May 2026: Volume 10 Issue 2

According to the broken mirror neuron theory of autism, autistic individuals are less efficient at mapping the behaviors of others onto their own bodily representations, which leads to difficulties in imitating and understanding others’ actions. However, limited research has explored the broken mirror neuron theory within the context of action prediction, the application of action understanding. In a pilot study, I employed a modified version of the pointing task where autistic and non-autistic participants predicted whether a target actor would point to the right or left without knowing that the actors were either instructed or allowed to choose freely where to point. I expanded on the original study by incorporating trials with perceptual or cognitive load. For the former, three actors were shown instead of just one, requiring the observer to respond to the actions of one target actor. For the latter, the observer was required to guess the target actor’s actions by pressing a key that is in the opposite (anti) direction as the target actor’s predicted pointing direction, as opposed to the same (pro) direction. All observers responded faster in the trials where the target actor chose freely where to point, called the choice advantage. However, an analysis of the autistic and non-autistic groups separately indicated that the choice advantage was observed in all experimental conditions in the non-autistic cohort but was reduced to the 1-actor, anti-pointing trials in the autistic group. These results indicate that autistic individuals may not be using body-language cues to predict the actions of others as effectively as non-autistic individuals, while offering a more nuanced perspective on autistic peoples’ understanding of others’ actions than the broken mirror neuron theory

Mental health for Canadian youth is an increasingly worsening issue. For many young people who are struggling with their mental health, securing meaningful and appropriate mental health support is challenging. There are significant barriers to accessing mental health services. Barriers can include, but are not limited to, supports available, wait-times, cost, social stigma, and systemic discrimination. For youth belonging to vulnerable communities, these barriers can be exacerbated by social demographic factors (e.g., gender, race). Supports which do not address the unique needs of diverse youth can contribute to poor mental health. Individuals and families often incur large expenses when attempting to access services. The persistence of stigma associated with mental illness can make young people feel increasingly isolated and alienated from peers, family and community members. More research is needed on how to improve service design as well as inputting holistic measures to break down barriers for youth seeking mental health support. In this literature review, we explore key research on the demographics of Canadian youth seeking mental health help, focusing on barriers such as long wait times, service design and community-based options that affect access and outcomes.

The built environment significantly shapes cognition, sensory processing, well-being, and the way that humans interact with one another. This research explores the intersection of the built environment, traditional and Indigenous architectural practices, and neuroscience as they apply to cognitive health and neurodivergentfriendly design. Drawing on four cultural traditions—Longhouses and other structures from Canada, Vastu Shastra from India, Feng Shui from China and the Te Aranga principles of New Zealand—the discussion synthesizes culturally sourced and peer-reviewed literature to examine how traditional design principles align with contemporary scientific perspectives. The review is structured into three sections: (1) an analysis of traditional architectural practices, (2) an evaluation of neuroscience findings on factors including natural light, spatial openness, and community spaces, and (3) an exploration of how built environments can better support neurodivergent individuals. Neuroethics provides the conceptual framework for this study, emphasizing the importance of pluralistic inquiry and the responsibility of designing pragmatic spaces that respect cognitive diversity and supportive built environments.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) disproportionately affects immigrant and refugee populations due to cumulative trauma exposure across pre-migration, peri-migration, and post-migration phases. This narrative review synthesizes neurobiological and psychosocial research to elucidate mechanisms underlying PTSD in immigrant groups. Neurobiological analyses reveal hippocampal atrophy, amygdala hyperactivity, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) hypoactivity mirrored in rodent models of chronic stress. These changes correlate with memory fragmentation, hypervigilance, and impaired fear extinction, exacerbated by acculturation pressures, discrimination, and socioeconomic hardship. Immigrants and refugees exhibit PTSD rates exceeding 30% in some cohorts, compared to approximately 3–4% in non-immigrant populations. While neurobiological studies often focus on non-immigrant populations and psychosocial research overlooks biological mechanisms, this review demonstrates how structural inequities such as limited healthcare access interact with dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function to amplify vulnerability. The findings underscore the need for integrated interventions addressing both neurobiological and structural determinants to reduce PTSD burden in displaced populations.