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Cognition

Researchers studied social learning in the birds by introducing a novel food item: colorfully dyed almonds.

Wild Cockatoos Learn Which Snacks Are Safe to Eat by Copying Their Friends, New Research Suggests

Munching on the wrong items can lead to illness, but social learning might help the birds avoid making a potentially deadly mistake. The phenomenon could help explain why certain cockatoos have fared so well in urban environments

The hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe pelliculosa, which contains psilocybin

How Do Different Psychedelics Affect the Brain? Scientists Analyzed More Than 500 Neural Scans to Find Out

A new study suggests that four psychoactive compounds work in surprisingly similar ways, and that they break down the separation between how we think internally and how we perceive the outside world

Becoming an expert birder might support brain health, according to a new study.

Becoming an Expert Birder Can Reshape Your Brain and Might Help Protect It From Aging, New Research Suggests

Compared with novices, seasoned birders had denser, more structurally complex brain regions involved with tasks like object identification, visual processing, attention and working memory

A donated super-ager brain

Some People Keep Razor-Sharp Minds Into Their 80s and Beyond. A New Study Reveals Their Secrets

“Super-agers” seem to produce more new nerve cells in a brain region important for memory than other people their age

Researchers asked participants, at an average of about 80 years old, to report their exposure to intellectual enrichment throughout their lives, and then tracked them for around eight years.

Lifelong Learning Might Lower Your Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s Disease, a New Study Suggests

While the research does not point to a direct, causal link, it hints that activities like reading, writing and playing games might help extend cognitive function

The study involved nearly 132,000 participants whose habits were tracked for roughly 40 years.

Your Daily Coffee Might Be Protecting Your Brain From Dementia, a New Study Suggests

Two to three caffeinated cups a day may help keep the cognitive condition away

Some solutions are reached incrementally, with logic or calculations. But others seem to just pop into your head—and neuroscientists are investigating how this happens.

‘Aha’ Moments Seem to Come Out of Nowhere. How Does the Brain Create These Sudden Bursts of Insight?

Neuroscientists are tracking the brain activity that underlies a cognitive breakthrough and unraveling how it might boost memory

The study involved pups like Miso, a 6-year-old male border collie from Canada who knows the names of about 200 toys.

New Research

Some Dogs Are ‘Gifted Word Learners’ That Learn Language by Eavesdropping—Just Like Human Toddlers

New research suggests prodigious pups that already have large vocabularies can learn new words by listening in on their owners’ conversations

Stimulants prescribed for ADHD target the parts of the brain related to wakefulness and reward, shown in yellow and orange, according to a new study.

How Do These ADHD Medications Work in the Brain? The Mechanisms Are Different Than Once Thought, a Study Suggests

Adderall, Ritalin and other stimulants prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder seem to work on brain areas involved with wakefulness and reward, rather than attention

Researchers studied thousands of brain scans to see how the organ's architecture changes over a lifetime.

Your Brain Goes Through Five Distinct Epochs of Neural Wiring During Your Lifetime, New Research Suggests

These eras of brain architecture are marked by four major turning points, which occur around the ages of 9, 32, 66 and 83, according to a new study

New research suggests multilingualism may slow cognitive aging. 

Neuroscientists Studied More Than 80,000 People and Found That Speaking Multiple Languages Might Slow Down Brain Aging

An enormous analysis of data from a broad array of participants found an association between multilingualism and cognitive aging

New research strives to understand what happens in the brain at the transitions between sleeping and being awake.

At the Mysterious Boundary Between Waking Life and Sleep, What Happens in the Brain?

Neuroscientists studying the shifts between sleep and awareness are finding many liminal states, which could help explain the disorders that can result when sleep transitions go wrong

Two chimpanzees sit in the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Uganda, where the study took place.

Chimpanzees Weigh Evidence to Make a Smart Choice, in a Process Resembling Human Rationality

When presented with multiple clues about the location of food, chimps revised their choices based only on stronger clues, indicating they were comparing the worth of pieces of information

Researchers found an association between moderate step counts and slower cognitive decline among people at risk of developing Alzheimer's. 

A Short Walk in the Park Might Slow Cognitive Decline in People at Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s

New research indicates that even moderate step counts, as low as 3,000 steps daily, were linked with delayed symptom onset

Subtly different brain areas light up in response to viewing certain colors, a new study suggests.

Do We See the Same Colors as Others? Study Suggests Brains Respond to the Same Hues in Similar Ways

Using MRI scans, researchers found that participants’ patterns of brain activity were alike when looking at certain colors. But people can still experience those colors differently

Researchers find that long thumbs in primates are consistently associated with big brains.

This Is What Our Thumbs Say About Our Brains, in a Pattern That Holds True for Other Primates

Researchers have found a link between long thumbs and big brains, suggesting the two features evolved together

The study found that regular exercise, along with other lifestyle changes, can slow cognitive decline in older adults.

Cognitive Decline Can Be Slowed Down With Lifestyle Changes, From Diet to Exercise and Social Time, New Study Suggests

A 2,100-participant clinical trial found that structured and self-guided lifestyle changes can improve cognitive capabilities in older, at-risk adults

A new study reveals that optimists show similar brain activity when they think about the future, while pessimists' neural patterns are more individual.

Optimists Really Are on the ‘Same Wavelength’ When They Think About the Future, New Study of Brain Activity Suggests

As the research participants thought about future scenarios, optimists displayed similar neural patterns, but pessimists showed more individualized brain activity

For the experiments, the scientists worked with plain-body octopuses (Callistoctopus aspilosomatis).

Octopuses Fall for the Rubber Hand Illusion, Just Like Humans, Pointing to a Sense of Body Ownership

The trick that plays with awareness of one’s own limb appeared to fool all six of the cephalopods tested in a series of experiments

A new study suggests dogs engage differently with TV programs based on their personalities.

How Do Dogs Watch TV? That Might Depend on Their Personalities, New Research Suggests

A survey-based study reveals how different dogs react to elements on TV, suggesting that personalized television enrichment could support animal welfare in shelters or at home

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