All articles tagged with #brain shape
A study in Nature Communications reveals that the human brain changes shape with age, sagging and shifting in ways that correlate with cognitive decline and may help in early detection of dementia, emphasizing the importance of brain geometry in understanding aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
A study from UC Irvine and Spain suggests that changes in brain shape, detectable through MRI scans, may serve as early indicators of dementia and Alzheimer's, with specific regions like the entorhinal cortex being particularly affected. These shape shifts could help in early diagnosis and understanding disease mechanisms.
A groundbreaking study led by researchers at Monash University's Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health has challenged the century-old belief that complex neural connectivity is the primary determinant of brain function. Using MRI scans and the principle of eigenmodes, the study found that the overall shape of an individual's brain has a more significant impact on cognitive processes, emotions, and behavior than previously thought. The findings offer new avenues for understanding brain function and disease, simplifying the study of how the brain functions, develops, and ages. The research team discovered a previously unappreciated relationship between brain shape and activity, highlighting the potential to predict brain function directly from its shape and explore individual differences in behavior and risk for psychiatric and neurological diseases.
A study published in the journal Nature suggests that the shape of the brain may have a greater influence on how we think, feel, and behave than the connections and signals between neurons. The research team in Australia arrived at that conclusion after taking MRI scans of 255 people’s brains while the participants performed tasks. They created a computer model that simulated the way a brain's size and shape affect waves of electrical activity, better known as brain waves. The comparison showed that the new model provided a more accurate reconstruction of the brain activity shown in the MRI scans and brain activity maps than the prior model.
A study by the Medical University of Vienna examined 3D surface models of the brains of 90 species of Euarchontoglires, including humans, macaques, mice, rats, squirrels, and hamsters, to analyze the diversity of brain forms and their relationship to function, behavior, and ecology. The study found that the shape of the brain has developed in parallel with its function throughout the course of evolution. The brain adapts to its environment by first expanding its visual attention areas before other areas involved in higher cognitive functions, such as language and memory. The research outcomes could aid in better understanding the common and different characteristics between animals and humans.