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.
Tag: fMRI
Can Obesity and Stress Influence Appetite? New Johns Hopkins Study Shows It’s All In Your Head
In a series of experiments using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity across networks in the brain, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers looked at how stress might increase appetite in obese and lean adults.
Brain scans remarkably good at predicting political ideology
Brain scans of people taken while they performed various tasks – and even did nothing – accurately predicted whether they were politically conservative or liberal, according to the largest study of its kind.
Not So Great Expectations: Pain in HIV Related to Brain’s Expectations of Relief
Neuroimaging study reveals potential brain mechanism underlying chronic neuropathic pain in individuals with HIV. Findings may guide new clinical treatments targeting patients’ expectations for pain relief.
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.
What Does a Virtual Roller Coaster Ride Tell Us About Migraine?
When experiencing the ups and downs of a virtual roller coaster ride, people who get migraine headaches reported more dizziness and motion sickness than people who do not get migraines, according to a new study published in the July 7, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Study finds adolescents with autism may engage neural control systems differently
UC Davis Health researchers studying executive control in adolescents and young adults with autism have published new research that suggests a unique approach, rather than impairment.
Detecting ADHD with near perfect accuracy
A new study led by a University at Buffalo researcher has identified how specific communication among different brain regions, known as brain connectivity, can serve as a biomarker for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
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.”