Brain and cognitive sciences

Children participants in an "Unruly Art" session.

Learning more about the brain

Pawan Sinha explores the cognitive dynamics behind our visual understanding of the world around us.

March 24, 2016

The brain’s thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN), highlighted in the center, is responsible for blocking out distracting sensory input. "For autism, schizophrenia, and other neurodevelopmental disorders, it seems like TRN dysfunction may be involved in some patients,” Guoping Feng says.

Study reveals a basis for attention deficits

New findings could help scientists develop treatments for ADHD and other disorders.

March 23, 2016

Feng Zhang receives 2016 Canada Gairdner International Award

Broad/MIT scientist among five honored as pioneers of CRISPR-Cas9 system.

March 23, 2016

“I was always interested in biology but I felt that it’s important to get a solid training in chemistry and physics,” Feng Zhang says.

Toward a better understanding of the brain

Genome-editing pioneer Feng Zhang hopes his work will shed light on neurological disorders.

March 22, 2016

Pictured is an artist’s interpretation of neurons firing in sporadic, coordinated bursts. “By having these different bursts coming at different moments in time, you can keep different items in memory separate from one another,” Earl Miller says.

A new glimpse into working memory

Study finds bursts of neural activity as the brain holds information in mind, overturns a long-held model.

March 17, 2016

Researchers say the findings raise the possibility of developing future treatments that might reverse some of the memory loss seen in early-stage Alzheimer’s.

“Lost” memories can be found

Neuroscientists retrieve missing memories in mice with early Alzheimer’s symptoms.

March 16, 2016

The Pirahã reside along the Maici River, which branches off the Amazon in Brazil. MIT researchers are now making public the most extensive data set yet accumulated on the Pirahã language.

Bringing more data to language debate

Larger set of translations may shed light on an idiosyncratic Amazonian language.

March 9, 2016

"[W]e hope that our studies of vps-50 will provide insights into human neuropsychiatric disorders,” H. Robert Horvitz says.

Neuroscientists discover a gene that controls worms’ behavioral state

Gene required for the control of behavioral state is also found in humans, may be linked to autism.

March 3, 2016

McGovern Institute for Brain Research awards Scolnick Prize to neurogeneticist Cori Bargmann

Bargmann honored for her work on the genetic and neural mechanisms that control behavior in the nematode C. elegans.

March 1, 2016

MIT faculty recipients of the 2016 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers are: (clockwise from top left) Kay Tye, Cullen Buie, Tonio Buonassisi, and William Tisdale.

Four MIT faculty win Presidential Early Career Awards

Buie, Buonassisi, Tisdale, and Tye honored with the U.S. government's highest award for young scientists and engineers.

February 19, 2016

MIT senior takes on double major in brain and cognitive sciences plus theater arts

Abra Shen pursues medicine and theater, and someday hopes to combine the two.

February 19, 2016

Neuroscientists reverse autism symptoms

Turning on a gene later in life can restore typical behavior in mice.

February 17, 2016

In this image of the dorsal raphe nucleus, dopamine neurons are labeled in green, red, or both (appearing yellow).

Pinpointing loneliness in the brain

Scientists identify cells that represent feelings of isolation.

February 11, 2016

Cartoon stoplight with red "on" light illuminated. Green "off" light is dark.

A day in the life of a synapse reveals new facets of the adult brain

February 4, 2016

“We wanted to find the link,” Gloria Choi says. “How do you go all the way from the immune system in the mother to the child’s brain?”

How severe maternal inflammation can lead to autism-like behavior

Immune molecules in infected mothers tied to brain and behavior abnormalities in offspring.

January 28, 2016

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