The Culturally Co-opted Brain: How Reading Changes the Way We Think
From a research perspective, reading and writing is a fascinating phenomenon. After all, the first writing systems date back less than 6,000 years – the…
Cognitive Science
Neurologists Reveal What Happens in the Split Second Before the Emergence of Consciousness
Our brains are bombarded with information about events around us, but we only become conscious of a few of them. Yale researchers have captured what…
Astrocyte Neuron Interactions May Provide Insight into Brain Disorders
Neurons are the star of the show in brain science, but MIT researchers believe they don’t work alone to process information. In new research funded…
MIT Neuroscientists Identify Neurons Responsible for Routine Habits
Our daily lives include hundreds of routine habits. Brushing our teeth, driving to work, or putting away the dishes are just a few of the…
Children with Cochlear Implants Learn Words Faster Than Children With Normal Hearing
According to estimates by the Robert Koch Institute, up to two thousand hearing impaired children are born in Germany each year. For some of them…
Neuroscientists Show Beta Rhythms Control Working Memory
MIT neuroscientists have found evidence that the brain’s ability to control what it’s thinking about relies on low-frequency brain waves known as beta rhythms. In…
This Ultrathin Miniaturized System Can Deliver Drugs Directly to the Brain
MIT researchers have devised a miniaturized system that can deliver tiny quantities of medicine to brain regions as small as 1 cubic millimeter. This type…
Study Shows Chimps and Infants Want to Punish Antisocial Behavior
Living together in communities requires mutual cooperation. To achieve this, we punish others when they are uncooperative. Until now, it has been unclear as to…
Researchers Show That a Hyperactive Network Causes Stuttering
Roughly, one in a hundred adults has problems with speaking fluently. Not much is known about the causes of persistent developmental stuttering, which is the…
New Computer Systems Seek to Replicate Human Intelligence
Josh Tenenbaum, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, directs research on the development of intelligence at the Center for Brains, Minds, and…
Neuroscientists Discover Networks of Neurons That Control Timing
A new study from MIT provides evidence for an alternative timekeeping system that relies on the neurons responsible for producing a specific action. Depending on…
Researchers Use Next-Generation Optogenetics to Control Single Neurons
Using a technique that relies on a new type of light-sensitive protein, researchers have devised a way to control single neurons using optogenetics. Researchers at…
Study Shows Six-Month Old Babies Have a Sense of Probability
Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have now shown that even six-month-old babies have a sense of…
New Study Shows Fear of Spiders and Snakes is Deeply Embedded in Humans
New research shows that babies as old as only a few months are able to identify objects as ‘spiders’ or ‘snakes’ and respond to them….
“Silent Engrams” Build a Case for a New Theory of Memory Formation
According to MIT neuroscientists, the existence of “silent engrams” suggests that existing models of memory formation should be revised. Learning and memory are generally thought…
Scientists Identify Neural Signatures of Explicit and Implicit Learning
Figuring out how to pedal a bike and memorizing the rules of chess require two different types of learning, and now for the first time,…
New Tools to Enhance Brain Function & Treat Disorders
New research shows that electrical stimulation can quickly — and reversibly — increase or decrease executive function in healthy people and change their behavior. Robert…
Bacterial Populations in Mother’s GI Tract May Play a Central Role in Autism
Two new studies from MIT and the University of Massachusetts Medical School reveal that mothers who experience an infection severe enough to require hospitalization during…