Author: dispatchtimes news

A new international study reveals that puberty and pregnancy trigger similar widespread reductions in cortical gray matter, while the menopausal transition appears to pause rather than accelerate age-related brain changes. The research, conducted by Sophie R. van ’t Hof and colleagues at Amsterdam University Medical Center, analysed brain scans from three distinct female life stages to map shared and unique patterns of brain plasticity. The work draws on cohorts from the UK Biobank and involved more than a thousand participants overall, with each group representing puberty, pregnancy and menopause. Gray matter, the brain tissue rich in nerve cell bodies and…

A Mayo Clinic team has repurposed the antidepressant paroxetine to boost a measles virus–based immunovirotherapy for glioblastoma in mice, producing stronger immune responses and longer survival in the study published in Molecular Therapy: Oncology. The researchers, led by Evanthia Galanis and including Georgios Stergiopoulos, Susanna Concilio, Kim Viker, Susan Clark, and Steven Robinson, aimed to overcome the brain tumour’s suppression of the body’s immune defences. Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive primary brain cancer in adults, notorious for creating an environment that traps white blood cells within the bone marrow, preventing them from reaching the tumour in the brain.…

A landmark study drawing on the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study suggests that a child’s neighbourhood and socioeconomic background shape the brain’s developing function and structure more powerfully than any other behavioural or environmental factor. The research, led by Scott Marek of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, found that patterns of brain activity once thought to signal innate intelligence may actually reflect socioeconomic status, likely driven by environmental stressors such as sleep deprivation. For years, neuroscientists have attempted to map single human traits to brain imaging data. This team sought to evaluate how a vast array of…

Romantic couples tend to share far more similar musical tastes than their personality traits or personal values, a three-study project suggests, with this musical alignment linked to modestly higher relationship tenderness. The research, drawing on 309 pairs from Germany and Austria, indicates that music preferences may outshine personality in predicting how connected partners feel. Musical preferences go beyond entertainment; they reflect a person’s psychological makeup, emotional regulation and personal identity, the researchers say. Music is routinely used as a social signal to communicate who someone is, and the studies position taste in artists and genres as a meaningful social attribute…

A new international analysis using the World Values Survey data from 2005 to 2022 suggests that higher education drives a global cultural alignment with WEIRD countries—the Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic states. The researchers, Cindel J. M. White and Michael Muthukrishna, report that those with more schooling are more similar to the United States and other WEIRD nations, a pattern observed across 95 countries and nearly 269,000 participants. The work comes amid longstanding concerns that psychological research over-relies on Western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic populations, often sourced from university settings. The WEIRD label has become shorthand for groups…

A new US study has found that shared book reading at home is linked to stronger language skills in young autistic children, while screen time shows no clear association with language abilities. The research, published in Autism Research, suggests that reading together may help explain why children from higher‑income families tend to display stronger communication skills, although it does not indicate that screen use harms or helps development on its own. Language development among children on the autism spectrum varies widely. Autistic individuals experience a broad spectrum of language outcomes, from delays in spoken language to skills that rival or…

A 10-minute session of watering indoor plants produced measurable health benefits for a group of older women in Shanghai, lowering blood pressure and reducing anxiety compared with a computer-based leisure activity. The trial, conducted with 100 participants and published in the Hong Kong Journal of Occupational Therapy, compared tending plants with playing Klondike Solitaire on a computer and found distinct physiological and psychological advantages for horticultural activity. The study took place in a nursing care facility in Shanghai, with participants averaging 68 years of age. All were in good physical health and without cognitive impairments. Researchers used a crossover design…

A landmark international study has found that subtle differences in the brain structure of people currently taking antidepressants are largely explained by the severity of their depression, rather than the medications themselves. The research, pooling data from 32 cohorts and involving almost 8,700 participants, also found age-related patterns, with younger patients showing distinct structural differences. The findings appear in Molecular Psychiatry. Major depressive disorder remains a leading cause of disability worldwide, and antidepressants are commonly prescribed to treat it, though the precise brain mechanisms at play are not fully understood. The new analysis sought to separate the effects of illness…

A new meta-analysis has found that lithium supplementation does not slow cognitive decline in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment. The study pooled data from six randomized, placebo-controlled trials involving 435 participants and found no significant cognitive benefit from commonly used inorganic lithium salts, such as lithium carbonate, compared with placebo. The research appears in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder characterised by memory loss, confusion and difficulties with daily tasks, underpinned by the accumulation of amyloid-beta plaques and tau tangles in the brain. Mild cognitive impairment represents an intermediate stage of…

A new piece of psychology research suggests that dark personality traits—specifically psychopathy and sadism—are linked to a broader endorsement of political violence, beyond any single side of the Israel–Hamas conflict. The study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, reports that these traits predict support for violent actions by both Israel and Hamas in two online studies conducted with European and British participants. In political psychology, researchers have long argued that people judge violence through the lens of group identity and ideology. When confronted with a highly polarised conflict, the expectation is that individuals support violence from one side while opposing…