Inequality linked to differences in kids’ brain connections

Growing up in a socioeconomically disadvantaged household may have lasting effects on children’s brain development, a large new study suggests. Compared with children from more-advantaged homes and neighborhoods, children from families with fewer resources have different patterns of connections between their brain’s many regions and networks by the time they’re in upper grades of elementary school.
One socioeconomic factor stood out in the study as more important to brain development than others: the number of years of education a child’s parents have.

From mathematics to medicine: Wayne State medical school and mathematics faculty team up to apply complex mathematics to analyze fMRI data

Research led by a Wayne State University Department of Mathematics professor is aiding researchers in Wayne State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences in analyzing fMRI data. fMRI is the preeminent class of signals collected from the brain in vivo and is irreplaceable in the study of brain dysfunction in many medical fields, including psychiatry, neurology and pediatrics.

Virginia Tech scientists tie improved learning processes to reduced symptoms of depression

In a Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry study led by Pearl Chiu and Brooks King-Casas of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, brain imaging and mathematical modeling reveal previously unreported mechanistic features of symptoms associated with major depressive disorder.

New Study Exposes Potential Expansion Barriers to Functional MRI for Medicare Patients

A new Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute study found that functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) steadily increased from 2007-2014 but has now been static due to potential expansion barriers. This diagnostic imaging method is critical in determining brain functions as well as for assessing the potential risks of surgery or other invasive treatments of the brain. This American Journal of Neuroradiology (AJNR) study is the first of its kind to assess the nationwide adoption of fMRI.

Neuroscientists reveal the basis of confirmation bias

Neuroscientists at Virginia Tech, University College London, and the University of London revealed brain mechanisms that underlie confirmation bias — a phenomenon where people strongly favor information that reinforces existing opinions over contradictory ones.

The study, published this week in Nature Neuroscience, provides insight into a fundamental property of belief formation that has been documented by psychologists and economists, as well as in popular literature, including George Orwell’s “1984.”