In a paper appearing in the March 6 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Caltech Assistant Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience Dean Mobbs and his co-authors show for the first time that there are two areas of the brain involved in processing fear. The areas, which they call “fear circuits,” split up the responsibility for […]

Caltech researchers discover that neurons within the posterior parietal cortex gather information about our memories to help us make memory-based decisions.   News Source: Pasadena Now

Textbook theories in the field of brain science have not fully illuminated this complex, intriguing and profound subject. How do neurons talk to each other? How does sensation lead to perception that would in turn influence cognition and action?   In this episode, the Chens share how their curiosity in understanding brain functionality has fuelled […]

Source: Caltech   Adult male mice have a simple repertoire of innate, or instinctive, social behaviors: When encountering a female, a male mouse will try to mate with it, and when encountering another male, the mouse will attack. The animals do not have to be taught to perform these behaviors. This has led to the widespread […]

Source: Caltech   A small patch of neurons in the brain can encode the movements of many body parts, according to researchers in the laboratory of Caltech’s Richard Andersen, James G. Boswell Professor of Neuroscience, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Brain-Machine Interface Center Leadership Chair, and Director of the T&C Brain-Machine Interface Center of the Tianqiao and […]

Source: Caltech   Caltech researchers have identified a neural circuit in the brain that controls wakefulness. The findings have implications for treating insomnia, oversleeping, and sleep disturbances that accompany other neuropsychiatric disorders, such as depression.   The work was done in the laboratory of Viviana Gradinaru (BS ’05), assistant professor of biology and biological engineering, Heritage Medical Research […]

New research from Caltech shows that the brain uses a simple and elegant mechanism to represent facial identity. The work was done in the laboratory of Doris Tsao, professor of biology, leadership chair and director of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Center for Systems Neuroscience, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator.   Read more […]

Tianqiao Chen, co-founder of Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute recently met with YiCai Global to reflect on the Chen Institute’s activities to-date, its vision to bring together the global scientific community, and the Institute’s plus future plans to support more programs and scientists. Read more on CiCai Global.

How does the electrical activity of the brain gives rise to the rich world of perception? The human brain is constantly abuzz with electrical activity as brain cells, called neurons, respond to sensory input and give rise to the world we perceive. Six particular regions of the brain, called face patches, contain neurons that respond […]

Caltech video of President Rosenbaum at Davos