Uncategorized

A large study of 800 adults shows that pragmatic language skills—the ability to understand sarcasm, indirect requests, tone, and nonliteral meaning—organize into three distinct cognitive clusters. These clusters draw on social-rule knowledge, understanding of how the physical world works, and sensitivity to speech intonation.​ 

A new study proposes that autism arises when genetic vulnerability, an early environmental trigger, and prolonged activation of the cellular stress response align during critical developmental windows. This “three-hit” metabolic model reframes autism as a disorder of disrupted cellular communication and energy metabolism rather than an inevitable genetic outcome.​ 

A new study shows that integrating artificial intelligence with advanced proximity and pressure sensors allows a commercial bionic hand to grasp objects in a natural, intuitive way—reducing cognitive effort for amputees. By training an artificial neural network on grasping postures, each finger could independently “see” objects and automatically move into the correct position, improving grip

Changing levels of the brain protein KCC2 can alter how reward associations form, reshaping the learning process that links cues to outcomes. Reduced KCC2 activity increased dopamine neuron firing and strengthened new cue–reward connections, offering insight into how addictions and maladaptive habits develop.​ 

A new study shows that the newspapers people read are strong predictors of their automatic, unconscious biases toward autism—even after accounting for age, education, political views, and personal experience. Readers of right-leaning tabloid outlets showed more negative automatic biases, reflecting the more stereotyped and less frequent coverage of autism in these publications.​ 

A new nationwide analysis shows that getting fewer than seven hours of sleep a night is one of the strongest predictors of shorter life expectancy across U.S. counties. Sleep sufficiency outperformed other behavioral factors—including diet, exercise, and loneliness—with only smoking showing a stronger association.​ 

A new study shows that abstinent smokers experience heightened pain sensitivity linked to altered activity in specific brain regions. Compared to nonsmokers, abstinent smokers required more postoperative pain relief—especially opioids—and their pain sensitivity increased the longer they remained nicotine-free.​ 

A new study shows that abstinent smokers experience heightened pain sensitivity linked to altered activity in specific brain regions. Compared to nonsmokers, abstinent smokers required more postoperative pain relief—especially opioids—and their pain sensitivity increased the longer they remained nicotine-free.​  Read more at Cerebratech ​ 

A new study using advanced deep-learning brain age estimation shows that World Trade Center responders with PTSD exhibit signs of accelerated brain aging. Using BrainAgeNeXt, a model trained on more than 11,000 MRI scans, researchers found that responders with PTSD had “older” appearing brains than those without the disorder, especially among individuals with longer exposure

The human brain processes spoken language in a step-by-step sequence that closely matches how large language models transform text. Using electrocorticography recordings from people listening to a podcast, researchers found that early brain responses aligned with early AI layers, while deeper layers corresponded to later neural activity in regions such as Broca’s area.​