In media coverage, individuals’ membership in minority groups, such as their country of origin, is often explicitly mentioned. In contrast, majority membership is usually not highlighted. Does this reflect prejudice against minorities? A study with over 900 participants suggests that it does not. Instead, a fundamental cognitive principle of differentiation drives this pattern: People tend to notice and communicate rare or striking characteristics more readily than common and redundant ones. Artificial intelligence shows the same tendency and even amplifies it. This is reported by a team from the Social Cognition Lab at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, led by Dr. Anna Schulte in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science on December 1, 2025.

A new Genomic Press Interview with Prof. Dr. Paul Lucassen shares insights from his research spanning 30 years in which he explores how the adult brain continues to produce new neurons, and how this process, and other plasticity-related aspects like cognition, are modulated by (early life) stress, exercise, nutrition, and inflammation, revealing unexpected connections between early childhood experiences and later vulnerability to psychiatric disorders and dementia. His work offers hope that brain plasticity can maybe one day be harnessed for therapeutic and preventive approaches.