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learning

This shows people around a campfire talking.

·March 18, 2025·7 min read

When Did Humans First Speak? Genes Offer New Clues on Language Origins

New genetic research suggests that humans first developed language around 135,000 years ago when populations began geographically splitting, followed by widespread social use around 100,000 years ago. Using data from 15 genetic studies, researchers found that early human groups branched out approximately 135,000 years ago, which likely coincides with the origin of language as a cognitive system.

This shows adults, children and speech bubbles.

Featured Neuroscience

·March 1, 2025·4 min read

Multilingualism Starts Early: Study Challenges View on Language Learning

A new study of 121 infants in Accra, Ghana, reveals that babies regularly hear between two and six languages from multiple caregivers. Unlike the Western model of learning one language from a primary caregiver, these children acquire language through a dynamic social environment.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 19, 2025·6 min read

Brain Circuit Identifies What’s Familiar, Important, or Just Background

Scientists have identified a previously unknown brain circuit that rapidly evaluates sensory information by integrating memories and emotions. This direct feedback loop between the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus allows the brain to prioritize important sights and sounds almost instantly.

This shows a man at a computer and a marmoset.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 18, 2025·6 min read

Why We Keep Exploring Even After Learning the Best Strategy

A new study reveals that both humans and marmosets continue to adjust their behavior even after learning an optimal task strategy. Instead of sticking to a known successful approach, they subtly modify their responses based on their most recent experience.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·February 12, 2025·4 min read

Perfect Pitch Can Be Learned: Study Challenges Long-Held Beliefs

Absolute pitch, once thought to be an innate ability or only attainable through early childhood training, may be learnable in adulthood. Researchers trained 12 adult musicians in an eight-week online program, focusing on recognizing pitch class rather than specific pitch heights.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 7, 2025·6 min read

Brain Cells Use Muscle-Like Signals to Strengthen Learning and Memory

New research reveals that brain cells use a muscle-like signaling mechanism to relay information over long distances. Scientists discovered that dendrites, the branch-like extensions of neurons, contain a structured network of contact sites that amplify calcium signals—similar to how muscles contract.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 23, 2025·7 min read

AI Mimics Toddler-Like Learning to Unlock Human Cognition

A new AI model, based on the PV-RNN framework, learns to generalize language and actions in a manner similar to toddlers by integrating vision, proprioception, and language instructions. Unlike large language models (LLMs) that rely on vast datasets, this system uses embodied interactions to achieve compositionality while requiring less data and computational power.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 20, 2024·4 min read

How Alcohol Impairs the Brain’s Ability to Adapt and Learn

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) disrupts cognitive flexibility, crucial for learning and adapting to change. New research reveals that chronic alcohol exposure alters the firing patterns of cholinergic interneurons (CINs), key neurons in the brain’s striatum that regulate dopamine and influence reward-driven learning.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 12, 2024·6 min read

Slow-Wave Sleep Optimizes Memory Formation

New research shows that slow-wave sleep strengthens synaptic connections in the neocortex, making it more receptive to long-term memory formation. Researchers found that during deep sleep, synapses in the neocortex reach peak efficiency at precise moments within slow-wave oscillations.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 11, 2024·8 min read

Distinctive Neural Wiring Enhances Memory Storage

A new study has revealed distinct features of the human hippocampus, a brain region critical for memory storage and retrieval, challenging the assumption that it functions like a scaled-up mouse brain. By analyzing living brain tissue from epilepsy patients, researchers found that human hippocampal CA3 neurons exhibit sparse yet highly reliable connections, optimizing memory storage and retrieval. Unlike rodent brains, these unique wiring patterns enable the human brain to encode associative memories with greater efficiency.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 10, 2024·7 min read

How Sleep Shapes Our Brain’s Mental Navigational Maps

A new study reveals how the brain forms cohesive mental maps of spaces and highlights the critical role of sleep in this process. While "place cells" in the hippocampus mark specific locations, weaker spatial cells stitch these points into a comprehensive cognitive map.

Featured Neuroscience Neuroscience Videos

·December 9, 2024·6 min read

Can We Program the Brain to Learn Without Teaching?

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking technique to “write” new learning patterns directly into the brain using real-time neurofeedback from fMRI imaging. Participants in the study learned new visual object categories without explicit teaching, as their brain activity was subtly shaped to align with predesignated patterns.

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learning

When Did Humans First Speak? Genes Offer New Clues on Language Origins

Multilingualism Starts Early: Study Challenges View on Language Learning

Brain Circuit Identifies What’s Familiar, Important, or Just Background

Why We Keep Exploring Even After Learning the Best Strategy

Perfect Pitch Can Be Learned: Study Challenges Long-Held Beliefs

Brain Cells Use Muscle-Like Signals to Strengthen Learning and Memory

AI Mimics Toddler-Like Learning to Unlock Human Cognition

How Alcohol Impairs the Brain’s Ability to Adapt and Learn

Slow-Wave Sleep Optimizes Memory Formation

Distinctive Neural Wiring Enhances Memory Storage

How Sleep Shapes Our Brain’s Mental Navigational Maps

Can We Program the Brain to Learn Without Teaching?

Psilocybin Unlocks Lost Memories in an Alzheimer’s Patient

GLP-1s Linked to Low Blood Pressure and Fainting Spikes

Autophagy Decline in Older Moms Halts Embryo Development

GLP-1 Therapies Silence Spontaneous Physical Activity

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