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How we feel has a big impact on how we respond to the same sensory information. For example, a plate of cookies could be enticing or uninteresting, depending on whether you’re hungry or full. But sometimes it can be quite difficult to define these “inner states",” especially in less expressive animals like flies. In a new study, scientists from Princeton use mathematical modeling to uncover the hidden internal states of singing flies.
Read MoreYou probably have no trouble distinguishing these two kittens from one another, even though they look very similar. You can also probably remember last night’s pasta dinner separately from last week’s pasta dinner. How does your brain differentiate between highly similar experiences? Join us as we dig into a new study from researchers at the Pasteur Institute in France, which uses virtual reality and sophisticated neural recording techniques to explore this very question.
Read MoreWhat do successful people have in common? Although cognitive abilities are often thought to play a leading role in achieving one’s academic or career goals, other factors like environmental conditions, hard work, and persistence in the face of failure might shape our skillset and influence success in a given path. Even Charles Darwin thought that intelligence -although helpful- had a limited contribution to success in humans compared with attributes like "grit", defined as “the passion and perseverance for long-term goals of personal significance”
Read MoreWhen you learn math, you do better on math tests - makes sense, right? But how does learning math change how the brain responds to math problems? If students are struggling with math, how does their brain activity change when they take part in tutoring?
Read MoreScience has been used as a tool of women’s oppression at least since Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection, and scientific rationalization of sexist perspectives has not yet fallen to the ash heap of history. Attempts to legitimize misogyny with neuroscience are in fact so common that Cordelia Fine, a historian of science, has coined the term “neurosexism” to describe the practice. Here we consider a 2015 scientific study from Daphna Joel and colleagues, “Sex Beyond the Genitalia: The human brain mosaic,” which explicitly takes up arms against neurosexism. Can we define brains as “male” or “female” in the first place? If so, what do we gain from doing so? Join us as we explore the intersection of misogyny and scientific data.
Read MoreDeepMind outperforms other AI models and performs impressive feats - but what exactly is it trying to do? Why are brains so good at adapting to new situations and learning from experiences?
Read MoreHave you ever wondered how singers like Adele and Beyonce are able to hit high and low notes with such flexibility and accuracy? Recently, a group of scientists at UCLA set out to investigate this very question. Read on to learn how our brains support our incredible ability to modulate the pitch of our voice during speech and song.
Read MoreWhen asked to imagine an alien, you might conjure up something with a large head, big eyes, and maybe some tentacles. But this description also fits a creature that lives here on earth, the octopus! In spite of our obvious differences, humans and octopuses may have some important features in common, such as how our brains allow us to socialize!
Read MoreEven during everyday interactions, our brains are hard at work. For example, how amazing is it that we can tune out our own voice, footsteps, or musical instrument so as to better hear sounds from other people? Read on to discover how the brain performs this incredible feat!
Read MoreWhen immediate early genes were first described in 1984, they were thought to be yet another set of proteins involved in the cell cycle. Recent research, however, suggests that these regulatory proteins may hold the key to understanding how the hippocampus forms and stores memories.
Read MoreHome of NeuWrite West and the Stanford Neuroblog.
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Note: The NeuWrite West team consists of research scientists. Therefore, we can not provide answers to questions of a medical nature; we are not medical doctors.
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