neuroimaging

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the effect of high-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) targeting multiple brain regions on the recovery of consciousness in patients with minimally conscious state (MCS).MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on MCS patients between August 2022 and March 2024. Some patients received only conventional rehabilitation treatment, while oth…

IntroductionMusic-induced analgesia (MIA) has significant clinical value for patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and serves as a key model for understanding the complex neural mechanisms underlying the effects of music on physical and mental states. However, previous research offers limited interpretation of the broader neural network characteristics underlying pain regulation through music, particul…

Scientific Data, Published online: 05 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41597-026-07356-3 A dataset of EEG and ECG recordings around the onset of NREM sleep from infancy to adolescence

Nature Biomedical Engineering, Published online: 27 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41551-026-01664-0 Embedding cortical geometric eigenmodes into the EEG/MEG inverse problem enables precise, biologically grounded reconstructions of whole-brain activity, enhancing mapping of dynamics, connectivity and clinical targets.

IntroductionMalodors in the human body can diminish comfort in living and working environments, potentially increasing stress and dissatisfaction levels. Therefore, there is a growing need to objectively characterize the properties of human body malodor. The brain extracts various types of information from odor stimuli. Although the central processing pathways of the human olfactory system are no…

IntroductionAlthough virtual reality (VR) is increasingly deployed as a tool for education, little is known about how learning modality influences cognitive processing or whether wearable neuroimaging technologies can accurately classify cognitive load in this context.MethodsIn this study, 21 first-year medical students were randomly assigned to learn cardiac anatomy using either traditional 2D m…

In a new study, researchers from North Carolina State University show that itch sensations in the face are perceived differently from those in the body due to differences in signaling between trigeminal (located in the brain) and spinal pain pathways.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02309-w Decades of male bias in animal research have left female biology critically understudied. Prematurely phasing out animal research would lock this inequity into future biomedicine, disproportionately harming women.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02286-0 Liu et al. show in mice that microglia are recruited to the soma and dendritic processes of fear engram neurons during extinction learning and that they weaken fear memories by temporarily silencing and remodeling the engram neurons.

Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02278-0 Stereotyped dendritic arbors arise from stochastic growth and selective stabilization of dendritic branches. Two pools of guidance receptor are required. Ligand-free receptors drive stochastic growth while ligand-bound receptors stabilize branches.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effects of various transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) parameters—including stimulation duration, intensity, pulse number, frequency, and target region—on pain scores in patients with neuropathic pain (NP).MethodsRandomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the effects of TMS on NP were identified through searches of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and the Cochrane L…

Whether addicted to alcohol, cocaine, or nicotine, people with substance use disorder share identical "short circuits" in their brain's reward networks. A massive new meta-analysis maps these specific neural disruptions, offering a potential blueprint for future treatments.

In The Roles of Representations in Visual Perception. Cham: Springer Verlag. pp. 47–69. 2024There has been a long-standing debate in philosophy and psychology about the role of representation in visual perception. Here, we argue on the basis of evidence from philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience that episodic and schematic memory representations are pivotal to the visual perception of objects …

OROBORIS: A Structural Theory of Coherent Informational Organization and Conscious Nodes — Extended Version This paper is an extended version of a previous working paper introducing the OROBORIS framework. This extended version introduces conceptual refinements to recursive closure (Rᶜ), structural stability (Σ), and alignment (A), as well as their non-compensatory interaction. It further incorpo…

Background and purposeRadiotherapy (RT) often causes delayed radiation-induced brain injury (RBI) with unclear pathophysiology; emerging evidence links this to glymphatic dysfunction, but radiation effects on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics and interstitial fluid-CSF exchange are unstudied. Thus, we used choroid plexus (CP) volume and free-water fraction (FWF) imaging to assess glymphatic chan…

In mouse brains, star-shaped astrocytes form flexible networks that may offer another way for brain regions to communicate.

Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) has garnered widespread attention due to its high incidence and its association with increased risk of stroke recurrence and mortality. Growing evidence indicates that early prediction of PSCI and the implementation of effective interventions can help delay disease progression and improve long-term patient outcomes. With advances in imaging technology, the …

Implicit learning is a fundamental cognitive process whose identification is critical for understanding human cognition and developing innovative training methodologies. We propose a generalizable feature selection and sensor optimization framework using simultaneous EEG and fNIRS to identify these events. Our approach leverages a two-stage optimization process driven by a binary multi-neighbor a…

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-71506-9 UFLARE is a fMRI method that dissociates bottom-up from top-down signals by tracking ultrafast information flow across cortical layers. Validated across brain systems and injury models, it enables studying brain communication, learning, and disease.