91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳

Turns out, training artificial intelligence systems is not unlike raising a child. That’s why some AI researchers have begun mimicking the way children naturally acquire knowledge and learn about the world around them—through exploration, curiosity, gradual learning, and positive reinforcement.

Imagine being able to inscribe a new pattern of activity into a person’s brain that would allow for faster learning, or better treatment of psychiatric and developmental disorders such as depression or autism. Now imagine being able to do that in a way that doesn’t require brain surgery or any physical manipulation. Sounds like science fiction?

 researchers have demonstrated a noninvasive method using BL-OG, or bioluminescent optogenetics, that harnesses light to activate neurons in the brain. The ability to regulate brain activation could transform invasive procedures such as deep brain stimulation that are used to treat Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions.

A new study reveals that difficulties in adapting to changes in speech patterns may affect how adolescents with autism understand tone and meaning.

91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Neuroscience major and right-hander Nolan Sparks was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 381st pick in the 13th round of the 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft.

Duje Tadin, chair of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS), has been named interim dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. In this role—a position he also held in summer 2023, just before Nicole Sampson began as dean—Tadin will assume oversight of the school’s 19 departments and numerous centers, institutes, and programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Researchers find that blinking plays a pivotal role in processing visual information—adding to a growing body of evidence revising our conventional views of vision.

The Edward Peck Curtis Awards for graduate student teaching are given to a small number of full-time graduate students who have a role in undergraduate education. Recipients have assisted in undergraduate instruction, and have had significant face-to-face interaction with undergraduates in the classroom or laboratory.

VSS is pleased to welcome Dora Biro as the VSS 2024 Keynote Speaker.

Scientists at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Medical Center are joining research teams across the globe to develop next-generation tools for visualizing connections in the human brain. Imaging and understanding the brain’s intricate circuitry at the cellular and microscopic level will advance new approaches to treat brain disorders like Tourette’s syndrome, Parkinson’s disease, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Duje Tadin, PhD, chair of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ studies this to understand how visual perception differs in conditions like autism, stroke, and schizophrenia.

In the summer of 2021, the and the City College of New York launched the partnership program NEUROCITY. Using the as a model, organizers created a program that has, to date, put nearly 30 undergraduate students from historically marginalized backgrounds in research labs across the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ and 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Medical Center campuses.

Have you ever made a great catch—like saving a phone from dropping into a toilet or catching an indoor cat from running outside? Those skills—the ability to grab a moving object—takes precise interactions within and between our visual and motor systems. Researchers at the  have found that the ability to visually predict movement may be an important part of the ability to make a great catch—or grab a moving object.

Scientists have long sought to understand how we humans can perceive the world as stable as our eyes are constantly moving. Past research has suggested that, in the intervals between voluntary gaze shifts, the human visual system builds a picture of a stable world by relying solely on sensory inputs from fixational eye movements. According to new research by a team at the , however, there may be another contributing factor.

Ten projects supported with seed funding from the Goergen Institute for Data Science this year demonstrate how machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) are transforming the way  researchers—across all disciplines—address challenging problems.

 has participated in fantasy football since 2006. But it wasn’t until the fall of 2012 that Miller, a professor of  at the , realized she could combine her expertise in neuroscience with her love of fantasy sports.

From The Atlantic: “Babies are pattern detectors,” says Elise Piazza, a 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ professor who has studied early-childhood communication through language and music. Piazza told me that singing creates a feedback loop, where a baby’s enjoyment motivates parents to sing more and builds parents’ confidence.

Six 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ researchers, including BCS professor Ralf Haefner, have received prestigious NSF awards for early-career faculty members. The awards, NSF’s most esteemed recognition for early-career faculty members, provide recipients with five years of funding to help lay the foundation for their future research.

A cross-disciplinary team of researchers from the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ is collaborating on a project to use virtual reality (VR) to study how humans combine and process light and sound. The first project will be a study of multisensory integration in autism, motivated by prior work showing that children with autism have atypical multisensory processing.

In a new paper published in the journal eLife, researchers at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳, including Greg DeAngelis, the George Eastman Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and his colleagues at Sungkyunkwan University and New York University, describe a novel neural mechanism involved in causal inference that helps the brain detect object motion during self-motion.

A group, mostly consisting of neuroscientists, meets bi-weekly outside the lab with a simple but powerful common purpose – to fundamentally change the bench.

The Autism Science Foundation (ASF), a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding innovative autism research and supporting families facing autism, today announced the recipients of its annual pre- and postdoctoral fellowship grants. BCS graduate student Emily Isenstein is among the recipients.

a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, has been jointly appointed as the Beverly Petterson Bishop and Charles W. Bishop Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

From The Washington Post
When asked the other day about a bakery near my home, I responded that I’d recently eaten its mouthwatering chocolate chip cookies. My wife corrected me, noting that the cookies I ate were actually oatmeal raisin. Why did I make this memory error?

In a , researchers at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳, including , a professor of , and Janis Intoy, a postdoctoral research associate in Rucci’s lab, further cement the evidence for the important role of these tiny movements.

The four recipients of this year’s Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student come from different disciplines. But they have several things in common.

“Science is nature’s art,” Mariana Espinosa-Polanco said. The art and psychiatry major is a rising senior at The City College New York (CCNY) and one of the eight scholars in the inaugural class of NEUROCITY. “I graduate in December and plan to continue to pursue science because of this experience.”

The Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience Diversity Commission (NDC) is working to create a pipeline for underrepresented minorities interested in pursuing neuroscience research. Eight undergraduate students from City College of New York (CCNY) are living and working at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ this summer as part of a new program called NEUROCITY. NEUROCITY is a partnership between the University and City College New York.

Lulu Abdullahi (right), a junior at East High School in the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ City School District, practices soldering to repair an experiment component with Manuel Gomez-Ramirez, an assistant professor in the University’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. For six weeks, Abdullahi and a classmate visited the River Campus as part of  that gives underrepresented high school students access to scientific research experiences in an academic setting. In the fall, the program will expand to six students who will rotate through multiple 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ labs during the academic year.

Four University faculty members, including Martina Poletti, representing “some of the most promising young men and women in the early stages of their academic careers,” have been awarded James P. Wilmot Distinguished Assistant Professorships at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳.

Up to half-a-million people each year suffer occipital strokes that cause loss to some portion of their vision, permanently affecting how they navigate through life.

VSS is pleased to present the 2021 Young Investigator Award to Martina Poletti. Dr. Poletti is an assistant professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳. She is recognized for fundamental contributions to our understanding of eye movements, microsaccades, and the nature of visual-motor function and attention within the foveola. She received her Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree at the University of Padova, and completed her doctoral and postdoctoral work at Boston University.

Have you ever wondered why you are able to hear a sentence and understand its meaning – given that the same words in a different order would have an entirely different meaning? New research involving neuroimaging and A.I., describes the complex network within the brain that comprehends the meaning of a spoken sentence.

Two  researchers in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences are being honored with a celebrated award for their contributions to and leadership in the scientific community.

Major NIH award to study how the brain infers structure from sensory signals may have applications for disorders like schizophrenia and offer insights for artificial intelligence.

New 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ research indicates some neurons may be more adept than previously thought in helping you perceive the motion of objects while you move through the world.

A person who has a stroke that causes vision loss is often told there is nothing they can do to improve or regain the vision they have lost.

91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ faculty member has been named one of this year’s recipients of a a national recognition awarded to young scientists considered to be potential future leaders in the scientific community.

Adam Snyder, Ph.D., joined the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience in July 2018 as an assistant professor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Neuroscience, and the Center for Visual Science. He received his B.A. in Language and Mind from New York University and went on to complete his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience from the City College of New York. His research focuses primarily on vision, visual attention and memory.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of 126 extraordinary early career researchers as recipients of the 2020 Sloan Research Fellowships. Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships honor scholars in the U.S. and Canada whose creativity, leadership, and independent research achievements make them some of the most promising researchers working today.

Researchers previously assumed that visual acuity was primarily determined by the optics of the eye and the anatomy of the retina. Now, researchers from the —including , a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, and , a neuroscience graduate student at Boston University and a research assistant in Rucci’s lab in 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳—show that small eye movements humans aren’t even aware of making play a large role in humans’ visual acuity. The research, published in the journal , may lead to improved treatments and therapies for vision impairments.

Farran Briggs, Ph.D., joined the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience in 2017 as an associate professor in the Departments of Neuroscience, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and the Center for Visual Sciences. She received her B.A. in Biology from Dartmouth College and Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. Her work focuses on neuronal circuits in the visual system, and how attention affects the brain’s ability to process visual information.

When Karl Rosengren’s oldest daughter was a toddler, he and his wife—91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳’s new president, —observed her attempting to get into a doll-sized toy car that was no bigger than her foot.

A $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation will provide additional impetus to a initiative applying augmented and virtual reality in health, education, product design, remote communication, entertainment, and other fields.

This summer, Manuel Gomez-Ramirez arrived from Brown University to join the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ (UR) as an assistant professor in the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) and Neuroscience. His Haptic Perception Lab will focus on developing mechanistic models of how objects are perceived and manipulated with our hands, with the ultimate goal of using these models to optimize neural stimulation strategies for brain-computer interfaces and neuroprosthetics. We sat down with Manny, the guitar-playing, cocktail-making neuroscientist, to talk about what he’s most looking forward to at UR.

According to new research from scientists at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳, one reason human beings are good at discerning smaller moving objects in the foreground is that the brain becomes desensitized to the motion in the larger background. Conversely, when a person’s brain is more sensitive to background motion, the negative trade-off is that she will be less sensitive to smaller foreground objects. The research, published in the journal Nature Communications, could lead to new training programs for elderly adults and patients with conditions such as schizophrenia, which has been linked to weaker motion segregation.

Practice results in better learning. Consider learning a musical instrument, for example: the more one practices, the better one will be able to learn to play. The same holds true for cognition and visual perception: with practice, a person can learn to see better—and this is the case for both healthy adults and patients who experience vision loss because of a traumatic brain injury or stroke.

Congratulations to Farran Briggs, Jude Mitchell, and Michele Rucci, who were all 2019 recipients of University Research Awards (URA).  Originally called Provost’s Multidisciplinary Awards, the University Research Awards (URA) provide "seed" grants for promising, high-risk projects, says Robert Clark, provost and senior vice president for research.

Hannah Dick ’19, ’19E knew she wanted to pursue a college degree in music. But that wasn’t all. Graduating with dual degrees in percussion and brain and cognitive science, she plans to use music to help people.

From New Scientist: As you , your brain stores about 1.5 megabytes of information just a little over the amount that would fill a floppy disc (that is what the picture for the represents, if you are too young to remember them).

It is often difficult for a driver to see a person walking on the side of the road at night—especially if the person is wearing dark colors. One of the factors causing this difficulty is a decrease in contrast, making it hard to segment an object, such as a person, from its background.

During three trips to London at the turn of the 20th century, Claude Monet painted more than 40 versions of a single scene: the Waterloo Bridge over the Thames River. Monet’s main subject was not the bridge itself, however; he was most captivated by the landscape and atmosphere of the scene, with its transitory light, fog, and mist.

The ability to focus attention is a fundamental challenge that the brain must solve and one that is essential to navigating our daily lives. In developmental disorders such as Autism this ability is impaired. New research published in the journal Nature Communications shows that nerve cells maintain a state of balance when preparing to interpret what we see and this may explain why the healthy brain can block out distractions.

Michael K. Tanenhaus, a longtime professor of  is being recognized for work that has “transformed our understanding of human language and its relation to perception, action, and communication” by the premier academic society in his field.

A diversity of subject matter was on display this year at the 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳’s annual . Students presented projects in topics ranging from fluid dynamics, deforestation in Bolivia, and nomad cultures in Morocco to prenatal depression, meteorites, and software that affects education.

Our brains are made up of an intricate network of neurons. Understanding the complex neuronal circuits—the connections of these neurons—is important in understanding how our brains process visual information.

Vision and art have always played a large role in Michele Rucci’s life.

An accidental discovery by 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ researchers in 2003 touched off a wave of research into the area of neuroplasticity in adults, or how the brain’s neural connections change throughout a person’s lifespan.