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Carnegie Mellon University

·May 25, 2023·3 min read

Rights or Rites? Reimagining Robots’ Moral Status through Confucian Lens

As robots become more pervasive in our society, the question of whether they should be granted rights is a subject of increasing debate. A new analysis challenges this view. Instead of rights, researchers propose we view robots as 'rites bearers', drawing on principles from Confucianism that emphasize social harmony and role obligations.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 23, 2023·4 min read

Basal Ganglia Pathway Key to Learning, Not Motor Control

In a radical shift from the past 30 years of neuroscience, researchers have discovered that the basal ganglia, a crucial part of the brain involved in motor control and learning, plays a more significant role in learning than previously thought. Contradicting long-standing beliefs, the study shows that the "indirect pathway" in the basal ganglia drives learning rather than motor control.

This shows a person in a wheelchair using the device

Featured Neuroscience

·March 20, 2023·1 min read

New Head-Worn Device to Control Mobile Manipulators Developed

A newly developed head-worn device allows users with movement disorders and paralysis to better control mobile manipulators, thus improving quality of life and increasing personal autonomy.

This shows a giraffe against a static gray and white background

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·January 25, 2023·3 min read

Movement Information Offers Critical Visual Cues

The brain uses motion cues to decipher how we see objects, a new study reports.

This shows a brain and a drawing of electrodes

Featured Neuroscience

·August 18, 2022·2 min read

Novel Method Aims to Demystify Communication in the Brain

A newly developed statistical method is able to disentangle signals relayed between brain areas, even when the communication between the brain areas is bidirectional.

This shows the robot doing different chores

Featured Neuroscience

·July 21, 2022·4 min read

Robots Learn Household Tasks by Watching Humans

A new robotic system can learn directly from human interaction videos and generalize the information at the task being completed. This makes the robot well suited to learn household chores effectively and efficiently.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 11, 2022·3 min read

Drinking Alone Foreshadows Future Alcohol Problems

Adolescents and young adults who drink alone are at greater risk of developing alcohol use disorder later in life.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 27, 2022·5 min read

How Abstract Concepts Are Represented in the Brain Across Cultures and Languages

Researchers explore the impact of different cultures and languages on the development of abstract thoughts in the brain, reporting those who grew up in different cultures and speak different languages form abstract concepts in the same brain region.

This shows the outline of a hand on a computer screen

Featured Neuroscience

·March 10, 2022·5 min read

Sensing Signals in Paralyzed Muscles

Researchers explore the use of myoelectric signals to detect intended hand gestures in patients with tetraplegia.

This shows a brain and a hand with lightening coming out of it

Featured Neuroscience

·March 1, 2022·4 min read

Disentangling Interactions Across Brain Areas

Feedforward and feedback signaling involves different neural activity patterns. The findings shed new light on how the brain processes visual information.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 13, 2021·3 min read

Does the Brain Learn in the Same Way That Machines Learn?

Relating machine learning to biological learning, researchers say while the two approaches aren't interchangeable, they can be harnessed to offer insights into how the human brain works.