Recent news from The Johns Hopkins University
This section contains regularly updated highlights of the news from around The Johns Hopkins
University. Links to the complete news reports from the nine schools,
the Applied Physics Laboratory and other centers and institutes are to
the left, as are links to help news media contact the Johns Hopkins
communications offices.
When we watch a mime seemingly pull rope, climb steps or try to escape that infernal box, we don’t struggle to recognize the implied objects — our minds automatically “see” them, a new study concludes.
To explore how the mind processes the objects mimes seem to interact with, Johns Hopkins University cognitive scientists brought the art of miming into the lab, concluding that invisible, implied surfaces are represented rapidly and automatically. The work appears today in the journal Psychological Science.
April 1, 2021 Tags: brain, Chaz Firestone, Johns Hopkins University, Mimes, perception
| Category: Psychology
By mapping the brain activity of expert computer programmers while they puzzled over code, Johns Hopkins University scientists have found the neural mechanics behind this increasingly vital skill.
December 15, 2020 Tags: brain, coding, computer programming, Johns Hopkins University, logic, Marina Bedny, neuroscience, Python
| Category: Computer Science, Medicine and Nursing, Psychology, Technology
Researchers discovered that a specific brain region monitors food preferences as they change across thirsty and quenched states. By targeting neurons in that part of the brain, they were able to shift food choice preferences from a more desired reward (think: chocolate cake) to a less tasty one (think: stale bread).
November 4, 2020 Tags: Bloomberg Distinguished Professors, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, food, food preference, neurons, Patricia H. Janak
| Category: biology, Psychology
Johns Hopkins University researchers who study the mind and brain used methods from cognitive science to test a long-standing philosophical question: Can people see the world objectively?
June 8, 2020 Tags: Chaz Firestone, cognitive science, Jorge Morales, perception, philosophy
| Category: Psychology
COVID-19 has affected people differently, yet many feel the pandemic has radically affected their sense of time. For some, time drags. For others it passes much too fast. And almost everyone is having trouble remembering what day it is. Ian Phillips, a Johns Hopkins University professor who studies how humans experience time, is available to discuss what’s causing this common but very disconcerting experience.
June 1, 2020 Tags: COVID-19, Ian Phillips, Johns Hopkins University, sense of time
| Category: Psychology, Social Sciences
Anyone who’s ever tried to find something in a hurry knows how helpful it is to think about the lost item’s color, size and shape. But surprisingly, traits of an object that you can’t see also come into play during a search, Johns Hopkins University researchers found.
May 12, 2020 Tags: attention, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Jason Fischer, Johns Hopkins University, perception, vision science, visual search
| Category: Psychology
A sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University is available to discuss how the racist and xenophobic treatment of people of Chinese ancestry often escalates during outbreaks of disease such as the current coronavirus that began in China and is spreading worldwide.
February 3, 2020 Tags: Coronavirus, Ho-Fung Hung, Johns Hopkins University, racism
| Category: Computer Science, International Affairs, Psychology, Public Health, Uncategorized
Babies who are years away from being able to say “one,” “two,” and “three” actually already have a sense of what counting means, Johns Hopkins University researchers have discovered.
The findings reveal that very early on, years earlier than previously believed, babies who hear counting realize that it’s about quantity.
October 24, 2019 Tags: babies, child development, counting, infants, Jenny Wang, Johns Hopkins University, Lisa Feigenson, number skills
| Category: Psychology
Some older adults without noticeable cognitive problems have a harder time than younger people in separating irrelevant information from what they need to know at a given time, and a new Johns Hopkins University study could explain why.
August 5, 2019 Tags: aging, brain, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Susan M. Courtney, Thomas Hinault
| Category: Medicine and Nursing, Psychology
They’ve never seen animals like hippos and sharks but adults born blind have rich insight into what they look like, a new Johns Hopkins University study found.
May 21, 2019 Tags: animals, blindness, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Judy Kim, language, Marina Bedny, sight, vision
| Category: Psychology
Rewards are necessary for learning, but may actually mask true knowledge, finds a new Johns Hopkins University study with rodents and ferrets.
May 14, 2019 Tags: ainmals, animal research, behavior, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Kishore Kuchibhotla, learning, rewards, rodents
| Category: biology, Psychology
Computers, like those that power self-driving cars, can be tricked into mistaking random scribbles for trains, fences and even school busses. People aren’t supposed to be able to see how those images trip up computers but in a new study, Johns Hopkins University researchers show most people actually can.
March 22, 2019 Tags: adversarial images, artificial intelligence, Chaz Firestone, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, fooling images, Johns Hopkins University, self-driving cars
| Category: Computer Science, Psychology, Technology, Uncategorized
By studying barn owls, scientists at Johns Hopkins University believe they’ve taken an important step toward solving the longstanding mystery of how the brain chooses what most deserves attention.
October 30, 2018 Tags: ADHD, attention, Johns Hopkins University, owls, Shreesh Mysore
| Category: Natural Sciences, Psychology
At holiday buffets and potlucks people make quick calculations about which dishes to try and how much to take of each. Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists have found a brain region that appears to be strongly connected to these food preference decisions.
October 19, 2018 Tags: brain, David Ottenheimer, food preference, Johns Hopkins University, neuroscience, Patricia H. Janak
| Category: Natural Sciences, Psychology
Monkeys who learned how to gamble have helped researchers pinpoint an area of the brain key to one’s willingness to make risky decisions.
September 20, 2018 Tags: brain, gambling, Johns Hopkins University, Monkeys, risky behavior, Veit Stuphorn, Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute
| Category: biology, Natural Sciences, Psychology
Johns Hopkins Hurricane Experts Available.
September 11, 2018 Tags: catastrophic flooding, climate change, first responders, Hurricane experts, Johns Hopkins University, Preparedness, response
| Category: Business and Economics, Earth Science, Engineering, Environment, Government and Politics, International Affairs, Medicine and Nursing, Natural Sciences, Psychology, Public Health, Social Sciences, Technology
Dogs are thought to be very aware of people’s emotions, but if a pup’s owner was really upset, would it actually go out of its way to offer help and comfort? Some not only will, a new study found, they’ll overcome obstacles to do it.
July 24, 2018 Tags: crying, Dogs, Emily Sanford, Empathy, Johns Hopkins University, Lassie
| Category: Psychology
Often people think performing in front of others will make them mess up, but a new study led by a Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist found the opposite: being watched makes people do better.
April 20, 2018 Tags: audience, brain, crowd, Johns Hopkins University, neuroscience, performance, Vikram Chib
| Category: Psychology
Johns Hopkins University researchers have developed a way to study the brain of a bat as it flies, recording for the first time what happens as an animal focuses its attention.
April 10, 2018 Tags: bats, brain research, Cynthia F. Moss, Johns Hopkins University, Melville Wohlgemuth, wirelessly record brain activity
| Category: Engineering, Natural Sciences, Psychology, Technology, Uncategorized
Despite seeing it millions of times in pretty much every picture book, every novel, every newspaper and every email, Johns Hopkins University researchers have found people are essentially unaware of the most common version of the lowercase print g.
April 3, 2018 Tags: cognition, fonts, Johns Hopkins University, letter g, looptail g, Michael McCloskey, opentail g, reading
| Category: Psychology, Uncategorized
Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists have found how the brain can detect an object’s value almost as soon as we see it.
February 8, 2018 Tags: brain, Ed Connor, Johns Hopkins University, value, Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute
| Category: Medicine and Nursing, Natural Sciences, Psychology
Any athlete who’s made it to the Olympics has speed or strength or whatever physical skills it takes to lead the world in their sport. But Johns Hopkins University scientists say those who ultimately bring home gold have also honed the mind of a medalist.
February 6, 2018 Tags: balance, brain, brain science, choking under pressure, Christopher Fetsch, figure skating, Johns Hopkins University, Kathleen Cullen, Olympics, Orientation, skiing, snowboarding, Vikram Chib
| Category: Engineering, Medicine and Nursing, Psychology, Uncategorized
When we try to stop a body movement at the last second, perhaps to keep ourselves from stepping on what we just realized was ice, we can’t always do it — and Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists have figured out why.
December 7, 2017 Tags: brain, brain science, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, inhibit movement, Johns Hopkins University, movement, neuroscience, stop, Susan M. Courtney
| Category: Natural Sciences, Psychology
Even when people are hard at work, pictures of cookies, pizza and ice cream can distract them — and these junk food images are almost twice as distracting as health food pictures, concludes a new Johns Hopkins University study, which also found that after a few bites of candy, people found junk food no more interesting than kale.
October 26, 2017 Tags: brain, brain science, Corbin Cunningham, food, healthy food, high-calorie, high-fat, Howard Egeth, Johns Hopkins University, junk food
| Category: Psychology
One of the two brain-training methods most scientists use in research is significantly better in improving memory and attention, Johns Hopkins University researchers found. It also results in more significant changes in brain activity.
October 17, 2017 Tags: attention, brain, Brain training, cognition, Johns Hopkins University, Kara Blacker, Krieger School of Art and Sciences, memory, neuroscience, Susan Courtney, working memory
| Category: biology, Natural Sciences, Psychology
