Page 62 - Cognitive Sciences News Today

01/11/2021 - Anyone concerned about our future climate will soon be able to contribute to understanding the social dynamics of climate change by taking part in a “citizen science” experiment. In a donation-funded online simulation currently being developed by the non-profit company SCIARA in cooperation with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), users can playfully explore virtual climate futures, make decisions, and see the consequences. Based on the players behavior...

What exactly happens when we read computer code? Some interesting research was recently funded to find out by the National Science Foundation, the Department of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. Four researchers — three from MIT and one from Tufts University — performed MRI scans on the brains of dozens of participants performing “program comprehension tasks” in which they predicted a program’s out...

  Kathy Waller, MBA- Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award Kathy Waller is a Chief Financial Officer and Board Member with over 35 years of broad financial and operational leadership experience within the consumer and retail sectors.  She has a proven track record of success in driving transformations, delivering strong financial performance and forming strong relationships with investors and industry analysts. She has extensive knowledge across all areas of finance, including financial...

 E-Mail IMAGE: A 3-D animated image showing our synapse phagocytosis reporter in mouse hippocampus. Presynapses in green, astrocytes in white, and microglia in blue. Phagocytosed presynapses by glia were shown in red.... view more  Credit: KAIST Developing brains constantly sprout new neuronal connections called synapses as they learn and remember. Important connections -- the ones that are repeatedly introduced, such as how to avoid danger -- are nurtured and reinforced, while connec...

 E-Mail CAMBRIDGE, MA -- In some ways, learning to program a computer is similar to learning a new language. It requires learning new symbols and terms, which must be organized correctly to instruct the computer what to do. The computer code must also be clear enough that other programmers can read and understand it. In spite of those similarities, MIT neuroscientists have found that reading computer code does not activate the regions of the brain that are involved in language processing. Inst...

Caption: An “agent” and an “observer” demonstrate how a new MIT algorithm is capable of inferring goals and plans, even when those plans might fail. Here, the agent makes a mistaken plan to reach the blue gem, which the observer infers as a possibility. Credits: Image courtesy of the researchers. Previous image Next image In a classic experiment on human social intelligence by psychologists Felix Warneken and Michael T...

Humans guard against illnesses by avoiding those who look or act sick. But how does that "behavioral immune system" contend with pandemics like coronavirus, which can spread without symptoms? Pathogen-avoidance psychology describes how people detect and react to cues of infection risk. "You may experience anxiety or in certain contexts you might experience disgust. Thats really tied to this idea of preventing infection, because the kinds of things that we become disgusted by are those that are ...

Caption: This cross-section of an organoid processed with SCOUT shows cells labeled with various antibodies to highlight different cell types: cell nuclei are in blue (DAPI dye), glia/neural progenitor nuclei are in red (anti-SOX2), glia/neural progenitor projections are in green (anti-vimentin), neuronal projections are in white (anti-B3-tubulin). Credits: Image courtesy of the Chung lab. Previous image Next image The ability ...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Unbiased, high-throughput analysis pipeline improves utility of “minibrains” for understanding development and diseases such as Zika infection. This cross-section of an organoid processed with SCOUT shows cells labeled with various antibodies to highlight different cell types: cell nuclei are in blue (DAPI dye), glia/neural progenitor nuclei are in red (anti-SOX2), glia/neural progenitor projections are in green (anti-vimentin), ...

IIT-Kanpur to set-up new Department of Cognitive Science The new department will study the working of the human mind and mechanisms in the brain involved in mental processes and interface. It will also develop new artificially intelligent and machine-learning interfaces, said IIT-Kanpur director. Updated: December 11, 2020 9:12:51 pm IIT-Kanpur campus (Source: official website) The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur will soon launch a new Department...