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Anxiety is an emotion that is central to human experience which can also cause immense suffering for millions of children and adults when it goes awry. A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience looked at the biological roots of anxiety. “Anxiety disorders are the most common family of mental illnesses, and they impose a staggered burden on global public health and the economy,” study author Alexander J. Shackman told us. [More]

Vitamin D is one of the most common nutrient deficiencies in the US and around the world. It can be challenging to get adequate Vitamin D from the diet, and not everyone produces enough Vitamin D in their skin to make up for this gap. A new study published in the Journal of Nutrition looked at pregnancy, nutrition, and Vitamin D. [More]

Did you know that adults need an average of seven to nine hours of sleep per day and that adolescents need eight to ten hours? According to statistics from the Institute of Medicine, American adults and teens aren’t getting enough sleep. How does lack of sleep or sleep deprivation affect our brain’s reward system? An average of 50-70 million American adults have a sleep disorder. The most common sleep disorder is insomnia. Approximately 30 per cent of American adults say they have experienced short term insomnia while 10 per cent say they experience chronic insomnia. A new study published in eNeuro looked at sleep-deprivation and rewards using mice and cocaine. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Nature looked at neurons, values, and our economic choices. “The behavior we engage in, for example, when we are sitting in a restaurant and contemplating the menu,” study author Dr. Camillo Paoda-Schioppa told us. “Let’s say that there are two options – pizza or burger. How do we make that choice?” Fifteen years ago, research in neuroscience demonstrated that values are real, in the sense that neurons in the brain compute and represent the values assigned to the various options. That result was a breakthrough, and a large number of studies subsequently confirmed the initial findings. However, it remained unclear whether and how neurons encoding values directly participate in the choice process. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Nature Communications looked at social cues and the b [More]

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America looked at the brain and impulsiveness. “In this study we investigated how the locus coeruleus (LC), the main source of norepinephrine (NE) in the brain, regulates attention and impulsivity,” study author Andrea Bari told us. “These cognitive functions are essential in everyday life and found to be impaired to various degrees in several pathologies, most prominently in children with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).” [More]

Are you a great multitasker? According to research studies, only two per cent of the population is actually proficient at multitasking. Considered an asset, especially in the workforce, studies are now finding that multitasking actually accounts for a 40 per cent drop in productivity, costing the U.S. economy $650 billion annually. It also results in a 10 per cent drop in IQ. But there are some of us that can do it successfully. So what makes the two per cent of the population who can multitask efficiently different from the rest of us? A new study published in eNeuro looked at the brain and multitasking to get a better sense of where in the brain these functions occur. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry looked at maternal prenatal body mass index (BMI) and human fetal brain development. “Given knowledge that the physical well-being of a mother during pregnancy is important for the long-term brain health of her child, we sought to discover whether and how maternal BMI may relate brain development in the womb,” study author Moriah E. Thomason told us. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Biological Psychiatric looked at the association between early neural activity and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). “We wanted to characterize early brain differences that can be detected before the behavioral signs of autism emerge,” study author Dr. Abigail Dickinson told us. [More]

A new study published in the American Academy Journal of Neurology aimed to demonstrate the clinical efficacy of brain-computer interface (BCI) training in the treatment of phantom limb pain. "Previously, phantom limb pain had been treated by mirror therapy which uses a mirror to create an illusion of the phantom hand," study author Takufumi Yanagisawa told us. Yanagisawa is a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Co-creation Studies at Osaka University. [More]