cognitive-neuroscience

Screaming at traffic or glitchy tech seems harmless, but it actively wires your brain for anger. Discover how everyday kindness protects your own peace of mind.

A staggering amount of brain activity takes place in this arena, where “countless signals come together to form a unified experience of reality.”

In the 1960s, worm-training experiments and their strange implications captivated the nation. Columnist Claire L. Evans follows the neuroscientists who attempted to recapture the magic. The post Are Memories Transferable — or Edible? first appeared on Quanta Magazine

We propose that current Neuroscience approaches can benefit from further integrating morphodynamics across different scales of brain organization and neural network emergent functions in complex systems. While emergence in neuroscience is commonly addressed at higher organizational levels, here we consider neuronal morphology itself as an emergent level of organization. Progressing from form-base…

For years, brain-training programs have advertised themselves as tools for improving memory, concentration, and overall brain health. Millions of people have downloaded apps or completed puzzles hoping to stay mentally sharp. Yet scientists have often debated whether these exercises truly improve thinking skills outside the training activity itself. A new study published in the Journal […] The po…

New research may upend the cognitive primacy of humans and other large-brained vertebrates The post Bumblebees Have Chimp-Like Problem-Solving Abilities Despite Tiny Brains appeared first on Nautilus .

People with mild cognitive impairment may go on to develop dementia, but some people never get worse and others can improve.

Schizophrenia involves emotional and cognitive deficits that are often unresponsive to medication, emphasizing the need for effective psychosocial rehabilitation. This narrative review and conceptual perspective explores the potential integration of expressive writing (EW) and digital cognitive therapy (DCT) as a proposed dual approach to support emotional regulation and cognitive recovery. EW ca…

Ever felt a sudden, creepy sense of dread in an old building? New research suggests the culprit isn't a ghost, but infrasound. These unheard, low-frequency vibrations can trick the body into feeling stressed, sad, and irritated.

A new study of over 18,000 adults suggests that the location of body fat, not just overall BMI, is critical to brain health. Researchers found evidence that deep belly fat is particularly damaging to the brain's white matter.

A recent study reveals that the human brain uses the physical length of a multi-digit number as a rapid visual shortcut to estimate its size, occurring within just 150 milliseconds of seeing the symbols.

Am thrilled to report here that Scilight just launched a new gold open-access journal , " Brain, AI and Cognition ", of which I am the editor in chief. Below you can see the front page of a leaflet I will soon be distributing at the AI4X conference in Singapore, where I am due to give an invited talk (the two events are unrelated, but I think it will be a good place to do some advertisement of th…

New research by Georgetown scientists shows how the brain rewires itself to automate learned tasks. The findings challenge a long-held understanding of how humans master complex skills, suggesting that true multitasking is really possible.

A new study shows that tau helps organize and preserve long-term memories, while abnormal tau may contribute to memory problems in Alzheimer’s disease by disrupting memory formation and recall. New research has revealed that tau, a protein closely linked to Alzheimer’s disease, is also essential for creating long-lasting memories. The findings could point to new [...]

Nature Communications, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-73896-2 The authors find that nutrient consumption enhances memory through vagus nerve-mediated septo-hippocampal acetylcholine signaling. Either surgical ablation of this pathway or Western diet exposure, which blunts vagal signaling, disrupts food-associated memory function.

Pitolisant, a histamine H3 receptor inverse agonist, improved recognition memory, working memory performance, and reinforcement learning in healthy adults. The findings suggest that histamine helps shape how the brain stabilizes new memories, accumulates evidence for decisions, and avoids overreacting to negative outcomes.

A new study by researchers at UC Davis Health and Kaiser Permanente found that higher exposure to very small air pollution particles (PM2.5) over a 17-year span was associated with lower semantic memory.

"Instead of studying all 8,000 kinds of neurons, we can instead understand how circuits work by studying these 200 modular elements that are wired together in various ways for different functions."

A new study finds higher long-term exposure to fine air pollution (PM2.5) is linked to lower semantic memory -- the type of memory used for facts, words and general knowledge.