Whenever the author explains the brain to her second-grade students, the look on their faces is one of simultaneous fascination and relief. What caught her off guard was the relief. In retrospect, it makes pure sense. Of course it was a relief for them to realize that they could affect their brains and its abilities--that nothing was set in stone.…

Interpersonal distance regulation is crucial for successful social interactions. We investigated personal space awareness in Williams syndrome (WS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to typical development. Parents reported that individuals with WS and ASD were significantly more likely than those developing typically to invade the…

Studies on the behavioral mechanisms underlying contextual fear conditioning (CFC) have demonstrated the importance of preshock context exposure in the formation of aversive context memories. However, there has been comparatively little investigation of the effects of context exposure immediately after the shock. Some models predict that…

Reduced corpus callosum area and increased brain volume are two commonly reported findings in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We investigated these two correlates in ASD and healthy controls using T1-weighted MRI scans from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE). Automated methods were used to segment the corpus callosum and intracranial…

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is known to be necessary for many forms of learning and memory, including social recognition memory. Additionally, the GluN2 subunits are known to modulate multiple forms of memory, with a high GluN2A:GluN2B ratio leading to impairments in long-term memory, while a low GluN2A:GluN2B ratio enhances some…

Previous studies indicate that at least some aspects of audiovisual speech perception are impaired in children with specific language impairment (SLI). However, whether audiovisual processing difficulties are also present in older children with a history of this disorder is unknown. By combining electrophysiological and behavioral measures, we…

In 1995, Nelson explored the relation between early memory development and corresponding changes in brain development, and conceptualized this knowledge in a coherent theoretical framework (Nelson, 1995). In their review, Jabe's and Nelson provide an update of Nelson's 1995 cognitive neuroscience model of human memory development. In this article,…

Current evidence suggests the phenotype of autism spectrum disorder to be driven by a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors impacting onto brain maturation, synaptic function, and cortical networks. However, findings are heterogeneous, and the exact neurobiological pathways of autism spectrum disorder still remain poorly…

Memories that last a lifetime are thought to be stored, at least in part, as persistent enhancement of the strength of particular synapses. The synaptic mechanism of these persistent changes, late long-term potentiation (L-LTP), depends on the state and number of specific synaptic proteins. Synaptic proteins, however, have limited dwell times due…

Much attention has been given to "bridging the gap" between neuroscience and educational practice. In order to gain better understanding of the nature of this gap and of possibilities to enable the linking process, we have taken a boundary perspective on these two fields and the brain-based learning approach, focusing on…

While British Romantic literature provides ample evidence of the pleasures of knowledge, it also reveals strong counter-evidence of its power to inflict a sense of intellectual impairment and diminution. This Romantic ambivalence sprang from a complex of ideas and anxieties about the potentially corrosive effects of certain kinds of education and…

Previous studies report the involvement of specific brain activation in stereoscopic vision and the perception of depth information. This work presents the first comparative results of adult women on the effects of stereoscopic perception in three different static environments; a real, a two dimensional (2D) and a stereoscopic three dimensional…

Recent research suggests that brain development follows an abnormal trajectory in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current study examined changes in diffusivity with age within defined white matter tracts in a group of typically developing children and a group of children with an ASD, aged 6 to 14 years. Age by group interactions…

Gene expression is one of the main molecular processes regulating the differentiation, development, and functioning of cells and tissues. In this review a handful of relevant terms and concepts are introduced and the most common techniques used in studies of gene expression/expression profiling (also referred to as studies of the transcriptome or…

This fMRI study investigated neural responses while making appraisals of self and other, across the social and academic domains, in children and adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Compared to neurotypical youth, those with ASD exhibited hypoactivation of ventromedial prefrontal cortex during self-appraisals. Responses in…