Dept of Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester

05/26/2026

New publication from Zhen Chen: Adult-neurogenesis allows for representational stability and flexibility in early olfactory system, published in eLife. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.107905

Using computational and theoretical models shows how adult-neurogenesis and spike-timing-dependent plasticity balance the flexibility and stability of odor representations.

05/19/2026

OUT NOW from Karl Rosengren in J. of Child and Family Studies: “Does it Hurt?”: An Analysis of Parental Attributes and Responses to Children’s Questions about the COVID-19 Vaccine.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-026-03310-4

As the COVID-19 pandemic progressed, parents and children were prompted to have conversations about the pandemic including conversations about vaccination.

05/05/2026

NEW from Dora Biro: Chimpanzees spontaneously prepare for mutually exclusive possibilities, and collective context strengthens this behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2024.0444

Abstract. In both humans and non-human animals, collectives can sometimes overcome individual cognitive biases or shortcomings to execute more rational beh

04/30/2026

🥳 Congratulations to Kathy Corser, who has been selected as a winner of the School of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Staff Award!

Our Graduate Programs Administrator Kathy has been with the University for over 25 years and has graduated more than 100 students, many of whom still speak extremely fondly of the care and support they received from her. Well deserved, Kathy!!!

The School of Arts & Sciences is gifted with an exceptional community of staff members whose stellar work supports our students and academic and research enterp

04/21/2026

New publication from Dora Biro: Collective route memories emerge through differential forgetting of navigational information in homing pigeons, published in Scientific Reports.
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39898-2

Better decision-making in larger groups than smaller groups or individuals has been observed across various taxa. While this phenomenon is thought to result from the pooling of independent information in collective decision-making, an alternative mechanism is the better retention of learned informat...

04/16/2026

BCS grad student Oviya Mohan has won the 2026 Edward Peck Curtis Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student. Congratulations Oviya! 🥳
https://www.rochester.edu/provost/honors-awards/teaching-awards/edward-peck-curtis-awards-for-excellence-in-undergraduate-teaching/

Learn more about this University of Rochester undergraduate teaching honor, given out by the Office of the Provost, and see past winners.

04/14/2026

New publication from Ralf Haefner in Neuron: Statistics of natural scenes shape contextual modulation in the visual cortex.

04/09/2026

Congrats to Oviya Mohan & Yue Guzhang, who were selected as winners in the 2026 Open Scholarship Awards! These awards celebrate students with "exemplary efforts in making their research open and accessible to the wider community”. Read more: https://osc-rochester.org/open-scholarship-awards

04/07/2026

NEW from Cell Reports Methods: Projection-specific intersectional optogenetics for precise excitation and inhibition in the marmoset brain, co-authored by Jude Mitchell.

04/02/2026

OUT NOW from Ashley Clark, Krish Prahalad, & Martina Poletti: Distinct eccentricity-driven dynamics in foveal and extrafoveal visual crowding.

03/27/2026

🎉 Congrats to former BCS member Ilker Yildirim, recipient of the 2026 Elsevier/VSS Young Investigator Award. Dr. Yildirim received his PhD in 2014 and was advised by Robert Jacobs.

2026 Elsevier/VSS Young Investigator Award – Ilker Yildirim Monday, May 18, 2026, 12:30 – 2:00 pm, Talk Room 2 The Vision Sciences Society is honored to present Ilker Yildirim with the 2026 Elsevier/VSS Young Investigator Award. The Elsevier/VSS Young Investigator Award, sponsored by Vision Rese...