The wiring and rewiring of the brain never ends. Neural pathways are constantly being reshaped as we interact with the world and learn new things. At MIT’s McGovern Institute and York University in Toronto, scientists are combining detailed analysis of brain activity with computational modeling to better understand that change. McGovern Institute postdoctoral fellow Lynn […]
Some people find it useful to talk through their problems—but language isn’t necessary for logical reasoning, cognitive neuroscientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute say. In research published today in the journal PNAS, researchers led by McGovern Institute investigator Evelina Fedorenko have shown that people can perform well on tasks that require logical reasoning even if their […]
For decades, neuroscientists have known that specific regions in the brain’s left hemisphere are responsible for processing language. However, a new study from MIT shows that language processing also occurs in many other parts of the brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from more than 700 people, the researchers identified 17 additional regions […]
MIT has appointed McGovern faculty members Sven Dorkenwald and Josh McDermott to named professorships that will provide additional support for their “outstanding research and educational careers.” Named professorships at MIT are prestigious endowed faculty chairs that provide crucial financial support for both junior faculty and senior scholars, enabling them to pursue bold research and global […]
If you are crossing an unfamiliar room in the dark, you may grope around a bit to get a sense of your space. But for many animals, feeling out a space comes more naturally. A mouse, for instance, can efficiently navigate in the dark just by grazing its whiskers against walls and other obstacles. Fan […]
