Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Numerous studies have found that playing action video games such as "Call of Duty" helps cognitive functioning. Brain and cognitive sciences professor Daphne Bavelier explains how shooting zombies can enhance brain skills. / Scientific American

A self-reinforcing cycle of large brains, early birth, vulnerable infants, and intelligent parents is at the center of a novel model of human intelligence developed by brain and cognitive science researchers.

Scientists have been studying curiosity since the 19th century, but combining techniques from several fields now makes it possible for the first time to study it with full scientific rigor, according to the authors of a new paper.

Because sound travels much more slowly than light, we can often see distant events before we hear them. That is why we can count the seconds between a lightning flash and its accompanying thunder. Now researchers in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences have shown that our brains can also detect and process sound delays that are too short to be noticed consciously, and that we use that information to fine tune what our eyes see when estimating distance.

A series of studies with infants 5 to 7 months old has shown that the portion of babies' brains responsible for visual processing responds not just to the presence of visual stimuli, but also to the mere expectation of visual stimuli.

Our brains track moving objects by applying one of the algorithms your phone’s GPS uses, according to researchers at the University of Rochester. This same algorithm also explains why we are fooled by several motion-related optical illusions, including the sudden “break” of baseball’s well known “curveball illusion.”

As social creatures, we tend to mimic each other’s posture, laughter, and other behaviors, including how we speak. Now a new study from brain and cognitive sciences researchers shows that people with similar views tend to more closely mirror, or align, each other’s speech patterns. In addition, people who are better at compromising align more closely.

Monkeys are notoriously curious, and new research has quantified just how eager they are to gain new information, even if there are not immediate benefits.

Each year, Forbes Magazine lists the top 30 people under the age of 30 who have reached notable success in their chosen field. Elika Bergelson, a research assistant professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, was selected for the 2015 list for her work on the development of language in infants.

Rochester scientists say they have an alternative to the standard explanation for why order matters when the human mind processes information. Ting Qian and Richard Aslin explain that our tendency to detect patterns is built into our cognitive processes, even when it’s at the risk of overestimating the importance of such patterns. (photo by Flickr user redwoodphotography made available under CC BY-ND 2.0)