The prefrontal cortex (PFC), the part of the cerebral cortex that covers the mammalian brain's frontal lobe, is implicated in the mental planning of complex behavior, decision-making and the moderation of social behavior. Studies suggest that the PFC is also the...
The term anhedonia is used to describe the inability to feel pleasure and a disinterest in activities that previously brought positive feelings. This lack of interest and pleasure is a very common symptom of depression, as well as other widespread mental health...
Detecting odors and differentiating between them is an essential ability that helps animals to survive and interact more effectively with their surrounding environment. In mammals, odors are known to be initially processed by olfactory sensory neurons, a class of...
The complete set of nucleic acid sequences composing chromosomes in humans, encoded as DNA, is known as the "human genome sequence." Neuroscientists predict that approximately 25% of this sequence has a regulatory function, while only 1.5% encodes protein.
The human brain and the brain of other mammals contain numerous populations of specialized cells with unique functions, molecular structures and characteristics. These cells originate from a thin layer of neuroepithelial progenitor cells, cells that can divide...
Past research findings suggest that women who are addicted to cocaine are more sensitive to cocaine-related stimuli that make them crave the drug and relapse into addiction. However, other studies suggest that steroid hormones can modulate cocaine cravings, which...
To examine the human brain and better understand its functions, neuroscientists have so far used a variety of methods to record the electrical activity of brain cells. Traditionally, these methods were either able to record the activity of a few individual neurons at...
Classical psychological theories suggest that humans and animals consistently employ a single strategy when making decisions. Some models, on the other hand, assume that preferred decision-making strategies can slowly change or evolve over time.
Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have recently carried out a large-scale analysis of the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, unveiled a series of disease-related changes in protein...
Neuroscience research suggests that adult male rodents and humans perform better than females on spatial tasks. These are tasks that involve the ability to understand and remember the spatial relationships between different objects in space.