Q&A with Earl Miller Working memory is key to our everyday survival — how we communicate, remember what we need to do, learn new things, and generally operate. It is also an aspect of cognition that is disrupted or dysfunctional in almost every neuropsychiatric disorder. Therefore, understanding how working memory works is of vital importance. […]
The Consciousness Instinct: Watch Michael Gazzaniga’s Keynote
CNS 2018 To kick off the 25th anniversary meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Michael Gazzaniga (University of California, Santa Barbara) took us back to the beginning of the field, and then on a whirlwind tour through the history of thought on consciousness. How do neurons turn into minds? How does physical “stuff”—atoms, molecules, chemicals, […]
Prenatal Stress Changes Brain Connectivity In-Utero: New Findings from Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
CNS 2018 Press Release March 26, 2018 – Boston – The time babies spend in the womb is far from idle. The brain is changing more rapidly during this time than at any other time in development. It is an active time for the fetus to grow and explore, and of course connect to its […]
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 […]
The Innovative Teen Brain
Q&A with Adriana Galvan We’ve all seen the headlines: “Your teenager’s brain is crazy,” “Teen brain wired to take risks,” “Why teenagers take dumb risks.” Less often covered is the flip side: how the changing adolescent brain provides an unparalleled opportunity for learning and innovation. That’s the shift in discussion Adriana Galvan of UCLA wants […]
Stoking the Motivational Fire: Neuroscience Guides the Way
Guest Post by Teodora Stoica (University of Louisville) As dawn breaks, Rob Young quietly ties the laces of his favorite running shoes, dons his distinctive kilt and hits the road to complete a marathon. Specifically, his 370th marathon in 365 days. Besides the mind-boggling 10,178 miles raced, thousands of dollars earned for charities, and shattering […]
15 Cognitive Neuroscience Stories for 2015
We searched our blog archives for some of our favorite stories of the year. Exercise, art, language, and the social and developing brain top our 15 stories from 2015: Nature and nurture 1. Why It Should Always Be the Season for Exercise Michelle Voss (University of Iowa) talks about progress in her lab and others […]
Teasing Apart Depression from Traumatic Brain Injury
Every time an external force severely injures the brain – whether through a car accident, fall, war injury, or sports trauma – it leaves a lasting impact. For people with traumatic brain injury (TBI), one of the leading causes of death and injury worldwide, depression is a common symptom, occurring in half of all patients. […]
Does the Nose Know?
Guest Post by Lisa Qu, Northwestern University Smelling a cup of freshly brewed coffee can be a rich, almost magical, experience. In fact, in that brief moment, you are smelling a mixture of more than 800 different molecules that make up the smell of coffee. Part of what makes that experience so rich also makes […]
Have Schools Forgotten Brain Science?
Guest Post by Chris Forsythe, Sandia National Laboratories Being an applied neuroscientist, I was stunned as I skimmed my daughter’s 7th grade life science textbook and found that only 8 out of 400 pages discussed the nervous system. This amounted to one section of one chapter. In contrast, while genetics are certainly important, there were […]
