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.

November 25, 2025

Research Findngs

A new MIT study illustrates how areas within the brain’s executive control center tailor their messages in specific circuits with other brain regions to influence them with information about behavior and internal feelings.

November 15, 2025

Picower People

On neuroscience’s big stage Nov. 15, MIT Professor Earl K. Miller proposed that thought and consciousness emerge from the fast and flexible organization of the cortex produced by the analog computations of brain waves.

November 3, 2025

Research Findngs

To get back on track after a distraction, the cortex appears to employ a rotating traveling wave, a new study by MIT neuroscientists finds.

October 28, 2025

Picower Events

Seven speakers from around the country convened at MIT to describe some of the latest research on the neural mechanisms that we need to survive.

October 27, 2025

Research Findngs

Five volunteers continued receiving 40Hz stimulation for around two years after an early-stage MIT clinical study. Those with late-onset Alzheimer’s performed significantly better on assessments than comparable Alzheimer’s patients outside the trial

October 20, 2025

Research Findngs

When spotting what’s changed from one scene to the next, performance will depend on a low-frequency “theta” brain wave that scans the mental image, a new MIT study shows.

September 29, 2025

Research Feature

Picower Institute studies reveal a number of ways moods emerge in the brain and therefore many potential paths to address depression, PTSD, anxiety and bipolar disorder.

September 22, 2025

Research Findngs

As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new MIT study shows.

June 9, 2025

New Research

Campuswide collaboration sparks new research to develop assistive technology, enhance interventions, decipher brain biochemistry, advance big data analysis, and assess the public’s understanding of dementia risk and protective factors.

May 12, 2025

Research Findings

MIT study finds that an easily measurable brain wave shift may be a universal marker of unconsciousness under anesthesia

May 12, 2025

Research Findings

Why does the brain split visual spatial perception between its hemispheres? A new review examines the advantages and trade-offs, and how the brain ultimately makes vision feel seamless.

April 28, 2025

Research Findings

Study shows how a dopamine circuit between two brain regions enables mice to extinguish fear after a peril has passed.

Prefrontal cortex reaches back into the brain to shape how other regions function

Brain waves’ analog organization of cortex enables cognition and consciousness, MIT professor proposes at SfN

After distractions, rotating brain waves may help thought circle back to the task

Symposium examines the neural circuits that keep us alive and well

Small study suggests 40Hz sensory stimulation may benefit some Alzheimer’s patients for years

Like radar, a brain wave sweeps a cortical region to read out information held in working memory

Many Mechanisms of Mood

How the brain splits up vision without you even noticing

Aging Brain Initiative seed grants fund five new projects to address neurodegenerative disease

Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase

The how and why of the brain’s division across hemispheres

Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten