Cognitive PsychologyFeb 13, 2025
Researchers identify a brain circuit for creativity
Researchers analyzed data from 857 patients across 36 fMRI brain imaging studies and mapped a common brain circuit for creativity.
Cognitive Psychology
Updated Aug 25, 2026 10:00 AM PT
Cognitive Psychology Psychologist News
Current reporting, research and professional developments across Cognitive Psychology, curated for psychologists and behavioral-health professionals.
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 12, 2025
Meet the newly discovered brain cell that allows you to remember objects
Researchers have discovered a new type of neuron that plays a fundamental role in recognition memory -- how the brain registers the difference between new and familiar objects and forms long-term memories. The new cell…
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 12, 2025
Adults can learn absolute pitch: new research challenges long-held musical belief
It's been a long-held belief that absolute pitch -- the ability to identify musical notes without reference -- is a rare gift reserved for a select few with special genetic gifts or those who began musical training in…
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 11, 2025
Music makes us move even when we don't like it
The pleasurable urge to move to music -- to groove -- appears to be a physiological response independent of how much we generally enjoy music, according to a new article. That groove response is so strong it is even…
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 10, 2025
How does the brain differentiate new stimuli from old ones?
A study sheds light on how networks in the brain detect new information, offering insight into disorders like schizophrenia.
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 6, 2025
Electroencephalography may help guide treatments for language disorders
Electroencephalography (EEG) may offer a more accessible alternative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for guiding transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) when treating aphasia. Researchers found an…
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 4, 2025
What's the best way to organize people to generate ideas? New research offers insight
Is it better to work in large groups? Smaller ones? With other people who are similar or different? New research offers insight into these questions -- and some of the results are not what you'd expect.
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 4, 2025
Music can touch the heart, even inside the womb
Researchers have used mathematical analysis tools to study the effect of classical music on a fetal heartbeat and identify patterns in heart rate variability. They recruited 36 pregnant women and played two classical…
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 4, 2025
Positive emotions plus deep sleep equals longer-lasting perceptual memories
Researchers have uncovered how perceptual memories linked to positive emotions, such as joy or happiness, are strengthened during sleep. The study could help scientists understand the neurological basis for overcoming…
Cognitive PsychologyFeb 3, 2025
How does the hippocampus coordinate memory encoding and retrieval?
A team of scientists has unveiled how the hippocampus orchestrates multiple memory processes, including encoding new information, forming memories, and retrieving them.
Cognitive PsychologyJan 31, 2025
Sound is a primary issue in the lives of skateboarders, study shows
Sound plays a significant and often poignant part of skateboarders' relationship with their sport, a new study shows.
Cognitive PsychologyJan 30, 2025
A hearing aid for ... your nose?
Scientists have discovered a feedback loop in the brain's odor center that seems to put smells and sounds into context. The feedback loop may help animals adjust their behaviors in response to new sensations.
Cognitive PsychologyJan 29, 2025
The benefits of speaking multiple languages
New psychology research indicates that multilingual children may have enhanced executive function and perspective taking skills.
Cognitive PsychologyJan 28, 2025
Towards a new generation of human-inspired language models
Can a computer learn a language the way a child does? A recent study sheds new light on this question. The researchers advocate for a fundamental revision of how artificial intelligence acquires and processes language.
Cognitive PsychologyJan 27, 2025
Rethinking altruistic punishment: New experimental insights
A research team developed a new experimental game to explore whether people avoid witnessing selfish behavior to evade punishing others or simply to avoid confronting unfairness. The study found that avoidance is driven…
Cognitive PsychologyJan 21, 2025
A team with diverse expertise produces novel ideas -- but are they practical?
A first-of-its-kind study shows that while teams with differing skill sets and perspectives bring fresh, unique ideas to the table, they often struggle to create practical, workable solutions -- raising important…
Cognitive PsychologyJan 15, 2025
Memory systems in the brain drive food cravings that could influence body weight
A research team identified the brain's food-specific memory system and its direct role in overeating and diet-induced obesity. They found a specific population of neurons in the mouse brain that encode memories for sugar…
Cognitive PsychologyJan 15, 2025
How one brain circuit encodes memories of both places and events
A computational model explains how place cells in the hippocampus can be recruited to form any kind of episodic memory, even when there's no spatial component.
Cognitive PsychologyJan 2, 2025
Study reveals that sleep prevents unwanted memories from intruding
The link between poor sleep and mental health problems could be related to deficits in brain regions that keep unwanted thoughts out of mind.
Cognitive PsychologyDec 19, 2024
Research shows how music can reduce distress
A new study has demonstrated for the first time how and why music can reduce distress and agitation for people with advanced dementia. The study involved interviews with staff and music therapists on inpatient mental…
Cognitive PsychologyDec 11, 2024
The distinct nerve wiring of human memory
The black box of the human brain is starting to open. Although animal models are instrumental in shaping our understanding of the mammalian brain, scarce human data is uncovering important specificities. Neurosurgeons…
Cognitive PsychologyDec 6, 2024
Why people remember certain things and not others
Exactly why do people remember what they remember? A recently published review paper sheds light on this fundamental question and the relationship between factors that influence human memory.
Cognitive PsychologyDec 5, 2024
New pathways to long-term memory formation
Researchers have discovered a new pathway to forming long-term memories in the brain. Their work suggests that long-term memory can form independently of short-term memory, a finding that opens exciting possibilities for…
Cognitive PsychologyNov 22, 2024
The Psychology of Attention: Lessons from Simone Weil
Simone Weil once told a student, “What I cannot stand is compromise.” This unyielding stance underpinned the French ...
Cognitive PsychologyNov 21, 2024
Design and imagination as essential tools during the climate crisis
Researchers advocate the use of imagination in tackling the climate crisis. They focus specifically on urbanizing river deltas, which are of great social and economic importance and highly vulnerable to climate change.
Cognitive PsychologyNov 19, 2024
Creativity camp improves adolescent mental health, well-being
A research team found that Creativity Camp, a two-week arts intervention delivered as a day camp, had a positive impact on mental health and well-being in adolescents with depression.
Cognitive PsychologyNov 17, 2024
Achieving Optimal Performance With Attention and Awareness
Athletes—and the rest of humankind—can get tangled up in thoughts and emotions that can disrupt and undermine optimal ...
Cognitive PsychologyNov 15, 2024
Stress makes mice's memories less specific
Stress is a double-edged sword when it comes to memory: stressful or otherwise emotional events are usually more memorable, but stress can also make it harder for us to retrieve memories. Now, neuroscientists report that…
Cognitive PsychologyNov 15, 2024
Splitting the Hard Problem of Consciousness in Two
This blog was co-authored by Gregg Henriques, Ph.D., and John Vervaeke, Ph.D. Since the dawn of human consciousness, people have ...
Cognitive PsychologyNov 14, 2024
New study emphasizes the importance of arts and humanities in neurology training
Researchers have found teaching artistic observation to neurology residents contributed to the development of well-rounded physicians with the capacity to be both skilled clinicians and compassionate healers.