MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

A new study of Rett syndrome highlights potential for personalized treatment. MIT researchers tracked how two different mutations alter neural circuit development in organoids and how each could be addressed with distinct potential therapeutics. picower.mit.edu/news/rett-synd…

A new paper in @NatRevNeurosci challenges decades of dogma about how and why the brain boils down what it sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels into categories. picower.mit.edu/news/complete-… #neuroscience #cognition @mitbrainandcog @ScienceMIT @Northeastern

McGovern study finds that audiobooks help students learn new words—especially when paired with one-on-one instruction. 👇mcgovern.mit.edu/2026/03/20/lea…

How do nervous systems produce behaviors? A new MIT study maps exactly what happens in the brains of C. elegans worms when they “follow their nose” to savor attractive odors or avoid unappealing ones. picower.mit.edu/news/navigatin… #neuroscience @mitbrainandcog @ScienceMIT

Impairments of a brain circuit necessary for processing new information may help to explain why some people with schizophrenia lose touch with reality, according to a new McGovern study.👇 @mitbrainandcog @ScienceMIT mcgovern.mit.edu/2026/03/18/bra…

New discovery! Three different anesthetics each similarly destabilize neural activity. The insight could lead to a universal anesthesia delivery system to monitor patient consciousness and dosing more effectively. picower.mit.edu/news/three-ane… #neuroscience @mitbrainandcog @mitscience

How the brain handles the “cocktail party problem”: Using a computational model, MIT neuroscientists showed how the brain can selectively focus attention on one voice among others in a noisy environment: news.mit.edu/2026/how-brain…

How does the brain know which neurons to adjust during learning in order to optimize behavior? MIT researchers discovered that brains can use cell-by-cell error signals to do this — surprisingly similar to how AI systems are trained via backpropagation. mcgovern.mit.edu/2026/02/25/neu…

Three new neural network-based tools enable fast, accurate alignment and annotation of images even in wiggly subjects🪱🪼. The tools might offer a way to automate cell tracking in other imaging datasets, too. picower.mit.edu/news/worms-and… #neuroscience #AI @mitbrainandcog @ScienceMIT

Look 👀 who is #78 on @Forbes list of America's greatest innovators! Congrats Professor @zhangf! forbes.com/sites/alexknap…

🎉We (and 500 fellow local residents) had an awesome time @MITMuseum's After Dark last night. @MillerLabMIT and Matt Wilson's talks anchored the "Memory Lab" theme along with demos (including one by Takato Honda), and Earl and Steve Flavell's band Clever Hans!

Fragile X study uncovers brainwave biomarker bridging humans and mice. picower.mit.edu/news/fragile-x… @mitbrainandcog @ScienceMIT #Autism @FRAXAresearch

There's still time to apply to our Research Scholars post-baccalaureate program! Applications close Feb. 15. Learn more: bcs.mit.edu/postbac1

Our researchers don't just study the brain - they help young students see themselves as future neuroscientists. @mitbrainandcog research scholar Zadriana Smith + postdoc @HalieOlson recently took time away from their labs to inspire the next generation of neuroscientists! ✨

MIT researchers @_coltoncasto @ev_fedorenko have found a "satellite" component of the brain’s dedicated language network in the cerebellum, a region better known for coordinating movement. Learn more 👉mcgovern.mit.edu/2026/01/22/lan… @NeuroCellPress paper 👉cell.com/neuron/fulltex…

For decades, Prof. Ted Gibson has taught the meaning of language to 1st-year graduate students in MIT's Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. His new book brings together his years of teaching and research to detail the rules of how words combine: bcs.mit.edu/news/simpler-w…

Thinking about flaking on social plans this weekend? You may want to reconsider. BCS Professor Rebecca Saxe explains on @MorningEdition: wgbh.org/culture/2025-1…

Today, we officially welcome @sdorkenw to the McGovern + @mitbrainandcog families! Prof Dorkenwald reconstructs maps of neuronal circuits to investigate how they support complex computations in the brain. Please join us in welcoming him to MIT! 🥳 mcgovern.mit.edu/2025/12/15/all…

How a unique class of neurons may set the table for brain development picower.mit.edu/news/how-uniqu… #neuroscience #brain #development @ScienceMIT @MITBiology @mitbrainandcog

In @CurrentBiology, the lab of @MillerLabMIT provides new evidence that the brain recruits and controls ad hoc groups of neurons for cognitive tasks by applying brain waves to patches of the cortex picower.mit.edu/news/flexibly-… #neuroscience @mitbrainandcog @ScienceMIT #cognition