Behavior

MIT neuroscientists have discovered that making decisions, especially when choosing between two options that have both positive and negative elements, can be dramatically affected by chronic stress.

Stress can lead to risky decisions

Neuroscientists find chronic stress skews decisions toward higher-risk options.

November 16, 2017

The non-profit Young 1ove designed a course for Botswana schools called “No Sugar” that teaches young girls the high likelihood of contracting HIV from older men called "sugar daddies." Classes begin with ice breakers, such as singing and dancing exercises (shown here). The remainder of the class teaches students risk factors of sugar daddies and how to seek help. The course has reached more t...

Course helps girls in Botswana avoid HIV and “sugar daddies”

Youth-to-youth program teaches girls about the increased odds of contracting HIV from older men.

October 25, 2017

When negotiating, pride goeth before destruction

Study finds good feelings from one negotiation can damage subsequent performance.

October 24, 2017

Researchers found that babies who watched an adult struggle to complete tasks before succeeding tried harder at their own difficult task, compared to babies who saw an adult succeed without effort.

Babies can learn that hard work pays off

Study finds infants try harder after seeing adults struggle to achieve a goal.

September 21, 2017

MIT researchers have found that languages tend to divide the "warm" part of the color spectrum into more color words than the "cooler" regions, which makes communication of warmer colors more consistent. From left to right, this chart shows the order of most to least efficiently communicated colors, in English, Spanish, and Tsimane' languages.

Analyzing the language of color

Cognitive scientists find that people can more easily communicate warmer colors than cool ones.

September 18, 2017

“The question we’re asking is: Do retractions trigger, at an individual level, something like an infection mechanism, where the retracted author is being punished and discredited for being dishonest or just incompetent?” says Alessandro Bonatti, an associate professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

How retractions hurt scientists’ credibility

Study finds faulty research creates a significant drop in use of prior published work.

September 5, 2017

Pic2Recipe, an artificial intelligence system developed at MIT, can take a photo of an entree and suggest a similar recipe to it.

Artificial intelligence suggests recipes based on food photos

Given a still image of a dish filled with food, CSAIL team's deep-learning algorithm recommends ingredients and recipes.

July 20, 2017

mPath's MOXO sensor is a wearable that resembles a bulky smartwatch. Placed on the wrist, it wirelessly measures changes in skin conductance (subtle electrical changes across the skin), which reflect sympathetic nervous system activity and physiological arousal. Spikes in conductance can signal stress and frustration, while dips may indicate disinterest or boredom.

Wearable device reveals consumer emotions

Startup’s stress sensor tracks users’ unconscious responses to products and experiences.

July 12, 2017

“One of the most frequent questions that we get at J-PAL is a version of, ‘So a program worked in one place. Is it likely to work in my context?’” says Mary Ann Bates, the deputy executive director of J-PAL North America.

How J-PAL thinks globally and acts locally

Can an antipoverty program work in different settings? A new report presents a user’s guide to a tough issue.

June 28, 2017

“Adaptive Markets,” by Andrew Lo, published by Princeton University Press

Darwin visits Wall Street

Andrew Lo’s new book urges a rethink of financial markets, along evolutionary lines.

May 17, 2017

Catherine Good leads an interactive seminar on academic belonging with faculty, postdocs, and administrators from across MIT.

You belong @ MIT

A new initiative developed by the Teaching and Learning Lab is designed to increase students’ sense of academic belonging.

May 12, 2017

Stopping the revolving prison door

J-PAL North America tests innovative strategies to reduce recidivism and help inmates transition back to society.

May 10, 2017

WiGait uses wireless signals to continuously measure a person's walking speed, which may help predict cognitive and motor function decline, and even certain cardiac or pulmonary diseases.

Detecting walking speed with wireless signals

By measuring this emerging vital sign, CSAIL system could help monitor and diagnose health issues like cognitive decline and cardiac disease.

May 1, 2017

Richard Fletcher, research scientist in the MIT D-Lab

Revolutionizing global health

In more than 20 years working on wireless sensors and radio frequency identification (RFID), Richard Fletcher has produced several startups and over a dozen patents.

April 26, 2017

Brain circuit enables split-second decisions when cues conflict

New findings shed light on how we quickly assess risks and rewards before acting.

April 24, 2017

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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