The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, Cambridge,

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, engages in fundamental research in the areas of brain and neural systems, and cognitive processes. The department is within the

School of Science The Medway School of Science is one of the schools of the University of Greenwich in South East England. The School of Science is based on the university's Medway campus in Chatham Maritime in the county of Kent. The School of Science has acti ...

at the MIT and began initially as the Department of

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

founded by the psychologist

Hans-Lukas Teuber Hans-Lukas Teuber (August 7, 1916 – January 4, 1977) was a professor of psychology and head of the psychology department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was one of the founders of neuropsychology and studied perception. He coine ...

in 1964. In 1986 the MIT Department of Psychology merged with the Whittaker College integrating Psychology and Neuroscience research to form the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.

Research

The department aims to understand the basic processes of intelligence and brain processes. It has four main themes of research: ;Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience: This deals with biology of neurons and cellular physiology. ;Systems Neuroscience: This deals with developing models of cognitive processes at the neural level. This includes developing algorithms and mathematical models of neural activity. ;Cognitive Science: This engages in the research of mind through the interdisciplinary approaches of psychology, computer science, mathematics and linguistics for the experimental analysis and

mathematical modeling A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used in the natural sciences (such as physics, b ...

of cognitive processes. The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences works in collaboration with the McGovern Institute and the Picower Institute, also at the MIT. ;Computation: This deals with the development of theoretical models that explains the processes of memory, language and reasoning using computer simulations and

computational models A computational model uses computer programs to simulate and study complex systems using an algorithmic or mechanistic approach and is widely used in a diverse range of fields spanning from physics, chemistry and biology to economics, psychology, ...

. The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences work in close collaboration with the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the Computer Science department and the Centre for Biological and Computational Learning at the MIT.

Researchers

The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences has had several prominent scientists. These include:

References

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cognitive science research institutes Neuroscience research centers in the United States Research institutes in Massachusetts Psychology institutes Cognitive science {{Sci-org-stub

Research

Researchers

See also

References