News
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An unmistakable takeaway from sessions of “UnrulyArt” is that all those “n’ts”—can’t, needn’t, shouldn’t, won’t—that can lead people to exclude children with disabilities or cognitive, social and behavioral impairments from creative activities aren’t really rules. They are merely assumptions and stigmas. When a session ends and the paint that was once flying is now just […]
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Source: [Picower News | April 18, 2024] Thought emerges and is controlled in the brain via the rhythmically and spatially coordinated activity of millions of neurons, scientists argue in a new article. Understanding cognition and its disorders requires studying it at that level. It could be very informative to observe the pixels on your phone […]
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A new study co-led by Anna (Anya) Ivanova highlights how human neuroscience is paving the way for AI innovation — and what AI can teach us about ourselves. Source: [Georgia Tech News Center | March 19, 2024] One of the hallmarks of humanity is language, but now, powerful new artificial intelligence tools also compose poetry, […]
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An MIT study finds the brains of polyglots expend comparatively little effort when processing their native language. Source: [Anne Trafton, MIT News | March 10, 2024] A new study of people who speak many languages has found that there is something special about how the brain processes their native language. In the brains of these polyglots […]
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Team-based targeted projects, multi-mentor fellowships ensure that scientists studying social cognition, behavior, and autism integrate multiple perspectives and approaches to pressing questions. The secret to the success of MIT’s Simons Center for the Social Brain is in the name. With a founding philosophy of “collaboration and community” that has supported scores of scientists across more […]
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Across mammalian species, brain waves are slower in deep cortical layers, while superficial layers generate faster rhythms. Source [Anne Trafton, MIT News | January 18, 2024] Throughout the brain’s cortex, neurons are arranged in six distinctive layers, which can be readily seen with a microscope. A team of MIT and Vanderbilt University neuroscientists has now […]
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Source [David Orenstein, Picower News | November 2, 2023] Picower Institute-based collaboration will study mechanisms that might enable peripheral immune cells to deliver a potentially therapeutic molecule to the brain. A new three-year research project, funded by the Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT, posits that the immune system can be harnessed to help treat […]
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It’s not easy to parse young children’s words, but adults’ beliefs about what children want to communicate helps make it possible, a new study finds. Source: [Anne Trafton, MIT News | October 26, 2023] When babies first begin to talk, their vocabulary is very limited. Often one of the first sounds they generate is “da,” […]
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Source: [Spectrum News, Samantha Easter, Amy S.F. Lutz | October 24, 2023] Much attention has been paid recently to conflict within the autism community, between autistic adults and parents of profoundly autistic children — from a piece in Nature in May to a Spectrum article on the topic in January to a 2021 post on the “Today Show” blog about the “war” between these stakeholders. […]
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[Spectrum News, Maris Fessenden / September 26, 2023] A new lightweight device with a wisplike tether can record neural activity while mice jump, run and explore their environment. The open-source recording system, which its creators call ONIX, overcomes several of the limitations of previous systems and enables the rodents to move more freely during recording. The behavior […]
