Microscopic eye movements affect how we see contrast
While the world may appear stable, our eyes are always jittering. Rochester research is showing how these eye movements, once thought to be inconsequential, are critical to our visual system.
The science of seeing art and color
In each of more than 40 paintings of the same scene—London’s Waterloo Bridge—Impressionist artist Claude Monet manipulates viewer perception in a way that scientists at the time did not completely understand.
Professor recognized for transforming understanding of human language
The Cognitive Sciences Society has presented longtime professor of brain and cognitive sciences Michael K. Tanenhaus with the David E. Rumelhart Prize, recognizing a “significant contribution to the theoretical foundations of human cognition.”
Six Rochester students receive NSF Graduate Research Fellowships
Four undergraduates and two graduate students have been selected to receive National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships, providing support for US students pursuing graduate degrees in STEM fields.
Two University graduates honored with Gates Cambridge scholarships
Two recent Rochester graduates are among 92 students chosen worldwide to be Gates Cambridge Scholars—the most prestigious international postgraduate scholarship offered by the University of Cambridge.
Professor studies complex brain networks involved in vision
Farran Briggs, a new associate professor of neuroscience and of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, studies how attention affects the brain’s ability to process visual information.
A professor and his robot study how we see
Meet Michele Rucci, a new professor in the University’s brain and cognitive sciences department, and his robot “Mr. T.” Rucci and his robot are using eye-tracking tools and virtual reality to replicate the small eye movements experienced by humans.
Training brains—young and old, sick and healthy—with virtual reality
Rochester researchers are using virtual reality-based brain training to better understand the brain’s plasticity in athletes who have experienced concussions and older adults with mild cognitive impairments. The goal? Improved therapeutic treatments patients can do at home.
Monkey sees. . . monkey knows?
Monkeys had higher confidence in their ability to remember an image when the visual contrast was high. These kinds of metacognitive illusions—false beliefs about how we learn or remember best—are shared by humans, leading brain and cognitive scientists to believe that metacognition could have an evolutionary basis.
Student work opens the brain to help surgeons remove tumors
Brain research does not take a summer vacation, and neither does Magdalena Granados ’19. The McNair Scholar is working on “awake language mapping” research designed to help neurosurgeons operate with greater precision.