The gasp of surprise. Fans leap to their feet. Shouts ring out.
The most exciting moments in sports are often linked to surprise, an unexpected change of circumstances that abruptly shifts the anticipated outcome of the game.
Princeton neuroscientist James Antony decided to capitalize on these moments to study how human brains process surprise.
It’s not a coincidence that dogs are cuter than wolves, or that goats at a petting zoo have shorter horns and friendlier demeanors than their wild ancestors. Scientists call this “domestication syndrome” — the idea that breeding out aggression inadvertently leads to physical changes, including floppier ears, shorter muzzles and snouts, curlier tails, paler fur, smaller brains, and more.
Have you ever played with a baby and felt a sense of connection, even though they couldn’t yet talk to you? New research suggests that you might quite literally be “on the same wavelength,” experiencing similar brain activity in the same brain regions.
Nine data-driven research projects have won funding from Princeton University’s Schmidt DataX Fund, which aims to spread and deepen the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning across campus to accelerate discovery.
In February, the University announced the new fund, which was made possible through a major gift from Schmidt Futures.
Sabine Kastner, a professor of psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, will receive this year’s Award for Education in Neuroscience from the Society for Neuroscience (SfN).
Princeton faculty members Sarah Kocher and Andrew Leifer are among 60 researchers nationwide to receive 2019 New Innovator Awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The awards are part of the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research Program, which supports investigators pursuing highly innovative, high-impact biomedical and behavioral research.
It’s not uncommon to see a flock of birds, startled by some perceived threat, take to the air in a highly coordinated flight. Similar behavior can be observed in schooling fishes where each fish, mimicking the movement of its neighbor, turns, darts or zigzags away from a threat with uncanny precision. In both cases, it seems as if the respective groups — the flock and the school — are acting as a single, unified entity.
Adolescence is a time of dramatic change. It marks a period of significant physical transformation — such as the drive toward sexual maturity. But it can also be a time of considerable psychological change and social experimentation.
