CNS 2014 Blog: Q&A with Christopher Chatham It’s happens to all of us: times when we simply cannot stop ourselves mid-action, whether running a yellow (or red) light, making an inappropriate comment, or reaching for our buzzing phone during dinner. Most of the time, adults can overcome these impulses. Children, however, are notoriously different – […]
Fairness Comes Down to Individual Differences in Gut Reactions
Q&A with Christopher Frith We all want to be treated fairly but some of us care more about fairness than others. How you choose to split money with another person in a game says a lot about your view of fairness, researchers have found. New work reveals how differences in our choices to share resources […]
Our Visual World is Not Fact: Our Highly Flexible View of Race, Gender, Emotion, and More
CNS 2014 Blog Part 2 of 2 about the role of social context in how we see people We all know that long-held cultural stereotypes influence how we evaluate and interact with others. But what about how we actually – visually – see people? New research, for the first time, shows that stereotypes change how […]
We See Race – and Create Social Categories – Quickly
CNS 2014 Blog Part 1 of 2 about the role of social context in how we see people When you look at a face, you don’t just see what’s in front of you. You are also processing a whole host of social information about the person. And this happens fast – as quick as one-tenth […]
Our Brains Are Not Split When it Comes to Word Versus Face Recognition
CNS 2014 Blog: Q&A with Marlene Behrmann The idea of being left-brained or right-brained is pervasive in society. But scientists now know that it is not so simple. While some skills may over time develop to depend more on one side of the brain, the two hemispheres work interdependently from birth. Case in point is […]
Exercise for the Aging Brain
We all know that exercise is good for us, and a growing body of research shows that it helps our brains age well too. Scientists are now finding that physical activity is effective both at preventing and treating cognitive dysfunction over the course of a person’s life. Researchers are still working to understand how the […]
Remembering After We Sleep Could be a Smell Away
Just smelling my mom’s homemade lasagna evokes very particular memories from my childhood – the way the kitchen looked, silly conversations with my family over dinner, an outfit that I used to wear. Because smells can so effectively help us remember, they are a powerful tool for scientists studying memory. In a new study, researchers […]
How Toddlers Process Environmental Feedback
A young child’s first snow is not only fun but also a rich learning experience – figuring out that the driveway is slippery, that snow will mush in your hand, and just how much snow is needed to build a snowman. Each of these steps requires children to take in external feedback about the environment, […]
Listening to White Noise Improves Memory
Listening to a consistent “sh” noise could boost your memory, according to new research. Such white noise changes activity in the midbrain that is linked to learning and reward pathways. Past research had suggested a link between white noise and learning in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and in people learning arithmetic. The new work, […]
Press Registration Open for the CNS 2014 Annual Meeting in Boston
Explore the Nature of How We Think at the CNS 21st Annual Meeting in Boston Media Advisory (March 2014) The 21st annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) in Boston is only 2 weeks away! It will feature the latest research in memory, language, decision-making, perception, and more — in 50+ talks and 1,000+ posters. […]
