Q&A with Jon Kaas Grasping, reaching, climbing – these are just some of the basic instinctive behaviors that we see even in babies. While these movements are not uniquely human, how they unfold neurologically is unique to primates. All primates have these motor behaviors, or “motor primitives,” and they all occur in similar ways across […]
It’s on the Tip of My Tongue: What Happens When We Can’t Remember a Name
It just happened to me the other day: I was watching Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and there was a new guest star; I turned to my husband and said – “Oh I remember her – she was in ‘Angel’ and the new ‘Much Ado About Nothing’…Amy something or other….” And then I drove myself crazy […]
CNS 2014 In the News
Here are highlights of news coverage of science presented at CNS 2014 in Boston (also check out our blog coverage): last updated April 21, 2014 The Tragic Story of How Einstein’s Brain Was Stolen and Wasn’t Even Special, National Geographic, April 21, 2014 Naps Help Infants Learn, Medical Xpress, April 17, 2014 Looking at how a […]
Why Do People, But Not Cameras, Consciously See?
CNS 2014 Blog Does a camera have consciousness? Well, of course not. But the camera serves as a good starting point for understanding some key features of the human visual system that enable us to have conscious awareness of what we see, as explained Victor Lamme of the University of Amsterdam in a symposium on consciousness […]
Music and Memories Bound in the Brain: People’s Choice Award Winning Posters
CNS 2014 Blog Every time I hear “Let My Love Open the Door to Your Heart” by Pete Townshend, I am instantly transported to my sister’s wedding – and it’s not just the memory of the song: I remember little details that I would otherwise never think about again, such as the colors of the […]
From Learning in Infancy to Planning Ahead in Adulthood: Sleep’s Vital Role for Memory
CNS 2014 Press Release Boston – April 8, 2014 – Babies and young children make giant developmental leaps all of the time. Sometimes, it seems, even overnight they figure out how to recognize certain shapes or what the word “no” means no matter who says it. It turns out that making those leaps could be […]
Changing Children’s Cognitive Abilities Through Targeted Interventions
CNS 2014 Blog Our cognitive fates are not sealed – that was a powerful message that came out yesterday from a session on developmental cognitive neuroscience at the CNS meeting in Boston. In four talks, speakers laid out new ways neuroscience findings can help children learn, even if they are experiencing challenges because of a […]
The Social Circuits that Track How We Like People and Ideas
CNS 2014 Press Release Boston – April 7, 2014 – Whether at the office, dorm, PTA meeting, or any other social setting, we all know intuitively who the popular people are – who is most liked – even if we can’t always put our finger on why. That information is often critical to professional or […]
What Shapes a Child’s Sense of Humor?
CNS 2014 Blog You see a man in a tight-fitting scuba diving outfit approach the water and slip and fall – pretty funny stuff, right? New research tested this bit on children to see how their brains respond to humor. While the children found it funny, kids who rated themselves as having a lower sense […]
Memories of a Man Who Revolutionized How We Understand Memory
CNS 2014 Blog: Keynote Address by Suzanne Corkin Let’s test your memory: What did you eat for dinner last night? That’s an easy answer. How about what’s the capital of Paris? For most, that’s easy as well. How about this one: How do the pedals work on a bike? That one may be tougher to […]
