Behavior News

May 13, 2025

Top Headlines

Hormone Cycles Shape the Structure and Function of Key Memory Regions in the Brain

May 13, 2025 — Hormone levels fluctuate like the tides, ebbing and flowing according to carefully orchestrated cycles. These hormones not only influence the body, but can cross into the brain and shape the behavior ...

Discovery of Dopamine Receptors in a Previously Overlooked Part of the Brain Sheds Light on the Complex Circuitry for Anxiety and Depression

May 7, 2025 — Researchers have discovered distinct roles for two dopamine receptors located on nerve cells within the portion of the brain that controls approach vs. avoidance ...

Neuroscientists Pinpoint Where (and How) Brain Circuits Are Reshaped as We Learn New Movements

May 7, 2025 — Brain researchers have identified a bridge between the thalamus and the cortex as the key area that is modified during motor learning functions. They found that such learning does much more than ...

Birds Form Bonds That Look a Lot Like Friendship

May 7, 2025 — A study of starlings in Africa shows that they form long-term social bonds similar to human ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:46pm EDT

Spanking and Other Physical Discipline Lead to Exclusively Negative Outcomes for Children in Low And Middle-Income Countries

May 5, 2025 — Physically punishing children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has exclusively negative outcomes -- including poor health, lower academic ...

Our Ability to Recognize Objects Depends on Prior Experience

May 2, 2025 — New findings suggest neurons have much more functional dexterity than scientists previously ...

How a Smartphone App Could Transform Mental Health Care

Apr. 23, 2025 — Smartphones may often feel like a source of stress, feeding us an endless stream of bad news and social comparison. But what if they could also be the solution? A team of researchers believes they ...

Study Suggests Dance and Lullabies Aren't Universal Human Behaviors

Apr. 29, 2025 — Social singing and dance are often assumed to be hard-wired into the human condition; studies have supported the conclusion that these are common across cultures. But new research from an ...

Psychedelics Can Reverse Neuroimmune Interactions That Boost Fear

Apr. 23, 2025 — A new study suggests that fear and the immune system are connected in previously unknown ways. Researchers found that the immune system can influence stress and fear behaviors by changing how brain ...

Using ChatGPT, Students Might Pass a Course, but With a Cost

Apr. 22, 2025 — With the assumption that students are going to use artificial intelligence and large language models such as ChatGPT to do their homework, researchers set out to learn how well the free version of ...

How Dopamine Helps Us Learn to Avoid Bad Outcomes

Apr. 22, 2025 — Dopamine is the brain's motivational spark, driving us to chase what feels good, say scrolling another reel on social media, and steer clear of what doesn't, like touching a hot stove. But scientists ...

Father's Mental Health Can Impact Children for Years

Apr. 19, 2025 — Five-year-olds exposed to paternal depression are more likely to have behavioral issues in grade school, researchers ...

Groundbreaking Study Uncovers How Our Brain Learns

Apr. 17, 2025 — How do we learn new things? Neurobiologists using cutting-edge visualization techniques have revealed how changes across our synapses and neurons unfold. The findings depict how information is ...

Primate Mothers Display Different Bereavement Response to Humans

Apr. 15, 2025 — Macaque mothers experience a short period of physical restlessness after the death of an infant, but do not show typical human signs of grief, such as lethargy and appetite loss, finds a new study by ...

The Brain Learns to Filter out Distracting Stimuli Over Time

Apr. 15, 2025 — The human brain can learn through experience to filter out disturbing and distracting stimuli -- such as a glaring roadside billboard or a flashing banner on the internet. Scientists have used ...

A Visual Pathway in the Brain May Do More Than Recognize Objects

Apr. 15, 2025 — A new study questions the longstanding view that the visual system is divided into two pathways, one for object-recognition and the other for spatial tasks. Using computational vision models, ...

How Does Our Brain Regulate Generosity?

Apr. 14, 2025 — Are there areas of the brain, which regulate prosocial, altruistic behavior? Researchers have studied a very special group of patients and established that the 'basolateral amygdala' (part ...

Gestational Diabetes Linked to ADHD in Children

Apr. 14, 2025 — A new study has found children born to mothers who experienced gestational diabetes (GDM) during pregnancy are more likely to develop attention-deficient hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and externalizing ...

AI Models of the Brain Could Serve as 'Digital Twins' in Research

Apr. 9, 2025 — In a new study, researchers created an AI model of the mouse visual cortex that predicts neuronal responses to visual ...

Even Under Stress, Male-Female Pairs Had Each Other's Backs

Apr. 8, 2025 — When faced with a potential threat, mice often freeze in place. Moreover, when two animals are together, they typically freeze at the same time, matching each other's periods of immobility. In a ...

Brain's Own Repair Mechanism: New Neurons May Reverse Damage in Huntington's Disease

Apr. 7, 2025 — New research shows that the adult brain can generate new neurons that integrate into key motor circuits, findings that may point to a new way to treat neurogenerative ...

Molecules That Fight Infection Also Act on the Brain, Inducing Anxiety or Sociability

Apr. 7, 2025 — Scientists find the protein IL-17 that fights infection also acts on the brain, inducing anxiety or sociability. This adds to evidence that immune molecules can influence behavior during ...

Fear of Rejection Influences How Children Conform to Peers

Apr. 4, 2025 — The fear of rejection -- familiar to many children and adults -- can significantly impact how kids behave in their peer groups, according to new ...

Nurture More Important Than Nature for Robotic Hand

Apr. 3, 2025 — How does a robotic arm or a prosthetic hand learn a complex task like grasping and rotating a ball? Researchers address the classic 'nature versus nurture' question. The research ...

Thirst and Hunger Neurons

Apr. 3, 2025 — New research shines light on how the brain interprets nutritional and hydration needs and turns them into ...

Study Reveals How Alcohol Abuse Damages Cognition

Apr. 2, 2025 — For the first time researchers demonstrate in an animal how heavy alcohol use leads to long-term behavioral issues by damaging brain circuits critical for ...

How the Brain Evaluates Rewards

Apr. 2, 2025 — Researchers have gained a new understanding of how the brain processes reward and risk information. Neuroscientists show how nerve cells in the so-called amygdala not only encode the probability and ...

How Did the Large Brain Evolve?

Mar. 26, 2025 — Two specific genes that evolve exclusively in humans jointly influence the development of the cerebrum. Researchers have provided evidence that these genes contribute together to the evolutionary ...

How Movement Affects the Way the Brain Processes Sound and Sight

Mar. 26, 2025 — A research team has uncovered a fundamental principle of how the brain prioritizes vision and hearing differently depending on whether we are still or in motion. The study provides new insights into ...

Study Identifies Shisa7 Gene as Key Driver in Heroin Addiction

Mar. 26, 2025 — Researchers have found a unique molecular signature and genes in the orbitofrontal cortex associated with heroin-seeking behavior. A preclinical rodent model implicated a gene called Shisa7 as the ...

Repetitive Behaviors and Special Interests Are More Indicative of an Autism Diagnosis Than a Lack of Social Skills

Mar. 26, 2025 — People with autism are typically diagnosed by clinical observation and assessment. To deconstruct the clinical decision process, which is often subjective and difficult to describe, researchers used ...

Could an Arthritis Drug Unlock Lasting Relief from Epilepsy and Seizures? Promising Results in Mice

Mar. 25, 2025 — A drug typically prescribed for arthritis halts brain-damaging seizures in mice that have a condition like epilepsy, according to researchers. If the drug proves viable for human patients, it would ...

New Rules for the Game of Memory

Mar. 20, 2025 — New research on the hippocampus, a brain area essential for memory, suggests that new rules of synaptic plasticity best explain how brain activity continually reshapes the way memories are recorded ...

Insomniac Fruit Fly Mutants Show Enhanced Memory Despite Severe Sleep Loss

Mar. 20, 2025 — Fruit fly mutants that have severe sleep deficits perform better at olfactory learning and memory tasks, according to a new study. The paradox of enhanced memory despite sleep loss could be explained ...