New research significantly advances our understanding of the brain mechanisms that link learning with flexible decision making. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 14th issue of the journal Neuron, demonstrates that the brain does not just learn the structure of the physical world but, through learning, encodes rules that regulate how we interpret future sensory information.

Anyone who has visited a science museum, gone on a nature walk, or watched a science program on public television knows that one need not be in a classroom or lecture hall to learn about science. Indeed, opportunities to be immersed in science present themselves to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, in a myriad of locations.

The healthy brain is in a constant struggle between learning new experiences and remembering old experiences, a new study in this week's PLoS Biology reports.

The Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP), the largest research initiative into education related topics ever undertaken in the United Kingdom, presents its major conclusions on 24th and 25th November after nine years of investigations across all sectors of education, from the importance of preschool education to lifelong learning.

A computer model that can predict how people will complete a controlled task and how the knowledge needed to complete that task develops over time is the product of a group of researchers, led by a professor from Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology.

The latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary boasts 22,000 pages of definitions. While that may seem far from succinct, new research suggests the reference manual is meticulously organized to be as concise as possible — a format that mirrors the way our brains make sense of and categorize the countless words in our vast vocabulary.

Neurons spoke to Dr. Joe Z. Tsien when he was a sophomore college student searching for some meaningful extracurricular activity.

For the first time, a Brown University research team has linked pain receptors found throughout the nervous system to learning and memory in the brain. The findings, published in Neuron, point up new drug targets for memory loss or epileptic seizures.

Tests on the influence that a stress-related hormone has on learning in ground squirrels could have an impact on understanding how it influences human learning, according to a University of Chicago researcher.

Short-term stress lasting as little as a few hours can impair brain-cell communication in areas associated with learning and memory, University of California, Irvine researchers have found.

Whether you are a habitual list maker, or you prefer to keep your tasks in your head, everyone pursues their goals in this ever changing, chaotic environment. We are often aware of our conscious decisions that bring us closer to reaching our goals, however to what extent can we count on our unconscious processes to pilot us toward our destined future?