Health/Medical Research

Children with an autism spectrum disorder may be at greater risk for contemplating suicide or attempting suicide than children without autism, according to researchers.

Children as young as 3 years old know when they are not sure about a decision, and can use that uncertainty to guide decision making, according to new research.

UK children are being exposed to millions of tobacco images/messages every week on prime time television, indicates new research.

Children who avoid situations they find scary are likely to have anxiety a study of more than 800 children ages 7 to 18 found.

Psychologists demonstrate the impact sensitive parenting has on language growth for children who receive cochlear implants.

What happens when human brain cells that surround and support neurons are implanted into the brains of newborn mice? Researchers recently found that such mice had enhanced learning and memory when compared with normal mice that hadn't received the transplanted human cells. The findings indicate that these supportive cells, called glia, play an important role in human cognition.

A new study explains how young brains are protected when nutrition is poor. The findings reveal a coping strategy for producing a fully functional, if smaller, brain. The discovery, which was made in larval flies, shows the brain as an incredibly adaptable organ and may have implications for understanding the developing human brain as well, the researchers say.

Exercise may play a key role in helping children cope with stressful situations, according to a recent study.

The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now researchers have reversed the process, recreating a youthful brain that facilitated both learning and healing in the adult mouse.

In the din of a crowded room, paying attention to just one speaker's voice can be challenging. Research demonstrates how the brain homes in on one speaker to solve this "Cocktail Party Problem." Researchers discovered that brain waves are shaped so the brain can selectively track the sound patterns from the speaker of interest while excluding competing sounds from other speakers. The findings could have important implications for helping individuals with a range of deficits.

Psychologists have found that children and adolescents with major depression or subthreshold forms of bipolar disorder - and who had at least one first-degree relative with bipolar disorder - responded better to a 12-session family-focused treatment than to a briefer educational treatment.

Recent research into how we learn is set to help people in their efforts to read a second or foreign language (SFL) more effectively. This will be good news for those struggling to develop linguistic skills in preparation for a move abroad, or to help in understanding foreign language forms, reports, contracts and instructions.

Researchers have, for the first time, identified a specific group of cells in the brainstem whose activation during rapid eye movement sleep is critical for the regulation of emotional memory processing.

It is possible to tell who a person is thinking about by analyzing images of his or her brain. Our mental models of people produce unique patterns of brain activation, which can be detected using advanced imaging techniques according to a new study.

Adults whose parents were divorced are more likely to switch religions or disassociate themselves from institutional religions altogether -- but growing up in a single-parent family does not have any effect on private religious life, including praying, according to a new study.

Women who receive strong social support from their families during pregnancy appear to be protected from sharp increases in a particular stress hormone, making them less likely to develop postpartum depression, according to a new study.

The mammalian placenta is more than just a filter through which nutrition and oxygen are passed from a mother to her unborn child. According to a new study, if a mother is exposed to stress during pregnancy, her placenta translates that experience to her fetus by altering levels of a protein that affects the developing brains of male and female offspring differently.

A new mother may constantly worry and check to see if her baby is breathing. Or she may obsess about germs. A new study found postpartum moms have a much higher rate of obsessive-compulsive symptoms than the general population. This is the first large-scale study of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in new moms. The symptoms could result from hormonal changes or be adaptive, but may indicate a psychological disorder if they interfere with a mother's functioning.

Study could reveals key predictors of speech gains. New findings reveal that 70 percent of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who have a history of severe language delay, achieved phrase or fluent speech by age eight.

The first large, population-based study to follow children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder into adulthood shows that ADHD often doesn’t go away and that children with ADHD are more likely to have other psychiatric disorders as adults. They also appear more likely to commit suicide and to be incarcerated as adults.