STUDY: New Adult Brain Cells May Be Central To Lifelong Learning

In a recent study, researchers have shown that "new adult neurons showed a pattern of changing plasticity very similar to that seen in brain cells in newborn animals. That is, the new adult brain cells showed a 'critical period' in which they were highly plastic before they settled into the less plastic properties of mature brain cells. In newborn animals, such a critical period enables an important, early burst of wiring of new brain circuitry with experience..." more»

NEW JOURNAL: Mind, Brain, and Education

This journal will promote the integration of the diverse disciplines that investigate human learning and development -- to bring together education, biology, and cognitive science to form the new field of mind, brain, and education. more»

Human beings are unique in their ability to learn through schooling and diverse kinds of cultural instruction. Education plays a key role in cultural transformations: It allows members of a society, the young in particular, to efficiently acquire an ever-evolving body of knowledge and skills that took thousands of years to invent. It is time for education, biology, and cognitive science to join together to create a new science and practice of learning and development.

PERSPECTIVE: Can Cognitive Neuroscience Tell Us Anything About the Mind?

Does cognitive neuroscience really have the power to distinguish between psychological theories? more»

STUDY: The neural predictors of shopping

Specific patterns of brain activation predict subsequent purchases... more»