What Kinds of Minds and Brains Do We Have?

Nancy’s TED talk: A neural portrait of the human mind

This talk describes brain imaging research conducted over the last 15 years that has discovered a number of regions of the human brain, each of which conducts a remarkably specific mental function, from perceiving visual motion, to understanding language, to thinking about…
1.1 – Nancy Tells a Story to Introduce her New Course: The Human Brain [updated 2019]

[Video has been updated from Spring 2019 class] Dear Viewers of these Videos- These lectures are from my undergrad course The Human Brain, currently being taught in the spring of 2018 at MIT. Lectures will be added as the course proceeds.…
Special Parts of the Human Brain (Nancy at the Museum of Science, Boston)

Our brains are wired with specific regions for face-recognition, color perception, language, music, and even for thinking about how other people think. MIT neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher reveals the techniques used to localize brain activity and to track its development from infancy. Produced…
Functional Imaging of the Human Brain: A Window into the Organization of the Human Mind

On June 19, 2019, Prof. Nancy Kanwisher gave a talk about a wide range of aspects of the human brain, how it works and how it is studied to a group of visiting summer research students.
Modular Design of the Human Brain

This talk discusses “modular design”, the idea that the mind and brain are composed of distinct components, each carrying out a different function. I discuss what the idea is, why it makes sense from an engineering perspective, the controversial nature of the…
Humans are a highly social species

Perceiving, understanding and interacting with other people is at the core of what it means to be human, and brain regions supporting different aspects of social cognition take up a large area of the cortex. Related Videos The Neuroanatomy Lesson(Director’s Cut) Discovering…
The Neuroanatomy Lesson

MIT neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher bares all to teach neuroanatomy. Related Videos Watch Nancy’s brain get zapped with transcranial magnetic stimulation Nancy’s TED talk: A neural portrait of the human mind What happens when you stimulate the face area?
The Neuroanatomy Lesson (Director’s Cut)

With the help of neuro artist & grad student Rosa Lafer-Sousa, Nancy goes to ludicrous extremes to show you where in the head some of the functionally specific brain regions lie. Related Videos Nancy’s TED talk: A neural portrait of the human…
Functional Specificity in the Human Brain: A Very Brief History

Nancy describes the history of attempts to localize functionally specific regions in the brain, from the 18th century onwards.
Functional Specificity: What it means, and what it doesn’t

Nancy discusses what it means for a particular cognitive function to “live” in a specific area of the brain.