Will EEG Data Analysis Help Diagnose Autism?

Com­put­er analy­sis of EEG pat­terns sug­gests a poten­tial diag­nos­tic test for autism (Eure­ka Sci­ence News): “Wide­ly avail­able EEG test­ing can dis­tin­guish chil­dren with autism from neu­rotyp­i­cal chil­dren as ear­ly as age 2, finds a study from Boston Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal. The study is the largest, most rig­or­ous study to date to inves­ti­gate EEGs as a poten­tial diagnostic…

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Why Being Young for Grade Increases Odds of ADHD Diagnosis and Stimulant Medication

ADHD is the most com­mon­ly diag­nosed neu­robe­hav­ioral dis­or­der in chil­dren and sub­stan­tial evi­dence indi­cates that bio­log­i­cal fac­tors play an impor­tant role in its devel­op­ment. For exam­ple, although the exact mech­a­nism by which genet­ic fac­tors con­vey increased risk for ADHD remains unclear, the impor­tance of genet­ic trans­mis­sion has been doc­u­ment­ed in a num­ber of pub­lished studies.…

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Brain Training for Babies: Hope, Hype, Both?

Train­ing the brain is pos­si­ble because of neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty. Our dai­ly expe­ri­ences can trig­ger neu­ro­plas­tic changes in the brain, such as the growth of new brain cells (neu­rons) and new con­nec­tions (synaps­es) between neu­rons. Plas­tic­i­ty is observed at all ages but is at its peak dur­ing brain devel­op­ment, as a baby and then a child learns…

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Digital Games for Physical, Cognitive and Behavioral Health

The Robert Wood John­son Foun­da­tion (RWJF) just announced more than $1.85 mil­lion in grants for research teams to study how dig­i­tal games can improve play­ers’ health behav­iors and out­comes (both brain-based and behav­ioral). The press release: Nine Lead­ing Research Teams Select­ed to Study How Dig­i­tal Games Improve Play­ers’ Health “Dig­i­tal games are inter­ac­tive and experiential,…

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