Having a sweet tooth may be linked not only to eating habits but also to the way people make decisions. Researchers at HSE University have found that people with a preference for sweet foods tend to behave more impulsively—not because they want immediate rewards, but because they are less willing to tolerate uncertainty. These findings may help improve treatments for addiction. The study findings have been published in Frontiers in Psychology.

On June 22, Alexander Vyazmin successfully defended his PhD dissertation on grasping and transporting objects with the hand. The study examines how the requirement to rotate an object affects different phases of the movement even before contact with the object is made.

In an experiment involving 15 healthy men, scientists at HSE University investigated how different phases of the cardiac cycle influence the excitability of the motor cortex when participants viewed either their own photograph or the faces of strangers. The researchers found that when participants looked at their own image, the brain’s response to signals from the heart was weaker, meaning that the influence of cardiac activity on the motor cortex decreased. This finding came contrary to expectations, as self-focused attention was thought to enhance the brain's sensitivity to internal bodily signals. The study has been published in Frontiers in Signal Processing.

Researchers from the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience took part in the annual Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) conference, which was held on June 14–18, 2026 in Bordeaux, France. The team presented a series of studies on the perception of misleading narratives, manipulative messages, and the evaluation of information source credibility.

In early June, the Science Republic initiative of the Centre for Student Academic Development presented popular science projects at the Science and Ice Cream Festival at VDNKh. On June 5, 13, and 14, HSE University ran an extensive programme of events, from lectures to intellectual games. The events took place at the BIOTECH Museum, Museum of Urban Economy of Moscow, and Smart City pavilions.

Junior Research Fellow Eliana Monakhova from the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience took part in the session “The Art of Defeating Threats” at the Ural Forum on Cybersecurity in Finance. The fourth edition of the forum was held at the Yekaterinburg-Expo Congress Center and brought together more than 1,600 participants, including bank executives, federal government officials, and information security experts.

On July 10–11, 2025, Moscow hosted the 10th Hope for Technology National Forum of the Rehabilitation Industry and Universal Design. The event was aimed at discussing innovative achievements in the rehabilitation industry. The MIEM Student Design Bureau and the HSE Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience presented a smart orthosis, which was developed at the request of orthopedists.

The Sixth International Brain Stimulation Conference is not only a major scientific event but also a highly productive interdisciplinary meeting that provides excellent opportunities to discuss the latest advances in the field of brain stimulation.

Vasily Klucharev, HSE professor and Leading Research Fellow at the Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation in cognitive science. This was the first doctoral dissertation in this discipline in Russia.

An international team of researchers including scientists at HSE University investigated how bilingual individuals associate time with space. It turns out that in both their first and second languages, people associate the past with the left side of space and the future with the right. In fact, the higher the proficiency in a second language, the more pronounced this relationship becomes. The study findings have been published in Scientific Reports.