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Developments across the published libraries, ranked by evidence, connection, and — if you follow topics — relevance to you. Each card is a movement in the literature: what changed, how the evidence is labeled, and why it matters.

Each development carries an evidence label. What the labels mean

Latest is ordered by when PaperFren added the explanation, not by the study's original publication date.

Neuroscience · Vision · Convolutional networks

Published 2014 · Explained Sep 2026

Deep networks trained on object labels predict visual cortex better than hand-built and unsupervised models

Evidence: Strengthening

What changed

Task-trained deep networks predicted both V1 and IT better in these studies. They still leave nearly half of V1's explainable variance unexplained, only one supervised network was tested for IT so supervision is confounded with architecture and data, and the data come from small image sets and few animals.

2 studies · Model comparison against recorded brain…

Brain development · Adolescence

Published 2017 · Explained Sep 2026

The adolescent cortex loses volume mainly because it thins, not because it shrinks in area

Evidence: Established

What changed

Thickness is the dominant component, and it replicates across four samples and three countries. MRI cannot show the cellular processes behind it, and the accelerated design combines age cohorts rather than following individuals from 7 to 29.

2 studies · Four independent accelerated longitudin…

Parkinson's disease · Structural MRI

Published 2015 · Explained Sep 2026

In newly diagnosed Parkinson's, the cortex was already thinner in those with cognitive impairment

Evidence: Strengthening

What changed

A meaningful amount is present at diagnosis and continues faster in those with cognitive impairment. The relationships are correlational, so thinning is not shown to cause cognitive decline, and 18 months is short relative to the disease course.

1 study · Longitudinal 3 T structural MRI cohort …

Autism · Connectivity

Published 2012 · Explained Sep 2026

Autism network differences appeared in function and structure at once — in a sample chosen to be able to show them

Evidence: Contested

What changed

Two modalities agree within one sample. The participants are high-functioning children and adolescents, so this does not extend to adults or to lower-functioning individuals, and a cross-sectional design cannot say whether these differences precede or follow the behavioural phenotype.

2 studies · Cross-sectional resting-state fMRI with…

Social cognition · Schizophrenia

Published 2014 · Explained Sep 2026

Lower medial prefrontal activity during perspective-taking linked social anhedonia to poorer everyday function

Evidence: Emerging

What changed

This study places mPFC activity on a path between anhedonia and function. Sample size is small and the design is cross-sectional, so it is a mechanistic hypothesis with imaging support, not a confirmed causal chain.

1 study · fMRI case-control study with mediation …