Feature Channels: Cognition and Learning

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In research published in Nature Mental Health this month, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis outline the intermediate biological steps that could play into how prenatal cannabis exposure leads to behavioral issues down the line.

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Ever wondered why you performed worse than expected in that final university exam that you sat in a cavernous gymnasium or massive hall, despite countless hours, days and weeks of study? Now you have a genuine reason – high ceilings.

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Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have uncovered a brain circuit in primates that rapidly detects faces. The findings help not only explain how primates sense and recognize faces, but could also have implications for understanding conditions such as autism, where face detection and recognition are often impaired from early childhood.

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A new study found that school-aged children who consumed more isoflavones from soy foods exhibited better thinking abilities and attention. These findings pave the way for future research aimed at unraveling how soy foods can positively impact children's cognitive abilities.

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Eating a high-quality diet in youth and middle age could help keep your brain functioning well in your senior years, according to new preliminary findings from a study that used data collected from over 3,000 people followed for nearly seven decades.

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Researchers agree that alcohol use can produce global and regional tissue volume changes in the brain, and that excessive alcohol use is associated with dementia and cognitive decline. A new study has examined the relationship between Alzheimer disease – the most common type of dementia – and alcohol use disorder (AUD), discovering biomarkers that link the two.

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People with severe alcohol use disorder tended to have greater difficulty forming new social memories. And, while they had better immediate recall of positive than negative social cues, for longer-term memories, they tended to remember more negative experiences than positive ones.

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Early memory loss has been linked to wealth loss, but research has mostly focused on investments. Four years ago, Wayne State University clinical geropsychologist Peter Lichtenberg, Ph.D., wondered what clues might be found in an older person’s financial decisions to indicate their vulnerability to financial victimization.

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"Reading Rainbow" was one of the most successful PBS children's series in television history, earning numerous national and international awards, including 26 Emmys and a Peabody Award. But perhaps more important, "Reading Rainbow" helped generations of children cultivate a love for books. Now, a new book co-authored by Canisius Professor Barbara Irwin, PhD, chronicles the humble beginnings of the TV series, which launched in Buffalo, NY - and how the groundbreaking program came to capture the attention of 6.5 million young viewers.

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In a new study published this week, researchers at the University of South Australia highlight the urgency of ensuring young victims of serious child abuse or neglect get the support they need prior to school commencement so that that can be as close to developmentally on track as possible.

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A study led by linguists from the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has found that early linguistic signs of dementia can be detected through the study of the natural speech of senior Singaporeans. The novel study revealed that participants with memory-related mild cognitive impairment spoke less and used fewer, but more abstract, nouns that is consistent with the speech pattern of Alzheimer’s patients.

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Management consultants and professors seem to be obsessed with visuals. When it comes to strategy, they either pull out their impeccable slides, replete with graphics, or they pick up a marker to sketch out their own frameworks on a whiteboard. This phenomenon has piqued the interest of Felipe Csaszar, professor of strategy.

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Thousands of American teens and their families are helping scientists learn more about the growth and development of the brain and its impacts on behavior, mental health and much more, through a national study called ABCD that also includes thousands of other young people nationwide.

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The underdiagnosis of dementia, especially among Black and Hispanic patients, is a long-standing challenge in medicine.

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Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and others have identified a neurodevelopmental disorder, caused by mutations in a single gene, that affects tens of thousands of people worldwide. The work, published in the May 31 online issue of Nature Medicine [DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-03085-5], was done in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Bristol, UK; KU Leuven, Belgium; and the NIHR BioResource, currently based at the University of Cambridge, UK. The findings will improve clinical diagnostic services for patients with neurodevelopmental disorders.

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A new University of Washington study, published May 21 in Developmental Science, is the first to compare the amount of music and speech that children hear in infancy. Results showed that infants hear more spoken language than music, with the gap widening as the babies get older.