Press releases

When we open our eyes, it is very easy for us to see the different objects, people and animals around us. Traditionally, the dominant view in research has been that a central goal of our perception is to recognize objects and assign them to different categories - for example, is this object we see a dog and do dogs belong to the category of animals. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and the Justus Liebig University Giessen in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health in the USA have now shown that this view is incomplete. In a recent study in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, they demonstrate that brain activity when seeing objects can be much better explained by a variety of behaviorally relevant dimensions.
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It is widely known in neuroscience that males have larger brains than females on average. However, how the brain differs functionally between the sexes is less well understood.
Based on the premise that brain structure supports function, Bianca Serio and Sofie Valk from MPI CBS in Leipzig and Forschungszentrum Jülich investigated whether sex differences in the functional organization of the brain could be explained by differences in brain size, brain  microstructure and the distance of functional connections along the cortical surface. Their results, recently published in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that sex differences in functional brain organization instead reflect small differences in functional networks and connections. In a second study published in Nature Communications, Svenja Küchenhoff from Sofie Valk's team was further able to show the extent to which sex hormones influence the structure of the brain.
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Mental illness often occurs for the first time during puberty and in young adulthood. This is because during adolescent brain development, a pronounced remodeling of cognitive networks takes place. On the one hand, this remodeling promotes the maturation of more complex cognitive functions and the ability to fit into the social environment. On the other hand, this developmental phase may be associated with greater instability and susceptibility to negative environmental influences, which can affect the mental health of adolescents. In a recent study in the journal Nature Communications, Meike Hettwer and Sofie Valk from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and Forschungszentrum Jülich investigated how environmental risk factors - such as traumatic experiences and dysfunctional family settings - affect the mental health of 14- to 24-year-olds and how susceptibility to these factors can change within an individual over time.

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Every year, the Max Planck Society honors young scientists with the Otto Hahn Medal for outstanding scientific achievements. This year, Rachel Zsido from the Department of Neurology and Markus Frey from the Department of Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) received two of the coveted awards. Here they answer three questions about their research in a short interview.

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Scientists around Malte Brammerloh and Evgeniya Kirilina from MPI CBS in Leipzig describe a new technique for measuring the magnetic properties of metals within cells in the Journal “Physical Review X”. The method is providing a powerful tool for studying how metal accumulation in cells contributes to certain diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
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The question of how the human brain has developed over the course of evolution can possibly only be answered through comparisons with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, together with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have now presented a freely accessible map of high-resolution MRI data that shows the comprehensive brain structure of chimpanzees for the first time in a study published in the journal "Nature Methods".
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Feelings or emotions have not yet been systematically described in neuroscience. The best-known theories on why emotions significantly influence our brain and how they arise were put forward at the end of the 1970s. The Human Affectome Project has now presented a comprehensive and integrated model for emotions and feelings that is intended to serve as a common concept for affective research. Together with over 170 researchers from more than 20 countries, Matthias Schroeter and his team from MPI CBS report in the journal "Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews" on, among other things, which brain regions are involved in social emotions.
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Visit of Saxony’s premier Kretschmer at MPI CBS
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In most decision-making situations we need to plan well ahead as values of choice options often change over time. How does our brain manage to make good predictions in such situations and select the best option for the future? Alexander Nitsch and Christian Doeller from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) investigated this together with Nicolas Schuck from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in their recent study published in Nature Communications.
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have unearthed fascinating evidence that the brain undergoes important changes in wiring when we embark on the journey of learning a new language in adulthood. They organized a large intensive German learning program for Syrian refugees and studied their brains using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), uncovering dynamic modulations in the wiring of crucial language regions that enabled them to communicate and think in the new language.
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