TL;DR: A 2026 Journal of Intelligence study of 170 adults found that math ability and music ability were only weakly related, and the link was reduced to almost zero after researchers accounted for general intelligence. Key Findings Adult ability groups were tested: The 170-person sample included math specialists, music specialists, and controls who did not …
TL;DR: A 2026 Imaging Neuroscience functional MRI (fMRI) study found that emotional pictures were recalled better than neutral pictures, but amygdala and insula activity appeared tied mainly to arousal rather than whether memories were negative or positive. Key Findings Large fMRI sample: The main imaging analysis used 1,006 healthy young adults from a single center. …
TL;DR: A 2026 double-blind trial in Psychopharmacology found that methylphenidate reduced cheating in healthy adults compared with placebo, contrary to survey respondents’ expectations about smart drugs. Key Findings Methylphenidate reduced dishonesty vs placebo: A double-blind placebo-controlled experiment in healthy adults showed methylphenidate (Ritalin) reduced cheating behavior compared to placebo — the opposite direction from what …
TL;DR: A 2025 study in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease found that stress internalization, not acculturation or activity engagement, predicted memory decline across three waves in 1,528 older Chinese Americans. Key Findings Stress internalization predicted longitudinal memory decline: A latent factor combining greater perceived stress, greater hopelessness, and lower conscientiousness was the single …
TL;DR: A 2026 MIDUS mediation study in Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health found that social asymmetry was associated with greater chronic disease burden, while chronic disease burden mediated links between social asymmetry and episodic memory and executive function, while allostatic load did not. Key Findings Study type: a structural equation modeling study of social …
TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint used quantitative multi-parametric MRI mapping in 245 BeLOVE participants and found that white matter hyperintensities had lower MTsat and R1 plus higher proton density, with nearby normal-appearing white matter also showing microstructural changes linked to MoCA, a brief cognitive screening score. Key Findings 245 MRI participants: The analysis used cerebral …
TL;DR: A 2026 Psychological Medicine meta-analysis of 109 studies linked parental severe mental illness, especially schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, to lower cognitive performance in offspring across IQ, language, memory, executive function, and general cognition. Key Findings Scale: The review included 109 studies and 1,586,339 participants. Schizophrenia: Offspring of parents with schizophrenia had lower scores across …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in The Journal of Neuroscience found that listening to consonant chord progressions while looking at a live partner increased functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a scalp blood-flow measure, in social brain systems. Key Findings Dyadic design: The study tested 20 participant pairs while both partners were recorded at the same time. Two …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse preprint in bioRxiv reported that small-molecule IGF1R inhibitors, drugs that block insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor signaling, protected several healthspan measures in aging mice, but the tested compounds also carried major safety and drug-development problems. Key Findings 150 aging mice: Researchers assigned 55-week-old C57BL/6 mice to control diet, PPP, or NVP-ADW742, …
TL;DR: A 2026 PTSD neuroimaging and language-analysis study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that hippocampal activity encoded specific semantic content of traumatic and neutral autobiographical memories, while greater hippocampal sensitivity to autobiographical semantic content related to higher PTSD symptom severity. Key Findings Study type: a study combining natural-language semantic quantification with brain activity during traumatic and neutral …
