Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition in which affected individuals experience difficulties in social communication and exhibit restricted, repetitive patterns of ...

Researchers from Kyushu University discovered a previously unrecognized synaptic "hotspot" that forms during adolescence, challenging the long-held view that adolescent brain development was dominated ...

Just as pruning tree branches helps them grow better, a study has found that appropriately "pruning" neural circuits in the brain can actually improve learning ability and memory. A joint research ...

MIT neuroscientists have uncovered a surprising secret hidden in the adult brain: millions of “silent synapses,” dormant connections that lie in wait until new learning calls them into action. Once ...

A human infant is born with roughly twice as many synapses as it will eventually need. Over the first few years of life, the brain aggressively trims the weakest connections, keeping only those that ...

A new study on the detriments of too many synaptic connections in the mouse cerebellum by neuroscientists at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis corroborates previous human ...

Welcome back to Birdbrained Science! Last time, we touched on the ‘bird’ aspect with migration and today, we’ll cover some brain stuff — let’s talk about pruning. However it happens, we know that once ...

The brain is often described as a dense forest of connections, and for years scientists have searched for ways to trim that forest with precision. They have learned how to turn neural activity up or ...