In the news...

 

August 5, 2007 - MIT study: Maturity brings richer memories

MIT neuroscientists exploring how memory formation differs between children and adults have found that although the two groups have much in common, maturity brings richer memories. Read more.

May 4, 2006 - Stanford Report: Money motivates memory, study finds

Money may help people remember. Study shows that motivation, in the form of a reward, gets the brain ready to learn. "Many prior imaging studies have examined motivation or memory," Gabrieli said. "But this shows how motivation can set up the brain to learn." Read more.

January 23, 2006 - Boston Globe: Brain over pain

Advanced real-time MRI helps pain patients learn to control their sensations by watching activity in their brains. Read the article.

January 15, 2006 - CBS news: Retraining the brain

Dr. Gabrieli finds that "Brain Gym," stimulates children's brains and makes a sizeable difference in their reading skills. Can the brain-plasticity-based computer training program actually change the way an aging brain remembers? Read more.

December 2005 - ABC news: Music magic

Video footage of Professor John Gabrieli featured on ABC News discussing his research about the potential impact of musical training on language processing and reading ability.

December 19, 2005 - Technology Review: Mind control over pain: A new brain imaging technique teaches patients to control their brain activity, bringing relief from chronic pain

Most people pop a pill when they've got a headache. But what if you could think that pain away? Researchers at Stanford University have developed a brain imaging technique that allows patients to take charge of their pain. Read more.

November 23, 2005 - MIT Tech Talk: Do you remember to study? Here's why.

Professor John Gabrieli finds memory and prediction happen in different regions. Read more.

November 17, 2005 - USA Today: Musically trained children process language better

Study shows people who learned to play musical instruments as children process spoken language faster and more accurately than their non-musical counterparts as adults. Read more.

November 17, 2005 - San Francisco Chronicle: Playing music can be good for your brain, Stanford study finds it helps the understanding of language

This study is the first to show that musical training improves how the brain processes the spoken word, improving its ability to distinguish between rapidly changing sounds that are key to understanding and using language. This finding could lead to improving the reading ability of children who have dyslexia and other reading problems. Full text.

November 15, 2005 - Stanford Report: Musical training helps language processing, studies show

Researchers for the first time have shown that mastering a musical instrument improves the way the human brain processes parts of spoken language. The findings could bolster efforts to make music as much a part of elementary school education as reading and mathematics. Read the article.

October 3, 2005 - MIT Tech Talk: MIT launches effort to understand autism

MIT brain researchers are undertaking an ambitious, multifaceted approach to understanding the genetic, molecular and behavioral aspects of autism, with the help of a $7.5 million grant from the New York-based Simons Foundation founded by James and Marilyn Simons. Using state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques, Gabrieli will seek to understand how neurons play a role in autistic individuals' problems with social interaction and face recognition. Read more.

Fall 2005 - MIT Spectrum: Illuminating the mind, technology probes roots of wisdom

John Gabrieli, Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, says recent research has lent credence to the idea that the “wisdom of age” is real. Read more.

March 28, 2005 - Time: Secrets of the shy

With the help of behavioral studies, brain scans and even genetic tests, researchers are at last answering some of those questions, coming to understand what a complex, and in some ways favorable, state shyness can be. Read more.

March 6, 2004 - ABC radio national, all in the mind: Unwanted memories, Freud's unconscious uncovered?

Research from Stanford University and the University of Oregon suggests there is a brain mechanism that acts to block unwanted memories. Sue Clark speaks to the lead researcher, John Gabrieli. Transcript of the interview.

January 9, 2004: San Francisco Chronicle: Brain is built to forget, research says

The new results "confirm the existence of an active forgetting process and establish a neurobiological model for guiding inquiry into motivated (voluntary) forgetting, " said the researchers, who included Stanford psychology Professor John D.E. Gabrieli. Read more.

January 8, 2004 - Stanford Report: Psychologists offer proof of brain's ability to suppress memories

For the first time, researchers at Stanford University and the University of Oregon have shown that a biological mechanism exists in the human brain to block unwanted memories. Read more.

May 24, 2003 - Stanford University event

Becoming Human: Brain, Mind and Emergence

Video footage of Dr. Gabrieli from the conference.

February 25, 2003 - CNN: Remedial programs lessen dyslexic function

When dyslexic children took part in a program to teach them better reading skills their brains began functioning more like the brains of normal children, a new study reports. Read more.

February 25, 2003 - Stanford Report: Remediation training improves reading ability of dyslexic children

Professor Gabrieli said the study's findings may help demonstrate how different kinds of reading programs can tackle various problems faced by poor readers. "This is showing us for the first time the specific changes in the brains of children receiving this sort of treatment, and how that is coupled with the improvement they have in reading and language ability." See the Quicktime video. Read the article.