ScienceDaily: Mind & Brain News

Researchers have developed an approach to estimating when a person who is at high risk of Alzheimer's dementia but has no cognitive symptoms will start showing signs of cognitive decline. The approach is based on data from a single brain scan, combined with the person's age.

Researchers are using high-tech 3D facial scans to give us a better understanding of the genetic causes of autism.

Six stages of engagement in treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been reported by researchers based on a diverse study, inclusive of parents of predominantly racial and ethnic minority children with ADHD.

Researchers find that youth who witness the abuse of a brother or sister by a parent can be just as traumatized as those witnessing violence by a parent against another parent. Such exposure is associated with mental health issues like depression, anxiety and anger.

Once a scent is detected, different areas of the brain are activated. A team has recently discovered that structures of the olfactory sense work closely together with the brain's reward and aversion systems. This means that scents are processed not only by the olfactory center but also by regions responsible for emotions and valence determination.

Ground-breaking new research has discovered a likely cause of Alzheimer's disease, in a significant finding that offers potential new prevention and treatment opportunities.

Using light beads microscopy, researchers can now capture images of a vast number of cells across different depths in the brain at high speed, with unprecedented clarity.

Physicians prescribed opioids more often to their white patients who complained of new-onset low back pain than to their Black, Asian and Hispanic patients during the early days of the national opioid crisis, when prescriptions for these powerful painkillers were surging but their dangers were not fully apparent, a new study has found.

A new study investigates subthreshold depression, a more severe form of depression that includes not only sad mood, but also some of the other symptoms of depression, and reports that psychological interventions may have a modest, but significant effect on the treatment of this type of depression in adolescents.

Major league baseball players must decide whether and how to swing at a pitch based only on the first 10 to 20 percent of the ball's flight when there is still a lot of uncertainty about the pitch's speed and trajectory. How do they do it? New research finds that when confronted with uncertainty, humans generate a single motor plan that optimizes task performance. The research resolves a long-standing question about how the brain selects an action to execute when there is uncertainty about its ultimate goal, providing fundamental insight into motor planning in the nervous system.

The neurotransmitter dopamine influences the activity of a wide variety of brain areas. A deficiency of this substance can have drastic consequences: The death of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the substantia nigra - a particularly sensitive part of the brain - is what causes the core symptoms of Parkinson's disease. An international team has now investigated the role played by the transcription factor BCL11A in mice and human cells. If this important factor is missing, the neurons are even more sensitive and more likely to die. The researchers suspect that BCL11A plays a protective role for neurons.

A study analyzing over 15,000 individual synapses in macaques and mice found that primate neurons have two to five times fewer synapses in the visual cortex compared to mice -- and the difference may be due to the metabolic cost of maintaining synapses.

Scientists have discovered an important cause of stroke occurring in the womb or just after birth, paving the way for new treatments. The research identified that a low number of platelets (small blood cells known for enabling clotting) in babies, either in the womb or in newborns, could cause bleeding in the brain. These types of bleeds can lead to fatal strokes or permanent neurological conditions, such as cerebral palsy.

A new study suggests that even if monkeys do not realize they have received a visual signal, they still change their behavior using it.

Researchers have made a breakthrough discovery that could pave the way for the development of novel non-opioid painkillers (analgesics) to safely and effectively treat neuropathic pain.

While researchers have found that adding a shelter cat to the family can help lower stress and anxiety for children with autism, a new study shows that joining a family does wonders for the felines, too.