The CNBC is a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Our center leverages the strengths of the University of Pittsburgh in basic and clinical neuroscience and those of Carnegie Mellon in cognitive and computational neuroscience to support a coordinated cross-university research and educational program of international stature. In addition to our Ph.D. program in Neural Computation, we sponsor a graduate certificate program in cooperation with a wide variety of affiliated Ph.D. programs.

Within the CNBC, our over 200 world-class faculty and trainees are investigating the cognitive and neural mechanisms that give rise to biological intelligence and behavior. Research topics include affective, cognitive, linguistic, perceptual, motor and social systems in both normal and disordered populations, as well as computational neuroscience. The CNBC also promotes the translation of findings from basic research into applications for medicine, education, robotics and artificial intelligence.

Save The Date: October 17–18, 2014

Join us in celebrating the successes of the CNBC over the past 20 years and hear our plans for the next 20 years.

• Internationally renowned speakers:
  Emery Brown, John T. Bruer, Ann Graybiel and Rafael Malach
• Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition Alumni speakers
• Poster presentations
• Interactive panel discussion titled, "The impact of basic science on real world problems and solutions"

Questions: Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

More details will be coming soon.
We hope you will be able to join us.

Image courtesy of Dr. Timothy Verstynen

Carnegie Mellon University will award the second annual Andrew Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences to Ricardo Dolmetsch, global head of neuroscience at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research.

The prize, given by the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York as part of its centennial celebration, recognizes trailblazers in the mind and brain sciences whose research has helped advance the field and its applications. The CNBC will present the award to Dolmetsch at 4 p.m., Thursday, May 22 in CMU's Rashid Auditorium, 4401 Hillman Center.

Read more at CMU.edu...

Baseball will be on the minds of fans this Monday, when major league ballparks across the U.S. open for the start of the 2014 season.
 
That will be true for Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Timothy Verstynen, but in a more scientific way. He'll be thinking of all the information a batter must process before swinging for the fences.

That hitter must estimate where the ball will be, decide whether or not to swing, and coordinate a complex sequence of movements to get the bat at the right place at the right time, all within a single fluid movement.

This is just one example of the kind of brain activity being studied by Verstynen.

Read more at CMU.edu...

CNBC graduate student, Suchitra Ramachandran (CMU Biology) has placed 2nd in the CMU Three Minute Thesis competition in February. A video of her presentation is available here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEC00Ahevpk

The competition was developed by the University of Queensland to challenge graduate students to present their research in a compelling and clear manner while not “dumbing down” its content. Ramanchandran described research that she has been conducting with Carl Olson (CMU/CNBC) in a dissertation titled “Visual Statistical Learning in Monkey Inferotemporal Cortex”. 145 PhD students from all departments at CMU competed in the heats running up to the finals, with 11 qualifying as finalists.

In addition to her 2nd place finish (which included a $2000 prize to support travel and research), Ramachandran also received the People’s Choice Award (a $500 prize again to support travel and research). More information about the competition can be found here: http://search.library.cmu.edu/3mt/