• For the Birds: Our Surprising Shared Singing Circuitry

    By lmunoz | February 12, 2016 | Comments Off on For the Birds: Our Surprising Shared Singing Circuitry

    When you think about which animals most closely resemble people, naturally thoughts turns to primates, our closest ancestors. But while nonhuman primates shared much neural wiring with people, when it comes to singing, it may surprise you to learn that we take our notes from songbirds. A new study suggests that people and songbirds draw […]

  • Stoking the Motivational Fire: Neuroscience Guides the Way

    By lmunoz | January 31, 2016 | Comments Off on 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 […]

  • Listening When Sounds Compete

    By lmunoz | January 15, 2016 | Comments Off on Listening When Sounds Compete

    As I write this, I am in a crowded room surrounded by different voices, a blowing A/C, footsteps down the hall and the sound of typing from various laptops. How can I best focus on a single voice? Turns out the background noise matters: According to a new study, our brain uniquely processes different types […]

  • You Look Familiar: How Physical Similarity May Contribute to Stereotyping

    By lmunoz | January 11, 2016 | Comments Off on You Look Familiar: How Physical Similarity May Contribute to Stereotyping

    Guest Post by Brandon Levy, NIMH In February 2012, Florida neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin after calling 911 to report a “suspicious person” in his neighborhood. In November 2014, 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot by a Cleveland police officer while playing in a public park with a toy gun. Nearly […]

  • Press Registration is Open for CNS 2016 in NYC

    By lmunoz | January 8, 2016 | Comments Off on Press Registration is Open for CNS 2016 in NYC

    CNS 2016: Advances for Brain Science and Society Join us in the Big Apple to explore the underlying nature of how we think! Press registration is now open for the Cognitive Neuroscience Society annual conference, April 2-5, 2016, in New York City, at the New York Hilton Midtown. Get great story ideas and connect with […]

  • 15 Cognitive Neuroscience Stories for 2015

    By lmunoz | December 23, 2015 | Comments Off on 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 […]

  • Simulating Real-World Emotion in the Lab: A New Method

    By lmunoz | December 7, 2015 | Comments Off on Simulating Real-World Emotion in the Lab: A New Method

    There are many moments in a day where we might have a brief emotional reaction to something – like smiling when we see a baby smile or grimacing when we see a baby crying. We experience continuum of emotions from the very brief in-the-moment reactions to the sustained emotions that impact our behavior at a […]

  • Teasing Apart Depression from Traumatic Brain Injury

    By lmunoz | November 18, 2015 | Comments Off on 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?

    By lmunoz | November 7, 2015 | Comments Off on 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 […]

  • Strategic Exploration in the Teen Brain

    By lmunoz | November 5, 2015 | Comments Off on Strategic Exploration in the Teen Brain

    Teenagers like to explore and push boundaries but not all exploration is the same. Neuroscientists have yet to fully distinguish between risk-taking, for example, as compared with strategically exploring novel experiences. A new study shows marked differences in brain activity among individual teens who are more or less exploratory. The work could help shape future […]

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