Search by tag «Cognitive science» 10 results

  • Jack and Jill: Researchers Develop Novel Test to Efficiently Measure Human Cognitive Abilities

    An international team of researchers, including Maxim Likhanov, a laureate of the ITMO Fellowship and Professorship program, has created a new visual test called The Jack & Jill Working Memory Task. The new testing system has already been employed to investigate the relationships between working memory and musical abilities, academic performance and behavioral problems. What are the other benefits of the new test and how can it be used? Read on to find out.

    14.02.2022

  • ITMO Fellowship Stories: ‪Maxim Likhanov on Importance of Spatial Skills and Synergy Between Chemistry and Neuroscience

    In 2019, Maxim Likhanov graduated from Tomsk State University with a PhD in philology. Two years later, he won the chance to do his research at ITMO University as part of ITMO Fellowship and Professorship Program. ITMO.NEWS talked to the scientist to learn more about how to succeed in chemistry, why spatial skills are important, and how they’ve transformed his life.

    23.11.2021

  • Mind-Blowing Research of the Month: How and Why We Study Music’s Effects on the Brain

    People spend an average of 18 hours a week listening to music, according to a 2019 survey. It is undeniably a huge part of our lives and, naturally, inspires great curiosity in scientists. What makes you tap to the beat? Is it true that music can make you read faster? And what can possibly connect music and language? Today, we will attempt to answer these questions, dipping our toes into the ocean of research on music perception and cognition. 

    18.05.2021

  • Mind-Blowing Research of the Month: Brain-Computer Interfaces

    At least once in our lives, we’ve all wished we could read minds or control the objects around us by merely thinking about them. So far, the technology that came closest to getting us there is BCI – brain-computer interfaces. Read on to learn what they are and how they work – and whether or not we are to expect mind-reading devices any time soon.

    02.03.2021

  • Mind-Blowing Research of the Month: Neuroarchaeology

    One of today's top science trends is interdisciplinarity – drawing from different research fields to find answers to age-old questions. Neuroarchaeology is one such new area of study, and it brings together, yes, you've guessed it – archaeology and neuroscience. How did our distant ancestors learn to speak? And how is tool-making related to playing the piano? Find out in our overview!

    26.01.2021

  • Brain as a Hologram: Exploring Vision at ITMO’s Museum of Optics

    Interdisciplinarity is all the rage right now, and it’s no longer chic to stay within the narrow boundaries of your own subject. By now, you would have definitely heard about infochemistry or bioinformatics, but what about combining physics and neurophysiology? In this article, we will tell you how these subjects converge at ITMO’s Museum of Optics that creates a unique environment for new insights into vision and mind. 

    17.11.2020

  • Cognitive Science Tales for Halloween: 4 Mysterious Cases

    Sometimes scientists are not white-coated and bespectacled lab specialists but rather weather-beaten detectives reviewing cold case files – possibly with a tobacco pipe and a shot of headstrong espresso for company. In the spirit of Halloween, today we will review some of the most intriguing and perhaps even spooky cases that used to baffle cognitive scientists. 

    27.10.2020

  • Cognitive Science: How Memory Works and How to Make Yours Work Better

    Ever forgot where you put your keys? Crammed for a test and aced it? Remembered how to ride a bike to your own surprise? Some might argue (and, indeed, one Ortega y Gasset does) that memory is what makes us human as it is what enables us to learn from not only the mistakes that we made ourselves but also from those made by generations before us. However true or not this statement may be, it is hard to deny our heavy reliance on memory on a day-to-day basis. But how much do we actually know about it and is this knowledge enough to benefit us?

    21.07.2020

  • Cognitive Experiments: How Our Brain Works

    Cognitive psychology is the scientific study of mental processes such as memory, attention, feelings, perception, and creativity. There are still questions that need to be answered by scientists working in this field: for example, how do people suddenly find solutions to complex problems or what is unconscious learning. In order to find answers to these questions, the research group led by Prof. Allahverdov (St. Petersburg State University) invited anyone interested to participate in a range of cognitive experiments and see for themselves how amazing and unpredictable the human brain can be. 

    26.08.2019

  • Different Challenges, Different Teachers: Tatiana Chernigovskaya on Challenges of Digital Age

    Today’s computers allow us to conduct the most complex genomic research, and specialized software has long bested humans at chess and Go. Still, though we’ve lost to machines in terms of processing speed, our brain still exceeds the most powerful computers in terms of complexity. But do we really know how it works? And how can we apply this knowledge in the conditions of the ever-changing environment? Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Head of St. Petersburg State University’s Department of the Problems of Convergence in Natural Sciences and Humanities, talked about the new challenges in cognitive science during an open lecture at ITMO University.

    19.02.2018