Neuroaesthetics
Neuroaesthetics is a young discipline that examines the biological basis of aesthetic experiences. Aesthetic experiences emerge from sensory-motor, emotion-valuation, and semantic-knowledge systems. Areas of inquiry include people, places, and things. Investigations of people include our response to
Neuroeconomics
Neuroeconomics is the study of decision-making that integrates theories, methods, and insights from economics, psychology, and neuroscience. Motivating this integration is the desire to understand decision-making at multiple levels of analysis—from what goal the decision-maker might be trying to ach
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity is the capacity of the brain to change as a result of external influence and internal activity. It underpins learning from the environment, from others and from our own thoughts. Neuroplasticity occurs during sensory and cultural learning, adaptation to bodily differences (e.g., blin
Neuroscience of Language
Language is a key faculty for human communication. Across the last few decades, neuroimaging work provided insight into the contribution of distributed areas in the brain to different language operations, including the processing of meaning, sound, structure, and speech melody. These studies emphasi
Neuroscience of Syntax
Syntax is a system of constraints on how words can combine into phrases and sentences to create complex meanings. Languages vary in the precise nature of these constraints: For example, some languages have strict word order rules, whereas other languages allow more flexibility in the ordering of wor
Sensory Substitution
The purpose of sensory substitution devices is to restore functionality of a deficient sensory modality, such as vision for the blind, by using another sensory modality, such as touch or audition. These devices target a broad variety of deficits, such as loss of vision, proprioception, balance, or a
Social Cognitive Neuroscience
People spend a lot of their brain energy thinking about people. Social cognitive neuroscience is the field of research that investigates how this works. Research in this field asks questions about the brain regions people use when thinking about people, the computations that occur in these brain reg
Synesthesia
Synesthesia is a trait in which one sensory input elicits an unusual secondary experience that is not typically associated with that input. For instance, the letter A printed in black may trigger a red color experience. Synesthetic experiences are automatically triggered, idiosyncratic, and unidirec
Vestibular System
The vestibular system is a key sensory system responsible for self-motion perception and spatial orientation, working in concert with visual, muscular, joint, and tactile receptors to maintain balance. It originates in the inner ear and comprises mechanoreceptors that transduce inertial forces relat
Visual Cognitive Neuroscience
Many of our daily activities are informed by vision, from reading and watching television to driving and sports. At the same time, visual perception during these activities is influenced by our knowledge, expectations, and goals. Visual cognitive neuroscience is the field of research that investigat