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cognitive science

·January 30, 2013·3 min read

IBM’s Watson to Join Research Team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rensselaer becomes the first university of receive a version of IBM's Watson system. Rensselaer hopes to find new uses for Watson and develop its cognitive capabilities, as well as using the system for Big Data research.

Featured Psychology

·October 25, 2012·2 min read

Loneliness? It’s All a State of Mind

Researchers from UCL have found that lonely people have less grey matter in a part of the brain associated with decoding eye gaze and other social cues.

Neural network model is shown and described in the caption.

Featured Neurology

·October 24, 2012·3 min read

Like a Noisy Political Campaign, “Grassroots” Neurons Wire and Fire Together for Dominance in the Brain

Researchers found that neurons team up together to sway particular outcomes in the brain and take over the nervous system in the name of their preferred action or behavior.

An old picture shows a man on a tight rope crossing Niagara River.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·October 19, 2012·4 min read

Researchers Explore How the Brain Perceives Direction and Location

The Who asked “who are you?” but Dartmouth neurobiologist Jeffrey Taube “where are you?” and “where are you going?” Taube is not asking philosophical or theological questions. He is investigating nerve cells in the brain that function in establishing one’s location and direction.

Psychology

·October 15, 2012·3 min read

Language is Shaped by Brain’s Desire for Clarity and Ease

Using an artificial language in a carefully controlled laboratory experiment, researchers found that many changes to language are simply the brain's way of ensuring that communication is as precise and concise as possible.

A statue of a child playing an accordion is shown.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 9, 2012·2 min read

Neuroscientists Launch 5 Year Study of Music Education and Child Brain Development

Researchers at USC Brain and Creativity Institute will explore the effects of intense music training on cognitive development in LA Phil's YOLA at HOLA program. The five-year research project will offer researchers an opportunity to provide new insights and add data about the role of early music engagement in learning and brain function.

The numbers 1 through 9 are shown over a brain with two question marks over 3 and 5.

Featured Psychology

·October 5, 2012·4 min read

What Number is Halfway Between 1 and 9? Is it 5 or 3?

A new information-theoretical model of human sensory perception and memory sheds light on some peculiarities of the nervous system. Ask adults from the industrialized world what number is halfway between 1 and 9, and most will say 5. But pose the same question to small children, or people living in some traditional societies, and they're likely to answer 3.

Featured Psychology

·July 25, 2012·4 min read

Sum of the Parts? How Our Brains See Men as People and Women as Body Parts

Study finds that both genders process images of men, women differently.

Neuroscience

·July 18, 2012·3 min read

Do Dolphins Think Nonlinearly?

Dolphins blow bubble nets around schools of fish to help in hunting. Researchers may use the dolphin tactics to help make man-made sonar to detect targets such as mines in bubbly water.

Psychology

·January 17, 2012·2 min read