Examining the link between puberty and functional brain development
Sep 10, 2019
Puberty causes significant physical and psychological changes, especially in brain development, changing the way adolescents think and behave. Despite this, the effects of puberty on brain development is not well known. To gain a better understanding, two Penn State researchers reviewed published…
NSF grant to fund research on brain activity and scientific creative thinking
Aug 14, 2019
Roger Beaty, assistant professor of psychology and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience of Creativity Lab in the Penn State Department of Psychology, has received a $1.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) along with co-investigators from two other institutions to collaborate…
Sainburg receives grant renewal for stroke rehabilitation research
Oct 15, 2018
The National Institutes of Health recently renewed funding for Penn State researcher Robert Sainburg, which will allow him to begin testing his rehabilitation intervention in treating the “unaffected” hand in stroke patients. The first cycle of this grant funded a series of basic science…
Crowley receives NARSAD Young Investigator Award for work on the neurobiology of binge drinking
Aug 15, 2018
Nikki Crowley, assistant research professor of biobehavioral health, has received the NARSAD Young Investigator Award from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation. This award will support her work on the neurobiological underpinnings of alcohol misuse and comorbid neuropsychiatric disorders. “…
Self-control develops gradually in adolescent brain
Aug 15, 2018
Different parts of the brain mature at different times, which may help to explain impulsive behaviors in adolescence, suggest researchers from Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh. The team discovered that the brain’s salience network, a group of regions that work together to help people…
NIH grant will allow researchers to further study language disorder
Jul 23, 2018
A $300,000 three-year grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will allow Penn State researchers to further study a language disorder experienced by one-third of stroke patients in the United States. Researchers will study patients with aphasia, a language disorder commonly found in…
Food for thought: How the brain reacts to food may be linked to overeating
Jul 19, 2018
The reason why some people find it so hard to resist finishing an entire bag of chips or bowl of candy may lie with how their brain responds to food rewards, leaving them more vulnerable to overeating. In a study with children, researchers found that when certain regions of the brain reacted more…News Topics: Self-controlBrain
$2.3 million grant will fund research on oxytocin neurons and social behavior
May 25, 2018
A team of Penn State researchers is planning to create a new map of the brain that will establish a neural circuit diagram of oxytocin, a compound often associated with affection and emotional behavior. Researchers hope the map will give them insight into how oxytocin in the brain drives social…
Morgan's research on executive function appears in Hechinger Report
Apr 23, 2018
Executive function — a sort of air traffic controller of the brain — has been one of the hottest topics in education circles over the past 15 years. Yet experts disagree over what it is exactly, to what extent it really causes academic problems and whether anything can be done to improve one’s…
Brain's immune system to be topic of Biobehavioral Health Founders Day event
Apr 9, 2018
Andrew Miller, William P. Timmie Professor and Vice Chair for Research in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, will present the keynote lecture “Immune System Targets in the Brain in Depression: Impact on Neurotransmitters and Neurocircuits” at 3:30 p.m. April…
Baby brains help them figure it out before they try it out
Jan 17, 2018
Babies often amaze their parents when they seemingly learn new skills overnight — how to walk, for example. But their brains were probably prepping for those tasks long before their first steps occurred, according to researchers. Researchers are using new statistical analysis methods to compare how…