It’s Sunday morning and I am looking through tweets while watching the news. With smartphones now ubiquitous, such situation are increasingly common: taking in information with multiple interruptions, often by choice. In a new study, researchers studied this phenomenon on the neural level by having people watch movie clips in different combinations – finding significant […]
Archives for 2017
Prioritizing Gestures in Communication
The very first way babies communicate is through gestures (well, in addition to crying, that is). They may express “I want that” as a distinct pointing toward an object. As people grow older, gestures are not abandoned, but both spoken and body language become more ambiguous. Oftentimes, adults will point and gesture while talking without […]
How Will We Get to Brain Stimulation for Learning?
Guest Post by Tessa Abagis, University of Michigan In the 43 AD text Compositiones, Scribonius Largus, court physician to the Roman emperor Claudius, described a method to treat chronic migraines: placing torpedo fish on the scalps of patients to easing their pain with the electrical shocks the fish emit. This was well before the advent […]
The Digital Medicine of the Future: Watch Adam Gazzaley’s Public Keynote
Last Saturday, more than 1,300 people glimpsed a unique vision of brain fitness – one that more closely resembles cross-fit mixed with gaming than how we currently treat cognitive health. Adam Gazzaley of the University of San Francisco walked the CNS 2017 audience through the work his lab has been doing not only to create custom […]
Memory, Language, Action: Watch Big Ideas in Cognitive Neuroscience
Does the human brain process memory like a computer processes information? What enables human language with all its nuances and complexities? How does flexibility in the brain give rise to learning? These were just a few of the questions explored at Big Ideas in Cognitive Neuroscience, a special session at this year’s CNS meeting in […]
Curiosity and Reward as Motivational Drivers in Learning
Your mental state before and after learning plays a critical role in how well your remember something. This may seem obvious, but scientists are only just uncovering the neural processes underpinning this effect. At the CNS meeting today, Matthias Gruber of Cardiff University discussed two important mental states: when receiving reward and when curious. Recent […]
Twins Illuminate Genetic Influences on Brain Structure
How much of our brain structure is inherited ? Neuroscientists seeking to answer that question often turn to twin pairs, as they offer a unique window for understanding the influence of genetics on who we are. New work presented at the CNS conference this week has found that brain structures involved with executive functions such […]
Identifying Genes Key to Human Memory: Insights from Genetics and Cognitive Neuroscience
CNS 2017 Press Release March 26, 2017 – San Francisco – Researchers have identified more than 100 genes important for memory in people. The study is the first to identify correlations between gene data and brain activity during memory processing, providing a new window into human memory. “This is very exciting because the identification of these […]
From the Classroom to the NICU: Real-World Neuroscience Opening New Avenues
CNS 2017 Press Release March 26, 2017 – San Francisco – When going to the movies with a group of friends, one small action can make a big difference when it comes to being on the same page after the movie: eye contact. A simple conversation before the movie sets you up to be more […]
Pavlov’s Dogz is Back: Catch their Concert at CNS 2017
Calling all cognitive neuroscientists: Some great music is coming to a conference near you. After delighting crowds in New York City at last year’s CNS conference, rock band Pavlov’s Dogz is back for CNS 2017 in San Francisco on Sunday, March 26. Launched at an open-mic night at a small memory conference, Pavlov’s Dogz features […]
