It was a great 4 days of science in Boston at CNS 2018! The sun was out and it was warming up outside, while inside participants were treated to the last poster session of the meeting and a wonderful set of final symposia. Talks covered what makes musical rhythm special and sleep’s role in memory […]
We’re Hard Wired for Cranberry Sauce: Why Color Matters for Nutrition
Cranberry sauce is perhaps a non-obvious star of the Thanksgiving dinner table. With its rich red color – whether homemade or from the can – the holiday favorite is actually part of the hardwiring in our brain: A new study finds that people favor red-colored foods over green ones, and consistently undervalue the caloric content […]
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 […]
Dissecting the Agony and the Ecstasy of Win-Win Choices
Guest Post by Amitai Shenhav, Princeton University Tonight, after dinner, I will go out for ice cream at one of my favorite spots in Princeton. I will salivate in anticipation of my visit, delighting in all of the options that await me. I will carry that excitement with me as I enter the shop and examine all […]
What Triggers Spontaneous Memories of Emotional Events?
Whether we like it or not, sometimes distant memories of past events pop into our heads for no apparent reason. Study after study has found that memories associated with high emotions are more likely to spontaneously come to the surface than non-emotional ones. But these memories may lack specific details – cued by familiar surroundings […]
Sweet! Taste Metaphors Elicit More Emotion Than Literal Phrases
“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.” – Emily Dickinson Poets have long known that metaphors can elevate words to higher level. Now scientists know part of the reason why: A new study suggests that reading metaphors, specifically those with words associated with taste, recruits areas of the brain associated […]
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 […]
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 […]
Navigation and Recall: Why There Are Some Places We Just Can’t Forget
Even for those of us navigationally challenged, we may have vivid memories of exactly where we once saw a bad accident or a deer on the side of the road. These negative experiences boost our recall of places, according to new research. As a result, the very places we may want to forget are the […]
CNS 2013 Meeting: Moving Away from “Fear” to Unify Field of Mind Science
Behavioral scientists need to move away from using terms like “fear” when discussing the workings of the brain, to better integrate the study of the mind. That was Joseph LeDoux’s message during Tuesday morning’s keynote session at CNS 2013. The New York University-based scientist argued that, to minimize confusion around such terms as “fear” and […]
