Welcome to the June 2023 Learning Brain News.

This month’s news includes an intriguing development that can turn a person’s thoughts into text, without the need of a brain implant. That sounds impossible, and it’s at an early stage of development. Read about this in Technology below.

On a very different topic, you may like to take a look at the Book of the Month, “Platonic”, which unpacks the latest, often counterintuitive findings about the bonds between humans.

Kind regards,
The Learning Brain News Team

COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on Students’ Decision-Making

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively influenced college students' decision-making abilities, according to new research. During the 2020 fall semester, students exhibited less consistency in their decision-making compared to peers from previous years.

Have We Got The Brain All Wrong?

The human brain is made up of around 86 billion neurons, linked by trillions of connections. For decades, scientists have believed that we need to map this intricate connectivity in detail to understand how the structured patterns of activity defining our thoughts, feelings and behaviour emerge.

A new study, published in Nature, challenges this view. It has been discovered that patterns of activity in our neurons are more influenced by the shape of the brain, its grooves, contours, and folds, than by its complex interconnections.

Brain Activity Decoder Translates Thoughts into Text

A new artificial intelligence system called a semantic decoder can translate a person’s brain activity, while listening to a story or silently imagining telling a story—into a continuous stream of text.

The system might help people who are mentally conscious yet unable to physically speak, such as those debilitated by strokes, to communicate intelligibly again.

Potential New Treatment for a Leading Cause of Autism

Researchers have identified a potential new treatment method for Fragile X Syndrome (FXS), a leading cause of autism spectrum disorders. 

10 Tips for Working with English Language Learners

How can you help your English as a Second Language (ESL)/ English Language Learners (ELL) students participate more fully in the classroom? These students are faced with a difficult task - absorbing content instruction while their English skills are still being developed.

Try these 10 tips for supporting English learners in improving their language skills and subject knowledge in tandem.