When we listen to spoken words, the sound enters our ears and is converted into electrical signals. Those signals then travel through the brainstem and into the auditory processing regions of the brain. Christina Zhao at I-LABS and colleagues at UC Berkeley and Johns Hopkins traced that path in the brain using EEG electrodes placed on listeners’ scalps.  Participants listened … Read More

Have you ever wondered what exactly is going on in the brains of babies as you return their coos and chat through the millionth diaper change? Turns out, quite a lot. Researchers at I-LABS looked at how the structure of babies’ brains change in response to early language input. Their findings, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, explored the effects … Read More

Psychology plays a considerable role in human health. New research shows that the level to which individuals identify with ‘all humanity’ is a reliable predictor of their willingness to contribute to the health of others. The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most pressing challenges to global society in the early 21st century. Research Scientist Dr. Rodolfo Cortes Barragan … Read More

I-LABS research on mother-child ‘brain synchrony’ during turn-taking. In a world-first experiment, I-LABS, along with Taiwanese and Japanese brain scientists, conducted a study of two-person neuroscience with mothers and their 5-year-old children using two magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain-imaging devices. I-LABS scientists have shown that verbal turn-taking and imitation are essential for language learning and social development in young children, but how … Read More

New book illuminates individual differences in brain function Most of us understand, on some level, that our unique ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving are related to the mechanics of our individual brains. Yet the majority of neuroscience research has focused on group averages—a way of sketching “typical” patterns of brain functioning. Professor Chantel Prat argues that this approach has moved the … Read More

Previous research has shown that well-structured teaching of phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and letter-to-sound mapping is crucial in building a solid foundation when learning to read. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, children worldwide did not have access to consistent and structured teaching and are, as a consequence, predicted to be behind in the development of their reading skills.  New research from … Read More