Dept of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester

New article from Duje Tadin published in International Review of Psychiatry: https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2026.2677894

Dissociating mechanisms of spatial suppression and summation in human visual cortical regions MT/V5: a transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) study and clinical implications Visual motion perception requires balancing spatial integration, which supports discrimination of weak or noisy signals, with spatial suppression, which limits the influence of large, high-contrast...

🎊🎉 Congrats to Elise Piazza and Coraline Iordan, who have received a Pilot Award for Research on Music & Aging from the University of Rochester Aging Institute.
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/university-of-rochester-aging-institute/research/funding-opportunities/funded-projects

Dr. Shizhao Liu has been awarded an Outstanding Dissertation Award by the School of Arts and Sciences for her thesis, "Task-relevant feedback modulation on sensory neural response in macaque V4." This honor is awarded by a panel of faculty reviewers. Shizhao is currently a postdoc at U. of Minnesota. Congrats to Shizhao, well-deserved! 🎉🥳

NEW postdoc position in high-resolution retinal imaging, eyetracking, and visual psychophysics is open in the AP Lab. See more details and how to apply on the website:

Postdoctoral Research Positions The Department offers a wealth of opportunities for postdoctoral research in the wide range of scientific disciplines represented in the Brain & Cognitive Scien

New publication from Zhen Chen: Adult-neurogenesis allows for representational stability and flexibility in early olfactory system, published in eLife. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.107905

Adult-neurogenesis allows for representational stability and flexibility in early olfactory system Using computational and theoretical models shows how adult-neurogenesis and spike-timing-dependent plasticity balance the flexibility and stability of odor representations.

OUT NOW from Karl Rosengren in J. of Child and Family Studies: “Does it Hurt?”: An Analysis of Parental Attributes and Responses to Children’s Questions about the COVID-19 Vaccine.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-026-03310-4

“Does it Hurt?”: An Analysis of Parental Attributes and Responses to Children’s Questions about the COVID-19 Vaccine - Journal of Child and Family Studies As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, parents and children were prompted to have conversations about the pandemic including conversations about vaccination.

NEW from Dora Biro: Chimpanzees spontaneously prepare for mutually exclusive possibilities, and collective context strengthens this behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0444

Chimpanzees spontaneously prepare for mutually exclusive possibilities, and collective context strengthens this behaviour Abstract. In both humans and non-human animals, collectives can sometimes overcome individual cognitive biases or shortcomings to execute more rational beh

🥳 Congratulations to Kathy Corser, who has been selected as a winner of the School of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Staff Award!

Our Graduate Programs Administrator Kathy has been with the University for over 25 years and has graduated more than 100 students, many of whom still speak extremely fondly of the care and support they received from her. Well deserved, Kathy!!!

Staff Awards The School of Arts & Sciences is gifted with an exceptional community of staff members whose stellar work supports our students and academic and research enterp

New publication from Dora Biro: Collective route memories emerge through differential forgetting of navigational information in homing pigeons, published in Scientific Reports.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39898-2

Collective route memories emerge through differential forgetting of navigational information in homing pigeons - Scientific Reports Better decision-making in larger groups than smaller groups or individuals has been observed across various taxa. While this phenomenon is thought to result from the pooling of independent information in collective decision-making, an alternative mechanism is the better retention of learned informat...

BCS grad student Oviya Mohan has won the 2026 Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Congratulations Oviya! 🥳
https://www.rochester.edu/provost/honors-awards/teaching-awards/edward-peck-curtis-awards-for-excellence-in-undergraduate-teaching/

Edward Peck Curtis Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Learn more about this University of Rochester undergraduate teaching honor, given out by the Office of the Provost, and see past winners.