fMRI

Recent articles

Map of socioeconomic opportunity in the United States next to visualizations of functional connectivity and structure in sensory and motor cortices.

IQ’s link to brain structure, function in children may be a mirage

A child’s socioeconomic status, screen time and amount of sleep all show stronger associations with measures of brain structure and function, according to an imaging study of nearly 12,000 9- to 10-year-olds.

By Natalia Mesa
11 June 2026 | 5 min read

A new atlas of abstracts visualizes the field of human brain mapping—where does your work fit?

Satrajit Ghosh talks to Mac Shine about a community-built tool that places every abstract from the 2026 Organization for Human Brain Mapping meeting inside a semantic map of the broader neuroscience literature. Finding your neighbors in that space might matter more than you think.

By Mac Shine
9 June 2026 | 40 min watch
3D illustration of arterial blood supply in the human brain.

Arousal neurons’ activity explains brain’s blood flow dynamics in mice

The findings could influence how researchers interpret signals from techniques that use blood flow as a surrogate for neuronal activity.

By Claudia López Lloreda
15 April 2026 | 5 min read

What a bird’s-eye view of half a million papers reveals about neuroscience

New research uses artificial-intellligence-driven bibliometrics to map the structural organization of neuroscience across 25 years. The field it reveals is at once thriving and theoretically adrift.

By Mac Shine
6 April 2026 | 36 min watch
Research image of brain activity in infants.

Infant visual system categorizes common objects by 2 months of age

Brain activity patterns in the ventral visual cortex appear to distinguish images across 12 categories, including birds and trees, longitudinal functional MRI scans suggest.

By Helena Kudiabor
24 February 2026 | 5 min read
Language-responsive regions light up in red on a series of brain scans.

Cerebellum responds to language like cortical areas

One of four language-responsive cerebellar regions may encode meaningful information, much like the cortical language network in the left hemisphere, according to a new study.

By Natalia Mesa
6 February 2026 | 5 min read
Researcher Russell Poldrack's face closeup, with a scanner seen out of focus behind him.

A brief history of precision self-scanning

When a researcher solved a logistical problem by going rogue, the idea proved remarkably infectious.

By Lauren Gravitz
21 January 2026 | 13 min read
Rhesus macaque monkey makes an intimidating face.

Some facial expressions are less reflexive than previously thought

A countenance such as a grimace activates many of the same cortical pathways as voluntary facial movements.

By Natalia Mesa
8 January 2026 | 5 min read
A see-through human brain with circuits inside it.

‘Wired for Words: The Neural Architecture of Language,’ an excerpt

In his new book, Hickok provides a detailed overview of the research into the circuits that control speech and language. In this excerpt from Chapter 5, he shares how meeting his colleague David Poeppel led to them developing the theory for bilateral speech perception.

By Gregory Hickok
2 December 2025 | 8 min read
Stack of papers.

What are the most-cited neuroscience papers from the past 30 years?

Highly cited papers reflect the surge in artificial-intelligence research in the field and other technical advances, plus prizewinning work on analgesics, the fusiform face area and ion channels.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 11 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Johannes Jaeger explains why we should care that brains and AI are not the same

From single cells to whole organisms, living beings must continuously regenerate themselves and judge what's important to continue living. Artificial intelligence does not and cannot.

By Paul Middlebrooks
1 July 2026 | 1 min read

What mosquitos lay bare about proprioception

By comparing the proprioceptive systems of mosquitos and fruit flies, Sweta Agrawal aims to uncover fundamental features of the ability to sense self-movement.

By Calli McMurray
1 July 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of cursor movement from high gamma activity.

Recording warning: Common brain signal may be misunderstood

High gamma activity in electrophysiologic recordings reflects widespread neural activity, not merely local firing, as previously thought.

By Claudia López Lloreda
30 June 2026 | 5 min read