Brain Research: How neurons remember ♦ Infants use expectations to shape their brains ♦ Manipulating molecule in the brain improves stress response

Infants use expectations to shape their brains Infants can use their expectations about the world to rapidly shape their developing brains, researchers have found. A series of experiments with infants ages 5 to 7 months has shown that portions of babies' brains responsible for visual processing respond not just to the presence of visual stimuli, but also to the mere expectation of visual stimuli.

Poverty's most insidious damage is to a child's brain An alarming 22 percent of U.S. children live in poverty, which can have long-lasting negative consequences on brain development, emotional health and academic achievement. Now, even more compelling evidence has been provided suggesting that growing up in poverty has detrimental effects on the brain.

How neurons remember Scientists have discovered mechanism at the level of the individual neurons that may play a role in the formation of memory. They have determined that back-propagating electrical impulses serve to activate a receptor inside the cell, thereby resulting in long-term changes in the calcium response in specific neuronal compartments.

Manipulating molecule in the brain improves stress response, new target for depression treatment Increasing the levels of a signaling molecule found in the brain can positively alter response to stress, revealing a potential new therapeutic target for treatment of depression,