Brain Awareness Week

The human brain is responsible for so much, yet so little is known about how it works. Twenty years ago, the Dana Foundation established Brain Awareness Week to highlight the importance of brain research and how progress will impact everything from mental and behavioral disorders to debilitating diseases and education. As the birthplace of artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology, Carnegie Mellon University has been a leader in the study of brain and behavior for more than 50 years. The university created some of the first cognitive tutors, helped to develop the Jeopardy-winning Watson, founded a groundbreaking doctoral program in neural computation, and completed cutting-edge work in understanding the genetics of autism. Building on its strengths in biology, computer science, psychology, statistics and engineering, CMU recently launched BrainHub℠ , a global initiative that focuses on how the structure and activity of the brain give rise to complex behaviors. Recent BrainHub research that continues to build a solid foundation to shed light on the mysteries of how the brain works, includes: Discovering Idiosyncratic Brain Patterns in Autism Published , a brain imaging study showed that the brains of individuals with autism display unique synchronization patterns, something that could impact earlier diagnosis of the disorder and future treatments. "Identifying brain profiles that differ from the pattern observed in typically developing individuals is crucial .