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language

This shows a dog and toys like balls and ropes.

·September 19, 2025·5 min read

Dogs Can Classify Objects by Function, Not Just Appearance

A new study demonstrates that some highly gifted dogs can categorize objects not just by appearance, but by how they are used. When taught words like “pull” or “fetch,” these dogs later applied the concepts to brand-new toys through natural play, without training or explicit labeling.

This shows the outline of a head and speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 11, 2025·5 min read

Your Words May Reveal More Than You Think: AI Shows How

Psychologists are turning to artificial intelligence to uncover hidden psychological cues in speech, from word choice to tone and pacing.

This shows a speech therapist and a child.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 8, 2025·3 min read

Biofeedback Speeds Up Speech Therapy for Struggling Kids

A large-scale clinical trial tested biofeedback-based therapy for children with residual speech sound disorder, a condition where pronunciation errors persist past age eight. Biofeedback methods—like ultrasound imaging or acoustic displays—gave children visual cues to adjust their tongue movements, accelerating progress with difficult sounds such as “r.”

This shows people of different ages and speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 8, 2025·3 min read

How Teens and Adults Really Change Language

For decades, scholars believed children’s speech errors were the seeds of language change, but new research challenges that view. The study argues that everyday language use among adolescents and adults, not children, is the real driver of linguistic evolution.

This shows a mom and baby surrounded by speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 4, 2025·5 min read

Why Babies Babble: New Clues Reveal Language Origins

Human babies’ babbling is more than cute noise—it’s a feedback-driven learning strategy that sets the foundation for language. A new study shows that marmoset monkeys, despite being distant relatives, also babble and learn faster when adults respond, suggesting a shared mechanism.

This shows a map of the world with DNA and speech bubbles overlayed.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·August 30, 2025·5 min read

Genetics Reveal How Human Contact Shapes Language Evolution

A new study shows that genetic evidence of historical contact between populations reveals consistent patterns of language change. By combining genetic data with linguistic databases, researchers found that unrelated languages became 4–9% more similar after human contact.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 23, 2025·4 min read

Human Speech Follows a Universal Rhythm Every 1.6 Seconds

A large cross-linguistic study has revealed that human speech worldwide follows a universal rhythm, with intonation units appearing roughly every 1.6 seconds. These rhythmic chunks structure conversation, helping listeners track meaning, take turns, and absorb information.

This shows people surrounded by speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 16, 2025·5 min read

How Your Brain Strings Words Together

Speaking requires a precise sequence of muscle movements, long thought to be coordinated by Broca’s area in the brain. New research reveals that a different region, the middle precentral gyrus (mPrCG), plays a key role in planning and executing speech sequences.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 9, 2025·5 min read

Can AI Truly Grasp Colorful Metaphors Without Seeing Color?

A new study tested how humans and ChatGPT understand color metaphors, revealing key differences between lived experience and language-based AI. Surprisingly, colorblind and color-seeing humans showed similar comprehension, suggesting vision isn’t essential for interpreting metaphors.

This shows a child and an adult in a surgical mask.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 8, 2025·6 min read

Masks Don’t Muffle Word Learning: Toddlers Learn Without Seeing Mouths

Toddlers as young as two can successfully learn new words even when a speaker’s mouth or eyes are covered, a study shows. Researchers found that children’s ability to follow the speaker’s gaze and link words to objects drives vocabulary learning, not reliance on seeing mouth movements.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 26, 2025·4 min read

Why Baby Talk May Be Uniquely Human

Child-directed speech, or “baby talk,” plays a crucial role in language development and is a near-universal human behavior. Researchers investigated whether this vocal strategy is shared with our closest relatives—great apes—and found that humans use infant-directed speech far more frequently.

This shows a child, AI, and speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 24, 2025·4 min read

Why Children Learn Language Faster Than AI

Despite AI’s massive processing power, children still far outperform machines in learning language—and a new framework helps explain why. Unlike AI systems that passively absorb text, children learn through multisensory exploration, social interaction, and self-driven curiosity.

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language

Dogs Can Classify Objects by Function, Not Just Appearance

Your Words May Reveal More Than You Think: AI Shows How

Biofeedback Speeds Up Speech Therapy for Struggling Kids

How Teens and Adults Really Change Language

Why Babies Babble: New Clues Reveal Language Origins

Genetics Reveal How Human Contact Shapes Language Evolution

Human Speech Follows a Universal Rhythm Every 1.6 Seconds

How Your Brain Strings Words Together

Can AI Truly Grasp Colorful Metaphors Without Seeing Color?

Masks Don’t Muffle Word Learning: Toddlers Learn Without Seeing Mouths

Why Baby Talk May Be Uniquely Human

Why Children Learn Language Faster Than AI

Sugar Chains in the Brain: New Pathway Behind Depression Found

Glioblastoma Found to Erode Skull and Hijack Immune System

Motherhood Flips Brain Switch That Triggers Aggression

When Mom Struggles to Bond, Babies Sleep Worse

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