Sensory perception

Recent articles

Child sitting on confetti-covered ground, wearing noise-cancelling headphones.

Sensory over-responsivity tied to autism, anxiety but not other conditions

Negative reactions to sensations track with certain neurodevelopmental traits in more than 15,000 children—pointing to shared neurobiological roots.

By Diana Kwon
10 September 2026 | 5 min read
Ground squirrel.

How thirteen-lined ground squirrels illuminate retinal development

In most mammalian retinas, rods outnumber cones. But that ratio is flipped in ground squirrels, a quirk that helps Seth Blackshaw explore how retinal cells develop their identities.

By Sarah Thau
31 July 2026 | 5 min read
Child sitting on a trampoline.

Study questions DSM-5’s combining of autism traits

Sensory traits and restricted and repetitive behaviors are best understood as distinct but related characteristics, the new work suggests.

By Lauren Schenkman
23 July 2026 | 5 min read

Ehud Ahissar offers a new kind of dualism for neuroscience

He explains how “perceptual dualism” can account for the way we communicate via digital symbols and perceive the world via analog brain processes.

By Paul Middlebrooks
6 May 2026 | 102 min listen
Research image visualizing neuronal activity.

Switching neural code may solve ongoing face-recognition debate

Face patch cells in macaque monkeys initially respond to images of any object but rapidly transition to attend to faces exclusively, a new study finds.

By Holly Barker
23 April 2026 | 5 min read
Research image of zebrafish brain activity.

Nearly 400 compounds affect behaviors tied to autism-linked genes in zebrafish

Estropipate, paclitaxel and levocarnitine altered behaviors tied to SCN2A and DYRK1A variants specifically, a new open-source platform revealed.

By Charles Q. Choi
16 April 2026 | 4 min read
Tick on a leaf raises its forelegs.

The secret sensory world of ticks

Carola Städele, a self-proclaimed “tick magnet,” studies the arachnids’ sensory neurobiology—in other words, how these tiny parasites zero in on their next meal.

By Calli McMurray
3 March 2026 | 6 min read
Gloved hand reaches out to touch a mouse.

This paper changed my life: Ishmail Abdus-Saboor on balancing the study of pain and pleasure

A 2013 Nature paper from David Anderson’s lab revealed a group of sensory neurons involved in pleasurable touch and led Abdus-Saboor down a new research path.

By Ishmail Abdus-Saboor
13 February 2026 | 7 min read

Michael Shadlen explains how theory of mind ushers nonconscious thoughts into consciousness

All of our thoughts, mostly nonconscious, are interrogations of the world, Shadlen says. The opportunity to report our answers to ourselves or others brings a thought into conscious awareness.

By Paul Middlebrooks
28 January 2026 | 1 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

Explore more from The Transmitter

Sylvia Fogel, reshaping U.S. autism research strategy

In a wide-ranging and provocative interview, the chair of the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee shares her views on vaccines, regression, neuroimmune conditions and more.

By Brady Huggett
17 September 2026 | 1 min read
Nerve fibers from the human graft in mouse brain.

Human brain organoids flourish in emptied mouse cortex

The chimeric mice could help untangle the biology of human brain development or conditions such as autism.

By Brianna Abbott
16 September 2026 | 6 min read

What if Hegel were a neuroscientist?

Andrea Gambarotto shares what Hegel and enactivism have in common: an agency-first approach to understanding minds and brains.

By Paul Middlebrooks
16 September 2026 | 1 min read