What’s normal? When it comes to the brain, it’s hard to say, and that’s why we need to study global neurodiversity

In a small vil­lage in India—a place so remote it has no elec­tric­i­ty, no telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tem, and no cars or buses—a research work­er pre­pares to place an EEG head­set on a female villager’s head. The woman, who earns $3.75 a day labor­ing in a near­by rice pad­dy and who has nev­er ven­tured out­side her vil­lage, eyes…

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One in eight children in India aged 2–9 may have neurodevelopmental disorders

___ 1 in 8 kids in 2–9 age group may have devel­op­men­tal deficits  (Times of India): “Almost one in eight Indi­an chil­dren aged two to nine may have at least one neu­rode­vel­op­men­tal dis­or­der, states a study pub­lished in PLOS Med­i­cine jour­nal on Wednes­day. Neu­rode­vel­op­men­tal dis­or­ders include a wide range of issues rang­ing from visu­al and hear­ing impairment…

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Neuroimaging study finds extensive brain rewiring–in just six months–among illiterate adults learning to read and write

— Learn­ing to read and write rewires adult brain in six months (New Sci­en­tist): “Learn­ing to read can have pro­found effects on the wiring of the adult brain – even in regions that aren’t usu­al­ly asso­ci­at­ed with read­ing and writ­ing. That’s what Michael Skei­de of the Max Planck Insti­tute for Human Cog­ni­tive and Brain Sciences…

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Study: Is modernity leading to a growing Cognitive Divide?

— Has Mod­ern Expe­ri­ence Changed The Human Brain? (NPR): “The brain has evolved over evo­lu­tion­ary time scales of mil­lions of years. So, what is the like­li­hood that the rel­a­tive­ly recent advent of read­ing and writ­ing, or motor­ized trans­port, or the Inter­net, could have changed our brains?

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