Language

Recent articles

Gabriele Scheler reflects on the interplay between language, thought and AI

She discusses how verbal thought shapes cognition, why inner speech is foundational to human intelligence and what current artificial-intelligence models get wrong about language.

By Paul Middlebrooks
26 March 2025 | 96 min listen
Illustration of a paper draft covered in notes and sign-off signatures, and surrounded by many hands reaching towards it.

The last two-author neuroscience paper?

Author lists on papers have ballooned, and it’s getting hard to discern contribution.

By Lydia Denworth
25 February 2025 | 3 min read

‘Digital humans’ in a virtual world

By combining large language models with modular cognitive control architecture, Robert Yang and his collaborators have built agents that are capable of grounded reasoning at a linguistic level. Striking collective behaviors have emerged.

By Kevin Mitchell
10 February 2025 | 51 min watch
Illustration of two neon-toned sets of concentric circles overlapping, with bright spots where they intersect.

Are brains and AI converging?—an excerpt from ‘ChatGPT and the Future of AI: The Deep Language Revolution’

In his new book, to be published next week, computational neuroscience pioneer Terrence Sejnowski tackles debates about AI’s capacity to mirror cognitive processes.

By Terrence Sejnowski
21 October 2024 | 12 min read
Portrait of Matthew Siegel sitting on a staircase.

Pinning down ‘profound autism’ for reliable research: Q&A with Matthew Siegel

A clear and actionable definition for the term could enhance research and improve care, Matthew Siegel says.

By Katie Moisse
13 June 2024 | 7 min read
Illustration of a series of squares containing distinct patterns.

Can an emerging field called ‘neural systems understanding’ explain the brain?

This mashup of neuroscience, artificial intelligence and even linguistics and philosophy of mind aims to crack the deep question of what "understanding" is, however un-brain-like its models may be.

By George Musser
5 June 2024 | 21 min listen
Conceptual image of colorful falling letters, casting shadows on a white wall.

Some minimally verbal autistic people show signs of written-language familiarity, study suggests

But researchers not involved in the work worry the findings could be used to support discredited facilitated-communication techniques.

By Calli McMurray
9 May 2024 | 7 min read
Illustrated portrait of Emily Finn.

Brain connectivity and letting the data speak with Emily Finn

The Dartmouth College researcher talks about her quest to understand behavior and doing neuroscience “in the woods.”

By Brady Huggett
1 May 2024 | 70 min listen
Human head drawn in profile, brain area is red and connected to words spelled out in connected lines with nodes.

Individual neurons tune to complex speech sounds and cues

Neuropixels arrays implanted in people reveal nuances of speech perception and production that confirm results from brain-surface recordings and can even predict what someone is about to say.

By Elissa Welle
15 March 2024 | 7 min read
A research image of autism-linked genes.

Autism-linked perturbations converge on cell skeleton and RNA-binding proteins

The findings solidify the idea that autism-linked mutations affect brain activity by way of several key shared mechanisms.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
29 February 2024 | 4 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

People help each other climb up a supersized human brain.

As federal funders desert mentorship programs for marginalized students, trainee-led initiatives fill the gap

Grassroots organizations, led by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, are stepping up to provide neuroscience career training and guidance for students from marginalized backgrounds—and they need your support.

By Christian Cazares, Maribel Patiño
11 April 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of two mouse brain slices.

Split gene therapy delivers promise in mice modeling Dravet syndrome

The new approach overcomes viral packaging limitations by delivering SCN1A piecemeal and stitching it together in target cells.

By Holly Barker
10 April 2025 | 5 min read
Screenshot of NeMO website with banner reading This repository is under review for potential modification in compliance with Administration directives.

U.S. human data repositories ‘under review’ for gender identity descriptors

Researchers associated with the repositories received an email from the U.S. National Institutes of Health in March noting that they must comply with a 20 January executive order from President Trump that recognizes only two sexes: male and female.

By Angie Voyles Askham
9 April 2025 | 4 min read