Using Fruits and Veggies to Break Down How We Remember and Identify Objects

September 4, 2014

Guest Post by Marc Coutanche, Yale University  From a young age, we learn the differences between a lemon and a lime and dozens of other fruit, making going to a farmer’s market to shop for fruit a seemingly simple task. But despite appearances, very little is simple about holding what you want […]

Coordinating Movement, Language, and Thoughts? An Expanded Role for the Cerebellum

August 23, 2014

Anytime we are using our coordination – whether taking a shot in golf or just reaching for a coffee mug – the cerebellum is at play. The small structure at the base of the brain is well-known to be critical in coordinating our movements, their precision and timing. But according […]

Running that Red Light? The Complex Drivers of Teenage Risk

August 16, 2014

You’ve been stuck in traffic forever and are waiting in a long lineup at a red light. The light finally turns green and you start slowly moving, only to find that the light turns yellow as soon as you approach the intersection. Do you go for it and run the […]

Stop Interrupting Me! Distractions Kill Writing Quality

August 12, 2014

Guest Post by Cyrus Foroughi, George Mason University The day before I began writing this post, I decided to run a small-scale case study on myself. I wanted to count the number of times I was interrupted during the day. I did not silence my phone nor did I disable […]

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Is Imagination Just Another Form of Remembering?

August 11, 2014

Now that we’re in the dog days of summer, I find myself imagining the perfect summer vacation – long trips to Greece, or maybe Fiji… somewhere I have never been. My imagined trips would not be complete without my memories from past trips – the feel of the breeze from […]

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Social Priorities: We Rapidly Process Communicative Cues

August 1, 2014

A smile, a wave, a head nod – seemingly small communicative gestures are of vital importance even for babies. And new research finds that the brain processes these social cues faster than previously thought, as quickly as 70 milliseconds. The finding gives insight into the brain’s priorities that may further […]

Why It’s So Tough for People in Power to Truly Feel Your Pain

July 28, 2014

I feel your pain. These words are famously associated with Bill Clinton, who as a politician seemed to ooze empathy. A skeptic might wonder, though, whether such a powerful figure really was personally distressed by the suffering of average Americans. Can people in high positions of power — be they […]

credit: Jonas Bergsten

How Loss of Hearing Leads to Improved Vision in the Deaf

July 22, 2014

We have all heard the amazing things the brain can do when deprived of one of the senses – stories about blind people with incredible hearing or deaf people with amazing visual skills. That is because the part of the brain responsible for hearing reorganizes itself in the deaf to […]

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Drawing Draws on Complex Cognitive Processes

July 14, 2014

Drawing objects seems like a simple task – most of us, from young to old, can copy simple pictures even if we lack artistic talent. An inability to draw simple pictures is often a symptom of a cognitive disorder or brain damage. New research looking at stroke patients has found that drawing depends […]

Bilingual sign in Wales

Unleashing the Power of the Bilingual Mind

July 8, 2014

Guest post by Anna M. Beres, Bangor University Writing or talking about my research in English is relatively easy. I do it everyday, even though my native language is Polish and I work in Wales, where I am constantly switching between English and Welsh. But whenever I try to explain my […]

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