TL;DR: A 2025 medRxiv fMRI preprint linked higher apathy in both traumatic brain injury (TBI) and control groups to greater effort discounting, while TBI-related apathy was also associated with less exploratory decision-making and weaker neural encoding of differences between expected and received rewards. Key Findings 53-person fMRI sample: Researchers analyzed 34 people with chronic TBI …
TL;DR: A 2026 methods paper in Nature Methods describes Neuropixels Opto probes that combine high-density neural recording with spatially addressable blue and red optogenetic stimulation in 1 mouse-brain device. Key Findings 960 recording sites: Each prototype probe packed 960 electrical sites on a 70-micrometer-wide, 1-centimeter-long shank. 28 light emitters: Two sets of 14 emitters delivered …
TL;DR: A 2026 functional MRI (fMRI) study in Psychological Medicine found that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder shared some thalamus connectivity disruption, but each diagnosis showed a different subcortical network pattern across the thalamus, striatum, hippocampus, and amygdala. Key Findings 800-person MRI cohort: Researchers analyzed resting-state fMRI from 200 people with schizophrenia, 200 …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Neurochemical Research found that 28 days of unpredictable chronic mild stress increased dopamine D1 receptor binding across the striatum and raised dopamine D2 receptor binding only in selected regions, regardless of fatty acid-binding protein 7 gene deletion. Key Findings Adult male mice were exposed to 28 days of unpredictable …
TL;DR: A 2026 Human Brain Mapping study combined PET receptor imaging with speech functional MRI, or fMRI, in healthy adults and found that GABA signaling and striatal dopamine release interacted with brain activity during human speech control. Key Findings PET-fMRI sample: The study included 17 right-handed volunteers, with mean age about 53 years. Receptor tracers …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that reward uncertainty, measured with functional MRI (fMRI), a brain-scan method, engaged different adolescent brain networks during waiting for a possible reward versus learning the outcome, with anxiety and anhedonia tied to different parts of that response. Key Findings 84 adolescents were scanned: The sample included psychotropic-medication-free youth …
TL;DR: A 2025 systematic review in Translational Psychiatry found that substance use disorder was associated with recurring resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), a scan of spontaneous brain-network communication, abnormalities in reward and self-control circuits across 53 studies. Key Findings 53-study meta-analysis: Researchers pooled whole-brain rs-fMRI studies covering 1,700 people with substance use disorder and 1,792 healthy …
Counterfactual Curiosity Lit Up the Striatum TL;DR: People paid a waiting cost to reveal a missed payoff in a balloon task, and reward-related striatum activity tracked both the choice to know and the size of the missed opportunity. Key Findings Functional MRI kept 38 usable datasets: The study recruited 41 participants and excluded 3 for …
TL;DR: Huntington disease may exploit a metabolic weak point: mutant huntingtin suppresses CSE, depleting cysteine biology in vulnerable striatal tissue, while cysteine rescue reversed abnormalities in models. Key Findings CSE was depleted: The Nature abstract reports major depletion of CSE, the cysteine-biosynthetic enzyme, in Huntington disease tissues. Transcriptional defect implicated: The defect appeared to occur …
Researchers have gained new understanding of how the brain controls movement using both overt motor control and brain-machine interface (BMI) control. Their findings provide insight into the distinct neural processes involved in BMI control compared to natural movement. Key Facts: Rhesus monkeys were trained to control a cursor using either overt arm movements or a …
