Page 58 - Cognitive Sciences News Today

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The human auditory system is a marvel of biology. It can follow a conversation in a noisy restaurant, learn to recognize words from languages we’ve never heard before, and identify a familiar colleague by their footsteps as they walk by our office. So far, even the most sophisticated computational models cannot perform such tasks as well as the human auditory system, but MIT neuroscientist Josh McDermott hopes to change that. Achieving this goal would be ...

Office of the Scientific Director (OSD) - BSC Counselor - Matthew A. Wilson, Ph.D.

 E-Mail The decision to donate to a charity is often driven by emotion rather than by calculated assessments based on how to make the biggest impact. In a review article published on April 29 in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, researchers look at what they call "the psychology of (in)effective altruism" and how people can be encouraged to direct their charitable contributions in ways that allow them to get more bang for the buck--and help them to have a larger influence. "In the pas...

Credits: Photo: Zach Skiles Caption: Uniquely positioned to study the effect of combat on the brain, Omar Rutledge served as a U.S. Army infantryman in the 1st Armored and 25th Infantry Divisions. He was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from March 2003 to July 2004. Credits: Image courtesy of Omar Rutledge Caption: A member of John Gabrieli’s lab, MI...

The National Academy of Sciences has announced the election of 120 new members, including four APS Fellows, in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The newly elected NAS members include 59 women, the most in a single year, and 30 international members.   “The historic number of women elected this year reflects the critical contributions that they are making in many fields of science, as well as a concerted effort by our Academy to recognize...

Creating communication magic, without tricks Successful healthcare communications need to bring their audience on the journey as a willing and cognisant partner I was recently reading an interesting article published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, which was also picked up by the mainstream media. The topic was Mind Control Tricks: Magician’s Forcing and Free Will. Like most people I am enthralled and often baffled by magicians, both in close-up settings and on the stage. Magic makes great ...

Next image Five MIT faculty members are among more than 250 leaders from academia, business, public affairs, the humanities, and the arts elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the academy announced Thursday. One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to academy publications, as well as studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and Ame...

      The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Todays panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, Cohoes City Director of Operations Theresa Bourgeois, Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences at RPI and Director of the RPI-IBM Artificial Intelligence research collaboration Jim Hendler, and The Empire Reports J.P. Miller. Tags: 

Volunteers needed for Augmented Reality Study by Department of Computer Science We are looking for volunteers to take part in a study exploring how people may interact with future Augmented Reality (AR) interfaces. During the study, you will record videos of yourself tapping on a printed keyboard. The study takes approximately one hour, and you will be paid $15 for your time. You will complete the study at your home. To participate you must meet the following requirements: You must have access...

What does the study of domesticated birds tell us about the evolution of human language? IMAGE: Researchers analysed the genomic, neurobiological and singing-type differences between the domesticated Bengalese finch (see image above) and its closest wild relative. Image:  UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA Language is one of the most notable abilities humans have. It allows us to express complex meanings and transmit knowledge from generation to generation. An important question in human biology is how ...