Brain Imaging
Powerful imaging methods like MRI and MEG provide neuroscientists with a detailed view of the human brain – including the spatial and temporal changes that occur as we interact with the world. Our researchers are using these tools to study how the brain develops from infancy, which regions underlie different aspects of our mental lives, […]
Research Areas
Understanding how the brain gives rise to the mind represents a great scientific challenge, and the answers will not come through any single approach or technique in isolation. A multidisciplinary effort is needed, and research at the McGovern Institute employs the full range of modern neuroscience techniques, from molecular genetics to functional neuroimaging, and computational […]
News
Unraveling the Mysteries of the Brain
SHERLOCK: A CRISPR tool to detect disease
New CRISPR-based tool has the potential to transform research and global public health.
How the brain switches between different sets of rules
Cognitive flexibility — the brain’s ability to switch between different rules or action plans depending on the context — is key to many of our everyday activities. For example, imagine you’re driving on a highway at 65 miles per hour. When you exit onto a local street, you realize that the situation has changed and […]
Brain activity pattern may be early sign of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia, a brain disorder that produces hallucinations, delusions, and cognitive impairments, usually strikes during adolescence or young adulthood. While some signs can suggest that a person is at high risk for developing the disorder, there is no way to definitively diagnose it until the first psychotic episode occurs. MIT neuroscientists working with researchers at Beth […]
Is it worth the risk?
During the Klondike Gold Rush, thousands of prospectors climbed Alaska’s dangerous Chilkoot Pass in search of riches. McGovern scientists are exploring how a once-overlooked part of the brain might be at the root of cost-benefit decisions like these. McGovern researchers are studying how the brain balances risk and reward to make decisions. Is it worth […]
Machines that learn language more like kids do
Children learn language by observing their environment, listening to the people around them, and connecting the dots between what they see and hear. Among other things, this helps children establish their language’s word order, such as where subjects and verbs fall in a sentence. In computing, learning language is the task of syntactic and semantic […]