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learning

·April 25, 2025·6 min read

Flexibility Beats Instinct: How Adaptable Learning Drives Success

Humans have an exceptional ability to learn socially, but most studies have focused on overly simplified tasks. In a new study using Minecraft, researchers found that the most successful participants dynamically balanced individual exploration and social learning. Adaptability, rather than relying solely on one strategy, predicted better performance across various environments.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 23, 2025·6 min read

Babies Learn Words Without Visuals

Infants as young as 15 months can use language context to infer the meaning of words referring to objects they’ve never seen. Researchers found that when 15-month-olds heard a new word in a familiar context—like "kumquat" during a conversation about fruit—they later identified the unseen object correctly.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 23, 2025·4 min read

Psychedelic Sparks Long-Term Brain Plasticity

A single dose of the psychedelic compound 25CN-NBOH significantly improved cognitive flexibility in mice, with effects lasting up to three weeks post-treatment. Treated mice adapted more quickly in rule-switching tasks, indicating enhanced neuroplasticity in the prefrontal cortex.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 22, 2025·6 min read

Your Brain Learns From Fear, Thanks to Dopamine

New research reveals how dopamine helps the brain learn to avoid unpleasant outcomes by responding differently in distinct brain regions during negative experiences. In a study with mice, scientists tracked dopamine activity over time as animals learned to escape an adverse event, showing that one brain area adapted early in learning while another supported long-term avoidance behavior.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 22, 2025·4 min read

Temporary Anxiety Impairs Threat Recognition and Learning

A brief episode of anxiety can significantly impair a person’s ability to distinguish between safe and dangerous environments, according to new research using a virtual reality flower-picking game. Participants who developed clear spatial memory of which areas contained “stinging bees” (simulated by mild shocks) exhibited lower anxiety, while those who couldn’t differentiate the zones maintained high anxiety—even in safe spaces.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 17, 2025·5 min read

Synapses Use Multiple Learning Rules to Encode New Information

New research reveals that individual neurons follow multiple learning rules simultaneously, challenging the long-held belief that synaptic plasticity operates uniformly throughout the brain. Using advanced two-photon imaging, scientists tracked changes in synapses during learning in mice, uncovering that different regions within a single neuron adapt using distinct plasticity mechanisms.

This shows a person and a digital brain.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·April 13, 2025·5 min read

How Psychology Has Shaped, and Continues to Shape, AI

Psychology has been instrumental in the evolution of artificial intelligence, offering foundational insights into learning, cognition, and behavior that have shaped key AI technologies. From early neural networks based on Hebbian learning to modern deep learning and metacognition, psychological theories continue to inform AI’s development.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 7, 2025·3 min read

Daydreaming Helps: Mind Wandering Aids Unconscious Learning

A new study finds that spontaneous mind wandering may actually boost learning during tasks that require minimal attention. Researchers recorded brain activity while participants completed a simple, low-effort learning task based on probability.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 1, 2025·5 min read

Brain Mapping Tool Reveals How Learning Rewires Synaptic Links

Researchers have developed DELTA, a powerful new imaging method that maps brain-wide synaptic changes during learning. By labeling synaptic proteins before and after behavioral training, scientists can now visualize where and how neural connections shift over time.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 31, 2025·5 min read

Glutamate Unlocks Brain Cell Channels to Enable Thinking and Learning

Researchers used advanced cryo-electron microscopy to capture atomic-level images of how glutamate, a key neurotransmitter, opens channels in brain cells. These channels, known as AMPA receptors, are essential for neuron-to-neuron communication and play a role in learning, memory, and disorders like epilepsy.

This is a drawing of a neuron and dendrites.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 21, 2025·5 min read

Dendrites Link Memories Formed Close in Time

A new study shows that our brains physically link memories formed close together in time through changes in the dendrites of neurons, rather than in the cell bodies. Using advanced imaging in mice, researchers found that the same dendritic branches are activated when closely timed experiences are encoded, effectively binding the memories.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 20, 2025·5 min read

Brain Activity Reveals How We Learn From Mistakes

New research uncovers how the brain processes learning by identifying the exact moment an animal learns a new skill. By observing individual neurons in mice, scientists found that learning occurs much faster than previously thought, in as few as 20 to 40 tries.