To explore how the brain deciphers the melody of speech, researchers worked with the rare group of patients who had electrodes implanted in their brains as part of epilepsy treatment. While these patients actively listened to an audiobook recording of “Alice in Wonderland,” scientists tracked activity in multiple brain regions in real time.

Using the intracerebral recordings from the electrodes deep in the patient’s brain, researchers noted the Heschl’s gyrus section processed subtle changes in voice pitch — not just as sound, but as meaningful linguistic units. The brain encoded pitch accents separately from the sounds that make up words.

The author says the research also revealed that the hidden layer of meaning carried by prosodic contours — the rise and fall of speech — is encoded much earlier in auditory processing than previously thought.

Similar research was conducted in non-human primates, but researchers found those brains lacked this abstraction, despite processing the same acoustic cues.

By unlocking the hidden layer of speech, the team discovered how the brain processes pitch accents, revealing profound implications for various fields.

“Our findings could transform speech rehabilitation, AI-powered voice assistants, and our understanding of what makes human communication unique,” the author said.

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Researchers have developed a blood test based on a protein biomarker for tau tangles that can help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and also provide insight on how far the disease has progressed.

Solriamfetol, a new treatment for ADHD, showed a 45% reduction in symptoms in a Phase 3 trial. This treatment targets dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake and offers a safer alternative for those who don’t respond well to traditional stimulants.

Parkinson’s doesn’t just affect movement and the brain—it may also impact the heart, according to new research from the University of Surrey. Scientists from Surrey’s School of Veterinary Medicine suggest that targeting a key protein outside of the brain could help manage Parkinson’s-related heart issues.

In a study published in Experimental Physiology, Surrey researchers studied mouse models and found a harmful buildup of the alpha-synuclein protein, which is associated with Parkinson’s disease, in a nerve cluster near the heart (the stellate ganglia). These nerves are part of the autonomic nervous system, which controls heart rate and rhythm.

Researchers found that 27% of neurons in the nerve cluster contained aggregated alpha-synuclein, forming similar toxic clumps seen in the brains of Parkinson’s patients. This finding suggests that Parkinson’s could disrupt heart function, not just movement and brain activity.

Differences in the distribution of certain proteins and markers in the brain may explain why some people first experience vision changes instead of memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease, finds a new study by UCL researchers.

Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a rare form of Alzheimer’s disease that, rather than causing problems with memory, leads to difficulties with reading, navigating, and recognizing objects. Studies suggest that one in 10 patients with Alzheimer’s disease has a form which is visual, rather than memory-led.

As well as presenting with unusual symptoms, individuals with PCA typically develop symptoms younger than most people with Alzheimer’s disease, with onset usually in their 50s and 60s.

Using a natural experiment that avoids common bias concerns, this study finds that the live-attenuated shingles vaccine reduced the probability of a new dementia diagnosis within a follow-up period of 7 years by approximately one-fifth.