MIT McGovern Institute

The wiring and rewiring of the brain never ends. Neural pathways are constantly being reshaped as we interact with the world and learn new things. At MIT’s McGovern Institute and York University in Toronto, scientists are combining detailed analysis of brain activity with computational modeling to better understand that change. McGovern Institute postdoctoral fellow Lynn […] The post How visual l…

Some people find it useful to talk through their problems—but language isn’t necessary for logical reasoning, cognitive neuroscientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute say. In research published today in the journal PNAS, researchers led by McGovern Institute investigator Evelina Fedorenko have shown that people can perform well on tasks that require logical reasoning even if their […] The post Separ…

For decades, neuroscientists have known that specific regions in the brain’s left hemisphere are responsible for processing language. However, a new study from MIT shows that language processing also occurs in many other parts of the brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from more than 700 people, the researchers identified 17 additional regions […] The post The brain’s l…

MIT has appointed McGovern faculty members Sven Dorkenwald and Josh McDermott to named professorships that will provide additional support for their “outstanding research and educational careers.” Named professorships at MIT are prestigious endowed faculty chairs that provide crucial financial support for both junior faculty and senior scholars, enabling them to pursue bold research and global [……

If you are crossing an unfamiliar room in the dark, you may grope around a bit to get a sense of your space. But for many animals, feeling out a space comes more naturally. A mouse, for instance, can efficiently navigate in the dark just by grazing its whiskers against walls and other obstacles. Fan […] The post The brain’s internal ruler appeared first on MIT McGovern Institute .

When a friend buys you a cup of coffee, it’s likely that next time, you’ll return the gesture. This type of reciprocal generosity has been well-documented in behavioral economic studies. However, anthropologists and other social scientists have known for decades that in the context of relationships where one person has more power, status, or influence, […] The post Would you return a favor? Scien…

The brain’s capacity to use and understand language expands rapidly in the first years of life, as babies start to make sense of the words they hear and eventually begin to piece together sentences of their own. The language-processing parts of the brain that make this possible continue to evolve in older children, as they […] The post Language development in the brain appeared first on MIT McGov…

When doctors and scientists want to see inside a body, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful tool. MRI can noninvasively capture detailed images of the body’s muscles, organs, and bones. It can monitor blood flow to generate a map of brain activity. And with new sensors developed by bioengineers at MIT, MRI can track […] The post Brighter MRI signals appeared first on MIT McGovern Instit…

Using a new technique that can create vacancies at any site across a material and then shrink it to about 1/2,000 of its original volume, MIT researchers have designed nanotechnology devices that could be used for optical computing and other applications involving the manipulation of visible light. The new fabrication technique, known as “implosion carving,” allows researchers to imprint features…

MIT scientists Sven Dorkenwald and Whitney Henry have been named 2026 Searle Scholars, an award given annually to 15 exceptional early-career researchers in the fields of biomedical sciences and chemistry. Chosen by a scientific advisory board, Searle Scholars are considered among the most creative young researchers pursuing high-risk/high-reward research. The Searle Scholars Program is funded th…

Michale Fee, the Glen V. and Phyllis F. Dorflinger Professor of Neuroscience and head of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Fan Wang, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences, have been elected to join the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Fee and Wang, who are also investigators at the McGovern Institute for […] The post Michale Fee and Fan Wang Elected to the National Acad…

This story also appears in our Spring 2026 BrainScan newsletter. *** Schizophrenia, a complex and variable psychiatric disorder, changes people’s perceptions of reality. People with schizophrenia may hear, see, or sense things that aren’t there, and they often hold firm to mistaken ideas about the world despite strong evidence to the contrary. As if these […] The post A different reality appeared…