Brain, Mind & Learning - Carnegie Mellon University

Brain, Mind & Learning at Carnegie Mellon

Carnegie Mellon University has been a leader in the areas of brain science, psychology, and learning research for many decades.

With the launch of the university’s new brain, mind & learning initiative, CMU now plans to become an even bigger player in these fields, while distinguishing ourselves from other brain research programs.

How? Two ways, really.

  • First, CMU has a top-ranked computer science school, and our brain researchers are taking full advantage of it. Like CMU faculty in other disciplines, brain, mind and learning researchers have a track record of leveraging the university’s world-class strengths in computation (e.g., artificial intelligence and automated learning) to answer scientific questions that are too complex for humans to figure out by themselves.
  • Second, CMU faculty have consistently demonstrated a willingness to break down disciplinary barriers, reaching across departments and centers to work together to solve real-world problems.

Learn more about how our researchers are solving real-world problems in this area »

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Synchrony & Autism
June 4, NPR — Carnegie Mellon University's Marcel Just discusses his research that provides an explanation for some of autism's mysteries — from social and communication disorders to restricted interests — and gives scientists clear targets for developing intervention and treatment therapies. Just's discovery of a lack of synchrony in the autistic brain gives scientists hope for finding a solution for autism.

Valence Perception
June 4, Pittsburgh — When grabbing a mug out of a cabinet or quickly choosing a pen, what brain processes guide your choices? New research from CMU's Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), recently published in "Frontiers in Psychology," shows that the brain's visual perception system automatically and unconsciously guides decision-making through what is known as valence perception.

Genetics and Autism
April 6, Pittsburgh — Published in "Nature," a series of studies by researchers, including Carnegie Mellon University's Kathryn Roeder and the University of Pittsburgh's Bernie Devlin, suggests that autism spectrum disorders are caused by variations in multiple unrelated locations within the genome. These findings provide a basis for future gene discovery, diagnostics and therapeutics.

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