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·July 14, 2025·3 min read

Friendship Synchronizes Brains

A new study reveals that close friendships can synchronize brain activity and influence decision-making, particularly in consumer behavior. Researchers found that friends evaluated products more similarly than strangers, with this effect strengthening as friendships deepened.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 7, 2025·1 min read

Positive Emotions Boost Memory

A new study shows that positive emotions can enhance memory, even for meaningless information. Researchers recorded brain activity as participants viewed neutral squiggles paired with positive, neutral, or negative emotional images.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 1, 2025·3 min read

Aging Brain May Adapt to Decode Tricky Social Cues

New research shows that older adults may compensate for age-related cognitive decline by enhancing activity in a specific brain region linked to attention—the locus coeruleus (LC). In a brain imaging study, older participants showed stronger LC responses when interpreting ambiguous facial expressions, compared to younger adults.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 30, 2025·3 min read

Brain Tracks Emotional Transitions Through Music

New research reveals how the brain navigates emotional transitions, using music as a tool to map changing neural patterns. Scientists found that emotional responses in the brain depend heavily on the listener’s prior emotional state.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 23, 2025·3 min read

Emotional Music Boosts Memory, But the Details Depend on You

Music has long been used to aid memory in conditions like Alzheimer’s, but how it works on the brain has remained unclear. A new study finds that the emotional intensity a person feels when listening to music determines which aspects of a memory are strengthened.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 16, 2025·3 min read

How the Brain Actively Removes Unwanted Memories

New research reveals that people can consciously remove specific information from their memories by dampening the brain circuits that initially stored it. In a recent study, participants were asked to forget one of two items and later tested on the remaining relevant memories.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 10, 2025·3 min read

Stress-Linked Brain Pathway Disrupts Sleep and Memory

New research reveals a stress-sensitive neural pathway that impairs both sleep and memory in male mice. Scientists activated neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, known for their role in stress response, which caused sleep loss and poor memory performance.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 27, 2025·3 min read

Amygdala Shapes Social Choices in Song-Learning Young Birds

Young zebra finches learn their birdsong by observing and imitating adult "tutor" birds, but they don’t follow just anyone. A new study shows that juvenile finches prefer tutors who sing longer but less often, suggesting social cues guide their choices.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·May 19, 2025·3 min read

When Sight Meets Sound: How the Brain Binds Audiovisual Memories

Our brains don’t just remember what we see and hear, they fuse the two into cohesive memories. A new study reveals that when visual and auditory speech cues are synchronized, they trigger rhythmic brain activity that strengthens memory formation.

This shows brains and the outlines of people.

Neuroscience

·May 12, 2025·3 min read

Histamine Alters Dopamine Differently in Male and Female Brains

Sex differences in neurological disorders like Tourette syndrome, schizophrenia, and ADHD may stem from how histamine affects dopamine in the brain. A new mouse study reveals that histamine decreases dopamine in males but increases it in females, with the female response influenced by the estrous cycle.

Featured Neuroethics Neuroscience

·May 6, 2025·3 min read

Bodily Awareness Guides Moral Decision-Making

New research shows that people’s sensitivity to their internal bodily signals influences how closely they align with group moral preferences in dilemmas. Participants who were more aware of their heartbeat and internal states tended to make ethical choices that matched the group consensus.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 29, 2025·4 min read

Brain Mechanisms Behind Why Some Individuals Are More Likely to Help

A new study explores why some individuals are more inclined to help others, finding key differences in brain activity and oxytocin signaling. In rats, those that helped distressed peers showed increased activation in empathy- and motivation-related brain regions.