Executive Function

Stable home lives improve prospects for preemies

As they grow and develop, children who were born at least 10 weeks before their due dates are at risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder and anxiety disorders. They also have a higher risk than children who were full-term babies for other neurodevelopmen...
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A map of the brain can tell what you're reading about

Too busy or lazy to read Melville's Moby Dick or Tolstoy's Anna Karenina? That's OK. Whether you read the classics, or listen to them instead, the same cognitive and emotional parts of the brain are likely to be stimulated. And now, there's a map to prove it.
Neuroscientists at the Un...
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New study shows how autism can be measured through a non-verbal marker

A Dartmouth-led research team has identified a non-verbal, neural marker of autism. This marker shows that individuals with autism are slower to dampen neural activity in response to visual signals in the brain. This first-of-its kind marker was found to be independent of intelligence and offers ...
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Could estrogen help treat Parkinson's?

Researchers already knew that men and postmenopausal women have a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease than premenopausal women. Now, a recent study in mice concludes that estrogen may be responsible. The authors also hope that estrogen might form the basis of future treatments....
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Focus boosting drugs not worth the risks, studies warn

Many younger adults use focus boosting drugs without a prescription to help them study and stay on track with work. However, new research suggests that such drugs bring healthy adults very few — and only short-lived — benefits while placing their cognitive health at risk in the l...
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National Study Bolsters Case for Teaching 'Growth Mindset'

A student participates in an online survey about his beliefs about learning as part of an intervention designed to improve students’ academic mindsets.
—Photo and Vide...
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School readiness impaired in preschoolers with ADHD symptoms

Preschoolers with symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder are much less likely than other children their age to be ready for school, new research from the Stanford University School of Medicine has found.
The study, which will be published online July 21 in , is among the...
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Older adults: Daunted by a new task? Learn 3 instead

Learning several new things at once increases cognitive abilities in older adults, according to new research from UC Riverside.
UCR psychologist Rachel Wu says one important way of staving off cognitive decline is learning new skills as a child would. That is, be a sponge: seek new sk...
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New psychosis treatment targets genetic mutation instead of symptoms

A novel treatment that targets a specific genetic mutation could help alleviate the symptoms of psychosis, a new study finds.
Deborah L. Levy, Ph.D. — from the McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA — led the new study, the findings of ...
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How a unique gene mutation may drive autism

Which factors drive autism? This is a question to which researchers still have no answer. Now, a new study conducted in mice and assessing data from humans suggests that a unique genetic mutation may play a key role in early brain development, contributing to autism....
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