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Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 23, 2025·7 min read

Long COVID Impairs Exercise Capacity and Cognition for Years

A study of nearly 1,000 people with post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) revealed that two-thirds still experienced significant symptoms, including reduced exercise capacity and cognitive performance, two years after infection. Persistent symptom clusters included fatigue, neurocognitive disturbances, and post-exertional malaise, with worse outcomes in individuals with obesity, lower education, or severe initial infections.

This shows an ape looking at a computer monitor.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Visual Neuroscience

·November 26, 2024·3 min read

Great Apes’ Gaze Reveals Human-Like Event Perception

Great apes track events involving agents and patients, like humans, suggesting shared cognitive mechanisms. When watching video clips, apes alternated their gaze between agents (e.g., a cat) and patients (e.g., a mouse), similar to adult humans, though apes paid more attention to background details.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·November 19, 2024·4 min read

Birth Spurs a Surge in Brain Connectivity

Brain imaging of fetuses and infants reveals a rapid increase in functional brain connectivity at birth, aiding adaptation to the external world. Researchers observed distinct growth patterns, with subcortical, sensorimotor, and superior frontal regions undergoing major reorganizations.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·November 14, 2024·4 min read

How Decision-Making Improves with Age

Adolescents are known for making less optimal, noisy decisions, but a recent study reveals that these tendencies decrease with age and are linked to improvements in complex decision-making skills. Researchers found that decision noise, or variability in choices, mediates age-related gains in goal-directed behaviors and adaptability.

This shows two heads and "paranormal" symbols.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·November 14, 2024·4 min read

Traditional Paranormal Beliefs Linked to Stress

Traditional paranormal beliefs, such as witchcraft and religious superstition, are linked to higher stress and reduced coping ability, while new age beliefs, like spiritualism and precognition, show no such link. Researchers used an improved scale to analyze responses from over 3,000 participants, revealing that traditional beliefs may reflect anxieties about external control. The findings highlight the psychological differences between belief types but cannot confirm cause-and-effect relationships.

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·October 31, 2024·4 min read

How Autistic Traits Influence Exploration and Learning

People with stronger autistic traits exhibit distinct and highly effective exploration patterns, according to a new study. These individuals tend to persist longer in curiosity-driven tasks, leading to better overall performance. In the study, participants with higher autistic traits explored consistently, even when faced with challenging learning environments, while those with lower traits engaged more briefly. This prolonged exploration allowed the higher-trait participants to achieve better learning outcomes.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·October 25, 2024·4 min read

Individual Reward-Seeking Predicts Nicotine Response

A new study finds that individualistic reward-seeking behaviors in mice can predict their responses to nicotine. Conducted in a semi-natural environment called Souris-City, the research observed how male mice developed distinct reward-seeking strategies when isolated from peers.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·October 3, 2024·2 min read

Faulty Brain Processes Behind Hearing Voices in Schizophrenia

A new study reveals that auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia may be caused by two faulty brain processes: a failed suppression of self-generated sounds and an overactive response to internal noises. The research showed that patients with hallucinations had a "broken" corollary discharge and an enhanced response to unintended sounds, compared to those without hallucinations. These findings suggest that future treatments for auditory hallucinations could target these disrupted processes.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·October 3, 2024·4 min read

Friendships Drive Happiness for Single Young Adults

A new study of single Americans aged 18 to 24 highlights the key role that satisfying friendships play in overall happiness. Researchers divided participants into five subgroups based on levels of happiness and five predictors: satisfaction with family, satisfaction with friends, self-esteem, neuroticism, and extraversion.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·October 2, 2024·3 min read

Humans Slow Speech to Help Dogs Understand

A new study reveals that humans naturally slow their speech when talking to dogs, which helps dogs better understand commands. Researchers analyzed speech rates and brain responses in 30 dogs and 27 humans across five languages, finding that humans speak at around three syllables per second to their pets, compared to four syllables when talking to other humans.

This shows a depressed woman sitting in a room with sunlight coming through the window.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 25, 2024·4 min read

How Sunlight Affects Depression and Activity Levels

A new study has revealed a link between sunlight exposure, physical activity, and depression using wrist-based activity sensors. Over two weeks, researchers found that individuals with depression had lower physical activity levels, especially in shorter daylight periods, compared to those without depression.

Featured Neuroscience Pain

·September 24, 2024·3 min read

Dopamine Not Essential for Placebo Effect in Pain Relief

New research reveals that dopamine is not directly responsible for the formation of placebo analgesia, contrary to previous beliefs. In a study with 168 participants, altering dopamine levels did not affect positive treatment expectations or pain relief.