Behavior

Researchers found that a type of nerve cell found in the gut of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans is specialized to detect when bacteria are ingested.

Gut-brain connection signals worms to alter behavior while eating

Study may lead to a better understanding of the digestive tract’s nervous system.

December 20, 2018

MIT neuroscientists have discovered a neural circuit that helps the brain focus on potential threats

Dopamine primes the brain for enhanced vigilance

Neuroscientists discover a circuit that helps redirect attention to focus on potential threats.

November 7, 2018

Alexi Choueiri (left) and Mahdi Ramadan, both evacuees from Lebanon, met at MIT 11 years after leaving their homeland on the same boat.

Meeting of the Minds

Mahdi Ramadan and Alexi Choueiri’s common experiences as Lebanese evacuees led both to study the human brain at MIT.

October 26, 2018

A study by MIT neuroscientists sheds light on how the brain handles cognitive tasks, such as mirror writing, that involve complex mental transformations.

Study reveals how the brain overcomes its own limitations

Strategies to compensate for uncertainty help the brain succeed at difficult mental computations.

October 24, 2018

MIT researchers have built a system that takes a step toward fully automated smart homes, by identifying occupants even when they’re not carrying mobile devices.

A step toward personalized, automated smart homes

System that automatically identifies people moving around indoors could enable self-adjusting homes.

October 17, 2018

MIT researchers have employed a new machine-learning technique to substantially reduce false positives in fraud-detecting technologies.

Reducing false positives in credit card fraud detection

Model extracts granular behavioral patterns from transaction data to more accurately flag suspicious activity.

September 20, 2018

Sheila Widnall, MIT Institute Professor and former secretary of the U.S. Air Force

3Q: Sheila Widnall on sexual harassment in STEM

National Academies report cites need for strong leadership and cultural change; will be focus of upcoming MIT panel discussion.

September 17, 2018

Matthias Winkenbach, research associate in the Center for Transportation and Logistics and director of the Megacities Logistics Lab, is helping companies answer questions like how many satellite facilities are needed, where they should be located, and what their function should be to optimize delivery systems.

E-commerce spurs innovation in last-mile logistics

As delivery logistics become more challenging with expanding e-commerce, planners such as Matthias Winkenbach are offering solutions.

September 4, 2018

MIT researchers have developed a neural-network model that can analyze raw text and audio data from interviews to discover speech patterns indicative of depression. This method could be used to develop diagnostic aids for clinicians that can detect signs of depression in natural conversation.

Model can more naturally detect depression in conversations

Neural network learns speech patterns that predict depression in clinical interviews.

August 29, 2018

New findings may help scientists better understand how some of the crippling effects of depression and anxiety arise, and guide them in developing new treatments.

Neuroscientists get at the roots of pessimism

Stimulating the brain’s caudate nucleus generates a negative outlook that clouds decision-making.

August 9, 2018

MIT Media Lab researchers have developed a machine-learning model that takes computers a step closer to interpreting our emotions as naturally as humans do. The model better captures subtle facial expression variations to better gauge moods. By using extra training data, the model can also be adapted to an entirely new group of people, with the same efficacy.

Helping computers perceive human emotions

Personalized machine-learning models capture subtle variations in facial expressions to better gauge how we feel.

July 24, 2018

Michale Fee studies how the brain learns and generates complex sequential behaviors, with a focus on the songbird as a model system.

Michale Fee receives McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award

The McKnight technology award supports scientists using novel and creative approaches to understanding brain function.

July 20, 2018

A new study from MIT computer scientists suggests that human doctors provide a dimension that, as yet, artificial intelligence does not.

Doctors rely on more than just data for medical decision making

Computer scientists find that physicians’ “gut feelings” influence how many tests they order for patients.

July 20, 2018

A new AI system can look at an image and determine which set of pixels are responsible for making specific sets of soundwaves.

An AI system for editing music in videos

Given a video of a musical performance, CSAIL’s deep-learning system can make individual instruments louder or softer.

July 5, 2018

An example of a therapy session augmented with humanoid robot NAO [SoftBank Robotics], which was used in the EngageMe study. Tracking of limbs/faces was performed using the CMU Perceptual Lab's OpenPose utility.

Personalized “deep learning” equips robots for autism therapy

Machine learning network offers personalized estimates of children’s behavior.

June 27, 2018

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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