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Psychology

This shows a teen alone in a dark room with a cell phone, surrounded by emojis.

·September 9, 2025·5 min read

Loneliness Drives Teens to Seek Rewards

A new study reveals that adolescents are highly sensitive to even brief periods of social isolation, showing a sharp increase in motivation to seek rewards after just a few hours alone. This heightened drive can encourage reconnection but may also lead to risky behaviors if social contact isn’t available.

This shows the outline of a head and brain. Behind are two people fighting.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 8, 2025·2 min read

Aggression Is Contagious: Observing Violence Primes the Brain for Aggression

A new study shows that observing violence can make individuals more likely to act aggressively later, but the effect depends on familiarity. Male mice who watched familiar peers attack others became more violent afterward, driven by amygdala neurons that “prime” aggression.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 5, 2025·6 min read

Brain Structure Differences in Children with ADHD Discovered

Researchers tested a new MRI correction method, called the traveling-subject (TS) approach, to resolve inconsistencies in ADHD brain imaging results. By scanning the same healthy subjects across multiple MRI machines, they identified and corrected for measurement biases, producing more reliable data.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 4, 2025·5 min read

Astrocyte Disruption Tied to Depression After Childhood Stress

Researchers have shown that astrocytes in the lateral hypothalamus play a pivotal role in how stress shapes behavior, particularly after early-life adversity. In mice, stress led to smaller, less branched astrocytes and abnormal orexin neuron activity, with sex-specific patterns in activity levels.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 3, 2025·3 min read

Sex Shapes the Course of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

A large multicenter study has revealed that sex influences the course and characteristics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Women with schizophrenia tended to begin treatment later, while men with schizophrenia had the highest rates of substance use.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 2, 2025·6 min read

Chronic Stress Sends Immune Cells to Brain, Driving Depression

A new study shows that chronic stress causes immune cells called neutrophils to leave bone marrow in the skull and collect in the brain’s protective membranes, where they contribute to depressive symptoms. In mice, blocking an immune “alarm” pathway reduced these cells and improved mood-related behaviors.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 1, 2025·2 min read

Depression Disrupts Learning to Avoid Unpleasant Events

Depression specifically impairs the ability to learn how to actively avoid unpleasant events, though it does not affect avoidance behavior once learned. Researchers tested 465 participants across a range of depressive symptoms in a task adapted from rodent research, involving sounds and visual cues.

This shows a map, half Is red and covered in negative emojis, the other is blue and covered with positive emojis, symbolizing the effect heat has on mood.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 31, 2025·6 min read

Extreme Heat Makes People More Negative

A large-scale global study shows that extreme heat affects not just our bodies, but also our emotions. Researchers analyzed over a billion social media posts and found that when temperatures exceeded 95°F (35°C), expressed sentiments became more negative, particularly in lower-income countries where effects were three times stronger.

This shows a person listening to music with the outline of other people in the background.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 30, 2025·6 min read

Music Sparks Social Imagination and Eases Loneliness

A large-scale study with 600 participants shows that music can genuinely evoke feelings of companionship by sparking social imagination. When participants listened to folk music, they imagined vivid social scenes such as being with friends, even when lyrics were removed.

This shows the outline of a woman, pills, and "negative memories" flowing from her head.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 29, 2025·5 min read

Hormonal Contraceptives Influence Memory of Emotional Events

A new study reveals that hormonal contraceptives may shape both emotional responses and memory processing in women. Compared with naturally cycling women, users of hormonal birth control had stronger emotional reactions and remembered fewer details of negative events when using regulation strategies like distancing or reinterpretation.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·August 28, 2025·4 min read

Brain Cells Behind Depression Identified

Researchers analyzing post-mortem brain tissue found two cell types altered in people with depression: excitatory neurons that regulate mood and stress, and microglia that manage inflammation. The findings highlight how depression is tied to measurable brain changes, not just emotional symptoms.

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Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·August 28, 2025·3 min read

The Midlife “Unhappiness Hump” Has Vanished, But at a Cost

A new large-scale study finds that the long-observed “unhappiness hump,” where mental distress peaked in midlife, has disappeared. Instead, younger people now report the highest levels of anxiety, depression, and stress, with ill-being declining across the lifespan.