Educational Psychology News

February 6, 2026

Top Headlines

Alzheimer’s Scrambles Memories While the Brain Rests

Feb. 1, 2026 When the brain rests, it usually replays recent experiences to strengthen memory. Scientists found that in Alzheimer’s-like mice, this replay still occurs — but the signals are jumbled and poorly coordinated. As a result, memory-supporting brain ...

Middle Age Is Becoming a Breaking Point in the U.S.

Feb. 1, 2026 Middle age is becoming a tougher chapter for many Americans, especially those born in the 1960s and early 1970s. Compared with earlier generations, they report more loneliness and depression, along with weaker physical strength and declining memory. ...

AI That Talks to Itself Learns Faster and Smarter

Jan. 28, 2026 AI may learn better when it’s allowed to talk to itself. Researchers showed that internal “mumbling,” combined with short-term memory, helps AI adapt to new tasks, switch goals, and handle complex challenges more easily. This approach boosts ...

Researchers Tested AI Against 100,000 Humans on Creativity

Jan. 25, 2026 A massive new study comparing more than 100,000 people with today’s most advanced AI systems delivers a surprising result: generative AI can now beat the average human on certain creativity tests. Models like GPT-4 showed strong performance on ...

The Hidden Health Impact of Growing Up with ADHD Traits

Jan. 24, 2026 A large, decades-long study suggests that signs of ADHD in childhood may have consequences that extend well beyond school and behavior. Researchers followed nearly 11,000 people from childhood into midlife and found that those with strong ADHD ...

Massive Brain Study Reveals Why Memory Loss Can Suddenly Speed Up with Age

Jan. 14, 2026 A massive international brain study has revealed that memory decline with age isn’t driven by a single brain region or gene, but by widespread structural changes across the brain that build up over time. Analyzing thousands of MRI scans and memory ...

Scientists Discover Why Mental Disorders so Often Overlap

Jan. 3, 2026 A massive global genetics study is reshaping how we understand mental illness—and why diagnoses so often pile up. By analyzing genetic data from more than six million people, researchers uncovered deep genetic connections across 14 psychiatric ...

ADHD Drugs Don’t Work the Way We Thought

Dec. 29, 2025 ADHD stimulants appear to work less by sharpening focus and more by waking up the brain. Brain scans revealed that these medications activate reward and alertness systems, helping children stay interested in tasks they would normally avoid. The ...

Anxiety and Insomnia Linked to Sharp Drops in Key Immune Cells

Dec. 15, 2025 Natural killer cells act as the immune system’s rapid-response team, but the stress of anxiety and insomnia may be quietly thinning their ranks. A study of young women in Saudi Arabia found that both conditions were linked to significantly fewer ...

The Brain Switch That Could Rewrite How We Treat Mental Illness

Dec. 13, 2025 Scientists exploring how the brain responds to stress discovered molecular changes that can influence behavior long after an experience ends. They also identified natural resilience systems that help protect certain individuals from harm. These ...

This Tiny Implant Sends Secret Messages to the Brain

Dec. 8, 2025 Researchers have built a fully implantable device that sends light-based messages directly to the brain. Mice learned to interpret these artificial patterns as meaningful signals, even without touch, sight, or sound. The system uses up to 64 ...

Scientists Find Hidden Layers in Brain’s Memory Center

Dec. 6, 2025 Scientists uncovered a surprising four-layer structure hidden inside the hippocampal CA1 region, one of the brain’s major centers for memory, navigation, and emotion. Using advanced RNA imaging techniques, the team mapped more than 330,000 genetic ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:09am EST

This Brain Discovery Is Forcing Scientists to Rethink How Memory Works

Feb. 3, 2026 A new brain imaging study reveals that remembering facts and recalling life events activate nearly identical brain networks. Researchers expected clear differences but instead found strong overlap ...

Why Some Memories Last a Lifetime While Others Fade Fast

Nov. 30, 2025 Scientists have uncovered a stepwise system that guides how the brain sorts and stabilizes lasting memories. By tracking brain activity during virtual reality learning tasks, researchers identified ...

Scientists May Have Found How to Reverse Memory Loss in Aging Brains

Nov. 5, 2025 Virginia Tech researchers have shown that memory loss in aging may be reversible. Using CRISPR tools, they corrected molecular disruptions in the hippocampus and amygdala, restoring memory in older ...

Scientists Find Mind Trick That Unlocks Lost Memories

Nov. 3, 2025 Researchers found that embodying a digital, childlike version of one’s own face helps unlock vivid childhood memories. This illusion strengthens the connection between bodily self-perception and ...

A Groundbreaking Brain Map Could Revolutionize Parkinson’s Treatment

Nov. 3, 2025 Duke-NUS scientists unveiled BrainSTEM, a revolutionary single-cell map that captures the full cellular diversity of the developing human brain. The project’s focus on dopamine neurons provides ...

Alarming Surge in Memory Problems Among Young Adults

Nov. 2, 2025 Cognitive struggles are climbing across the U.S., especially among young and economically disadvantaged adults. Rates of self-reported cognitive disability nearly doubled in people under 40 between ...

Scientists Suggest the Brain May Work Best With 7 Senses, Not Just 5

Oct. 8, 2025 Scientists at Skoltech developed a new mathematical model of memory that explores how information is encoded and stored. Their analysis suggests that memory works best in a seven-dimensional ...

Why the Brain’s GPS Fails With Age, and How Some Minds Defy It

Oct. 5, 2025 Stanford scientists found that aging disrupts the brain’s internal navigation system in mice, mirroring spatial memory decline in humans. Older mice struggled to recall familiar locations, while a ...

A Century-Old Piano Mystery Has Just Been Solved

Oct. 2, 2025 Scientists confirmed that pianists can alter timbre through touch, using advanced sensors to capture micro-movements that shape sound perception. The discovery bridges art and science, promising ...

Junk Food Can Scramble Memory in Just 4 Days

Sep. 29, 2025 Scientists discovered that high-fat junk food disrupts memory circuits in the brain almost immediately. Within just four days, neurons in the hippocampus became overactive, impairing memory. ...

This 100-Year-Old Teaching Method Is Beating Modern Preschools

Jan. 1, 2026 A first-of-its-kind national trial shows that public Montessori preschool students enter kindergarten with stronger reading, memory, and executive function skills than their peers. These gains ...

How the Brain Decides Which Moments You’ll Never Forget

Sep. 27, 2025 Boston University researchers found that ordinary moments can gain staying power if they’re connected to significant emotional events. Using studies with hundreds of participants, they showed that ...

Stress Measured in Hair Could Predict Depression and Anxiety in Children

Sep. 16, 2025 Researchers from the University of Waterloo discovered that measuring long-term stress through children’s hair samples can reveal early signs of mental health risks in those living with chronic ...

Sweeteners in Diet Drinks May Steal Years from the Brain

Sep. 4, 2025 A large Brazilian study following more than 12,000 middle-aged adults found that those consuming the most artificial sweeteners—commonly found in diet sodas, flavored waters, and processed ...

A 3-Minute Brainwave Test Could Spot Alzheimer’s Years Before Symptoms

Sep. 4, 2025 Scientists at the University of Bath have developed a simple three-minute brainwave test called Fastball EEG that can detect memory problems years before Alzheimer’s is typically diagnosed. Unlike ...

Why So Many Young Kids With ADHD Are Getting the Wrong Treatment

Sep. 16, 2025 Preschoolers with ADHD are often given medication right after diagnosis, against medical guidelines that recommend starting with behavioral therapy. Limited access to therapy and physician pressures ...

9 in 10 Australian Teachers Are Stressed to Breaking Point

Aug. 26, 2025 Australian teachers are in crisis, with 9 in 10 experiencing severe stress and nearly 70% saying their workload is unmanageable. A major UNSW Sydney study found teachers suffer depression, anxiety, ...

Can Meditation Apps Really Reduce Stress, Anxiety, and Insomnia?

Sep. 22, 2025 Meditation apps are revolutionizing mental health, providing easy access to mindfulness practices and new opportunities for scientific research. With the help of wearables and AI, these tools can now ...

Lithium Deficiency May Be the Hidden Spark Behind Alzheimer’s

Aug. 29, 2025 Harvard scientists have uncovered that lithium, a naturally occurring element in the brain, may be the missing piece in understanding Alzheimer’s. Their decade-long research shows that lithium ...

People With Eating Disorders Say Cannabis and Psychedelics Help More Than Antidepressants

July 24, 2025 A massive global survey has revealed that people with eating disorders often turn to cannabis and psychedelics like magic mushrooms and LSD to ease their symptoms, rating them more effective than ...

Experts Warn: Smartphones Before 13 Could Harm Mental Health for Life

Sep. 6, 2025 Getting a smartphone before age 13 may drastically increase the risk of poor mental health later in life, according to data from more than 100,000 people. Early use is linked to suicidal thoughts, ...

Four Hidden Types of Autism Revealed — and Each Tells a Different Genetic Story

July 24, 2025 Scientists at Princeton and the Simons Foundation have identified four biologically distinct subtypes of autism, using data from over 5,000 children and a powerful new computational method. These ...

Researchers Tested 200 Toddlers — 96 Chemicals Were Lurking in Their Bodies

July 2, 2025 Researchers testing urine from 2- to 4-year-olds in four U.S. states uncovered 96 different chemicals, many of them unmonitored and linked to hormone and brain disruption. Legacy toxins like ...

The Brain’s Sweet Spot: How Criticality Could Unlock Learning, Memory—and Prevent Alzheimer’s

June 25, 2025 Our brains may work best when teetering on the edge of chaos. A new theory suggests that criticality a sweet spot between order and randomness is the secret to learning, memory, and adaptability. ...

CRISPR-Edited Stem Cells Reveal Hidden Causes of Autism

June 14, 2025 A team at Kobe University has created a game-changing resource for autism research: 63 mouse embryonic stem cell lines, each carrying a genetic mutation strongly associated with the disorder. By ...

Scientists Found the Brain Glitch That Makes You Think You’re Still Hungry

June 11, 2025 A team of scientists has identified specialized neurons in the brain that store "meal memories" detailed recollections of when and what we eat. These engrams, found in the ventral ...

Sustained in the Brain: How Lasting Emotions Arise from Brief Stimuli, in Humans and Mice

May 29, 2025 Humans and mice share persistent brain-activity patterns in response to adverse sensory experience, scientists find, opening a window to our emotions and, perhaps, neuropsychiatric ...

Mother's Warmth in Childhood Influences Teen Health by Shaping Perceptions of Social Safety

May 28, 2025 Parental warmth and affection in early childhood can have life-long physical and mental health benefits for children, and new research points to an important underlying process: children's sense ...

Overlooked Cells Might Explain the Human Brain's Huge Storage Capacity

May 27, 2025 Researchers have a new hypothesis for how brain cells called astrocytes might contribute to memory storage in the brain. Their model, known as dense associative memory, would help explain the ...

Hitting the Right Notes to Play Music by Ear

May 27, 2025 A team analyzed a range of YouTube videos that focused on learning music by ear and identified four simple ways music learning technology can better aid prospective musicians -- helping people ...