John Gabrieli, a professor at MIT, is head of “The Gab Lab,” which researches a wide variety of brain-based topics across diverse individuals and age groups. His work highlights some of the ways that neuroscience may change the way we think about learning differences, psychiatric disorders, and more.
Gabrieli’s lab investigates a wide range of topics including autism and developmental disorders, reading and language, intelligence and neural plasticity, memory development, and executive function.
In the field of educational neuroscience Gabrieli is a leader. In his work, he is tracing what appears to be objective evidence of brain differences associated with learning differences. This research suggests that we could discover the actual neural mechanisms that are responsible for learning differences, which could help us understand the most effective treatments as well. At the same time, he cautions that we still do not understand the true implications of these advances in neuroscience. For example, neuroscientists often rely on fMRI imaging performed in a lab; however, educators measure impact by assessing academic ability in a classroom. These are two very different environments that have very different impacts on the brain.
- Michael Greschler, M.Ed., SMARTS Director