomes of coronavirus is due to levels of ACE2, which is significantly higher in males than females. Read More
If you're playing video games to help kill time during social distancing, you might be improving your visual attention abilities. Researchers found experienced gamers have faster information processing abilities and can allocate more cognitive power to individual visual stimuli. Playing video games can cause long-term changes in the brain and lead to improvements in temporal visual selective attention. Read More
