Rebecca Saxe’s work addresses the human brain’s capacity for abstract thought and the origins of ‘theory of mind,’ the ability to understand the beliefs, hopes and plans of other people.
Rebecca Saxe
Professor
Massachussetts Institute of Technology
From this contributor
U.S. agency backtracks on broad interpretation of ‘clinical trial’
Autism researchers need no longer worry that their basic research will become entangled in the red tape associated with clinical trials.
U.S. agency backtracks on broad interpretation of ‘clinical trial’
By
Hannah Furfaro
6 February 2018 | 6 min read
1985 paper on the theory of mind
In 1985, Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan Leslie and Uta Frith reported for the first time that children with autism systematically fail the false belief task.
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Private initiative makes ‘historic’ investment in autism research
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Madeline Shaw
13 October 2026 | 4 min read
The neural code at 100
In two 1926 articles, Edgar Douglas Adrian revealed that neurons communicate through trains of spikes.
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Matteo Carandini
12 October 2026 | 8 min read