Behavior

Decision points for the first player in an “envelope game” are graphed like the branches of a tree. In a game with two players, each has a potential payoff, but the first one’s actions determine the second one’s payoff in each round. Choices whether to gather more information by looking in an envelope that contains either a high or a low temptation and whether to cooperate or defect from t...

Using evolutionary dynamics and game theory to understand personal relations

MIT biophysicists apply mathematics from evolutionary biology to describe a surprising aspect of human behavior.

January 5, 2017

"Song of the Human" made its world premiere at the Winter Garden in New York City. Discovering MIT Professor Shigeru Miyagawa’s research on birdsong was “validating and inspiring,” creator Pete Wyer says.

"Song of the Human": An origin story

New work by composer Pete M. Wyer draws inspiration from MIT linguistic scholar Shigeru Miyagawa's hypothesis on the origins of human language.

December 13, 2016

Cambridge Mobile Telematics co-founders Hari Balakrishnan (left) and Samuel Madden (right).

Rewarding Boston’s safest driver

Mayor Martin Walsh announces a competition aimed at improving Boston driving with an app developed by an MIT spinout.

October 5, 2016

Left to right: PhD student Fadel Adib, PhD student Mingmin Zhao, and Professor Dina Katabi pose with their EQ-Radio device, which can detect emotion using wireless signals.

Detecting emotions with wireless signals

Measuring your heartbeat and breath, CSAIL device can tell if you’re excited, happy, angry, or sad.

September 20, 2016

Decoding hidden dreams

Neuroscientists decrypt the sleeping brain to reveal hidden memories.

August 30, 2016

Faculty at MIT and beyond respond forcefully to an article critical of Suzanne Corkin

More than 200 members of the scientific community sign a letter supporting the late MIT neuroscientist; department head issues a statement.

August 9, 2016

“It’s intuitive that if a bunch of people are randomly walking around an area, the number of times they bump into each other will be a surrogate of the population density,” says Cameron Musco, an MIT graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science. “What we’re doing is giving a rigorous analysis behind that intuition, and also saying that the estimate is a very good estim...

Exploring networks efficiently

Analysis of ant colony behavior could yield better algorithms for network communication.

July 13, 2016

From MIT CSAIL: The left-most column shows the frame before the action begins, with the algorithm's prediction below it. The right columns show the next frames of the video.

Teaching machines to predict the future

Deep-learning vision system from the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab anticipates human interactions using videos of TV shows.

June 21, 2016

“Children seem to interpret disjunction like conjunction,” observes MIT Linguistics Professor Danny Fox. However, Fox adds, although “it has been claimed children are very different from adults in the interpretation of logical words,” the study’s larger implication is almost the opposite — namely that “the child is [otherwise] identical to the adult, but there is a very small paramet...

Why children confuse simple words

Study: Kids have “and/or” problem despite sophisticated reasoning.

May 23, 2016

"[W]e hope that our studies of vps-50 will provide insights into human neuropsychiatric disorders,” H. Robert Horvitz says.

Neuroscientists discover a gene that controls worms’ behavioral state

Gene required for the control of behavioral state is also found in humans, may be linked to autism.

March 3, 2016

In this image of the dorsal raphe nucleus, dopamine neurons are labeled in green, red, or both (appearing yellow).

Pinpointing loneliness in the brain

Scientists identify cells that represent feelings of isolation.

February 11, 2016

MIT spinout Cogito developed voice-analytics software for call centers that tracks and analyzes voice patterns of customers and agents — such as interruptions and rapid speech — and offers real-time feedback to make the conversations more productive.

Watch your tone

Voice-analytics software helps customer-service reps build better rapport with customers.

January 20, 2016

The DriveWell app runs in the background of a smartphone, collecting data on driving behavior. Drivers receive a score on a scale from 1 to 100, a route map, and tips for improvement. Scores can also be used for insurance discounts, or to compete with friends and other drivers worldwide.

Smarter driving, using your phone

App that rates drivers’ behavior yields promising safety results on the road.

January 5, 2016

"Cheap and Clean" by David Konisky and Stephen Ansolabehere

Study: Climate strategy focused on local impacts is most effective with Americans

In a recent talk at MIT, David Konisky PhD '06 explains that the term "global warming" leaves many Americans cold.

October 1, 2015

MRIs for a more peaceful world

Neuroscientists and political scientists join together to advance peace and reconciliation.

July 9, 2015

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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