Cognition

We are really bad at navigating a key transition point during one of the most basic social interactions

That is a trick question because dolphins obviously don’t have hands. But studying whether they have “handedness” led to identifying a quirk of human perception

Researchers demonstrate that during REM sleep, people can hear—and respond to—simple questions such as “What is eight minus six?”

The good news is that parents can take action to compensate

Scientists search for the neural basis of an enigmatic experience

Research documents a strange illusion

Juvenile ravens performed just as well as chimps and orangutans in a battery of intelligence tests—except for assays of spatial skills. Christopher Intagliata reports.

A study of adults learning a new language found that speaking primarily activated regions in the left side of the brain, but reading and listening comprehension were much more variable

At just four months of age, the birds performed equally well as great apes on understanding numbers, following cues and many more tasks

Many with this skill have a feeling they are special. A freely available test helps them confirm their intuitions

Horseflies misjudge landings on zebra patterns, compared with solid gray or black surfaces, which provides evidence for why evolution came up with the black-and-white pattern.

Suggestibility may explain why people “feel” vicarious pain or sensation in a fake hand