Cognition and Motivation

Picower Institute scientists study behaviors and cognitive processes including learning, memory, emotion, reasoning and consciousness. To learn more about these or other areas of inquiry, select them under Research Topics and you'll find relevant Picower people, discoveries and events.

September 9, 2026

Research Findings

Making a decision requires juggling a set of options without getting them confused or losing track of them. A new MIT study shows how ensembles of neurons encode information to maximize clarity throughout the process.

September 1, 2026

Research Findings

A new study reveals insights into populations of neurons affected by Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia, addiction, and other disorders.

August 19, 2026

Research Findings

The brain's ability to generate quick, nimble volitional thought—and a unified awareness of thought and experience—arises from analog computations carried out by electrical waves, MIT neuroscientists argue in a new review

July 20, 2026

Picower People

Brown, a renowned neuroscientist, anesthesiologist and statistician, has made numerous seminal contributions to basic science and clinical care alike. He joins two other professors in earning the honor this year

July 7, 2026

Research Findings

A new study adds evidence that electric fields in the brain help to organize and shape underlying neural activity via “ephaptic coupling.”

April 20, 2026

Research Findings

Neural interaction with bacteria, e.g. in the gut microbiome, has important effects on brains of animals from worms to people. A new study investigates how neurons sense bacteria by revealing, in nematodes, the bacterial signals that a key neuron detects

April 13, 2026

Research Findings

Challenging the classic view, two cognitive scientists argue in a new review that categorization is not a late, specialized stage of sensory processing. Instead, it is a core function operating at every level, anticipating bodily needs and motor plans.

April 10, 2026

Research Findings

How do nervous systems produce behaviors? A new MIT study provides a detailed mechanistic mapping of exactly what happens in the brains of C. elegans worms when they “follow their nose” to savor attractive odors or avoid unappealing ones

March 23, 2026

Research Feature

Picower Institute researchers and collaborators are inventing versatile new models of the brain to accelerate neuroscience discoveries and biomedical advances.

March 17, 2026

Research Findings

Discovering this common mechanism could lead to a universal anesthesia-delivery system to monitor patients more effectively.

March 11, 2026

Picower People

Tsai, who has grown the MIT neuroscience institute, will increase focus on research including Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome

February 17, 2026

Picower People

Linlin Fan uses innovative optical tools to precisely investigate how connections change among neurons during memory formation. With Sloan Foundation support, she plans to give the technology a significant upgrade

How the brain keeps its options straight at decision time

Atlas of the brain’s striatum could guide researchers to new drug treatments

Cognition and consciousness arise from analog computations, says new theory

MIT names Emery N. Brown an "Institute Professor," its highest faculty honor

Electric fields help guide neural activity, even from moment to moment

How neurons sense bacteria in the gut

A complete rethinking of how our brains use categories to make sense of the world

With navigating nematodes, scientists map out how brains implement behaviors

Brain Simulation

Three anesthesia drugs all have the same effect in the brain, MIT researchers find

After 16+ years leading Picower Institute, Li-Huei Tsai will sharpen focus on research, teaching

Sloan Fellowship will help Fan advance technology to study how brain circuits change amid learning