Most studies of molecular mechanisms of synaptic plasticity have focused on the sequence of changes either at individual synapses or in the cell nucleus. However, studies of long-term facilitation at "Aplysia" sensory neuron--motor neuron synapses in isolated cell culture suggest two additional features of facilitation. First, that there…

The human body seems symmetrical but functional asymmetry can be observed for many tasks. One of the tasks observed the functional asymmetry is grip force and rate of grip force development (RGFD). To efficiently accomplish many tasks, it is important to measure those parameters in different ages and special groups. Thus, the purpose of the study…

Musical training has long been viewed as a model for experience-dependent brain plasticity. Reports of musical training-induced brain plasticity are largely based on cross-sectional studies comparing musicians to non-musicians, which cannot address whether musical training itself is sufficient to induce these neurobiological changes or whether…

Objective: To compare neurofunctional responses in emotional and attentional networks of psychostimulant-free ADHD youth with and without familial risk for bipolar I disorder (BD). Methods: ADHD youth with (high-risk, HR, n = 48) and without (low-risk, LR, n = 50) a first-degree relative with BD and healthy controls (n = 46) underwent functional…

Reliable techniques to assess centrally mediated function in healthy individuals are essential to understand the origins of neuromuscular dysfunction in pathologic populations. This study examined the test-retest reliability of corticospinal excitability in the upper extremity musculature of 21 healthy individuals using transcranial magnetic…

This action research study examines the experiences of parents of autistic children served by Autism Speaks, Inc. It seeks to understand and improve the organization's engagement with this stakeholder group and determine ways in which the capacity of the members of this group can be built towards influencing the interaction between Autism Speaks,…

While the brain network supporting handwriting has previously been defined in adults, its organization in children has never been investigated. We compared the handwriting network of 23 adults and 42 children (8- to 11-year-old). Participants were instructed to write the alphabet, the days of the week, and to draw loops while being scanned. The…

Recent research has suggested that the pubertal period provides an opportunity for recalibrating the stress-responsive systems in youth whose responses to stress have been altered by early adversity. Such recalibration may have cascading effects that affect brain and behavioral development. In this article, we consider a large, cross-species…

Both parasympathetic nervous system regulation and receipt of social support from close relationships contribute to prosocial development, although few studies have examined their combined influences in adolescence and particularly within racially and ethnically minoritized populations. In this longitudinal study of 229 U.S. Mexican-origin…

Temporal association learning (TAL) allows for the linkage of distinct, nonsynchronous events across a period of time. This function is driven by neural interactions in the entorhinal cortical-hippocampal network, especially the neural input from the pyramidal cells in layer III of medial entorhinal cortex (MECIII) to hippocampal CA1 is crucial…

Spanking remains common around the world, despite evidence linking corporal punishment to detrimental child outcomes. This study tested whether children (M[subscript age] = 11.60) who were spanked (N = 40) exhibited altered neural function in response to stimuli that suggest the presence of an environmental threat compared to children who were not…

Research into the neural mechanisms that underlie higher-order cognitive control of eating behavior suggests that ventral hippocampal (vHC) neurons, which are critical for emotional memory, also inhibit energy intake. We showed previously that optogenetically inhibiting vHC glutamatergic neurons during the early postprandial period, when the…

Autistic people are under-represented in university student populations, but their numbers are growing, and the barriers to their inclusion are being recognised. Outside of the student body, autistic people in academia are often overlooked, although this is starting to change with the growth in inclusive autism research. However, they remain…

Posttraining meditation has been shown to promote wakeful memory stabilization of explicit motor sequence information in learners who are experienced meditators. We investigated the effect of single-session mindfulness meditation on wakeful and sleep-dependent forms of implicit motor memory consolidation in meditation naïve adults. Immediately…

Our bodies are made up of over 250 specific cell types, and all initially arise from stem cells during embryonic development. Stem cells have two characteristics that make them unique: (1) they are pluripotent, meaning that they can differentiate into all cell types of the body, and (2) they are capable of self-renewal to generate more of…