Brain scans help predict learning problems: study

Brain scans may help identify children with learning difficulties much earlier by measuring their short-term memory capacity, according to a Swedish study published Wednesday. The study by a team of researchers at Karolinska Institute, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, showed that it is possible to map the development of short-term memory capacity with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI scans). "It would be possible in principle to use the MR scanner to predict something about future development that cannot be predicted by psychological tests alone," neuroscience professor Torkel Klingberg told AFP.