Cognitive Science

The latest breakthroughs, innovations, and cool happenings at the cutting edge of the world of cognitive science. Updated daily.

Word Order Typology Interacts With Linguistic Complexity: A Cross‐Linguistic Corpus Study

Abstract Much previous work has suggested that word order preferences across languages can be explained by the dependency distance minimization constraint (Ferrer‐i Cancho, 2008, 2015; Hawkins, 1994). Consistent with this claim, corpus studies have shown that the average distance between a head (e.g., verb) and its dependent (e.g., noun) tends to be short cross‐linguistically (Ferrer‐i […]

Published on March 31, 2020

Are Human Dendrites Different?

The first patch-clamp recordings from the dendrites of human neocortical neurons have recently been reported by Beaulieu-Laroche et al. and Gidon et al. These studies have shown that human dendrites are electrically excitable, exhibiting backpropagating action potentials and fast dendritic calcium spikes. This new frontier highlights the potential for interspecies differences in the biophysics of […]

Published on March 31, 2020

Deficits in Motor Performance, Neurotransmitters and Synaptic Plasticity in Elderly and Experimental Parkinsonian Mice Lacking GPR37

Parkinson’s disease (PD) etiology is attributed to aging and the progressive neurodegeneration of dopamine (DA) neurons of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). GPR37 is an orphan G-protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR) that is linked to the juvenile form of PD. In addition, misfolded GPR37 has been found in Lewy bodies. However, properly folded GPR37 found at […]

Published on March 28, 2020