by Roger Johansson and Mikael Johansson, The Conversation Credit: Shutterstock Humans have a fascinating ability to recreate events in the mind’s eye, in exquisite detail. Over 50 years ago, Donald Hebb and Ulrich Neisser, the forefathers of cognitive psychology, theorized that eye movements are vital for our ability to do this. They pointed out we move our...
UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA IMAGE: CONCLUSIONS REVEAL IT IS EASIER TO ALTER THE COGNITIVE ACTIVITY THROUGH TRANSCRANIAL MAGNETIC STIMULATION (TMS) IN PEOPLE WITH THE GENETIC VARIANT VAL/VAL FOR THE BDNF GENE. CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA The gene of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is associated with several processes related to memory and brain plasticity. Now, a...
by Michael Schmuker, The Conversation Credit: wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock In an episode of the popular TV series “Black Mirror” called “Crocodile,” an investigator asks a witness to smell a bottle of beer. The aim is to refresh her memory of a crime scene (the crime took place near a brewery). This might not exactly be standard practice,...
by Institute for Basic Science Increasing calcium in hippocampal astrocytes induces co-release of D-serine and glutamate through Best1. Glutamate released from CA3 neurons can induce local norepinephrine release by activating presynaptic AMPAR in the LC terminal. The astrocytes increase the NMDAR tone, which is important for homo- and hetero-synaptic long-term depression (LTD) in nearby synapses. Credit:...
by Ryan Randall, Florida Institute of Technology Figure 1. There were three parts of our memory experiment. First, people learned words on a computer screen, one at a time. Second, they took a break, and received 36 min of brain entrainment, consisting of lights and sounds. Third, they took a memory test, in which they saw...
by Robert Jacobs, The Conversation Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain When asked the other day about a bakery near my home, I responded that I’d recently eaten its mouth-watering chocolate chip cookies. My wife corrected me, noting that the cookies I ate were actually oatmeal raisin. Why did I make this memory error? Is this an early sign...
By Megan Molteni Scientists in Japan modified pyramidal neurons in mice so that when shined with a laser they couldn’t make the new connections needed to form and solidify new memories. The synthetic pyramidal neurons pictured here were simulated by a software called the TREES toolbox.WELLCOME Amouse finds itself in a box it’s seen before; inside,...
by Emily Caldwell, The Ohio State University The study diet mimicked ready-to-eat human foods that are often packaged for long shelf lives, such as salty snacks, frozen entrees and deli meats containing preservatives. Credit: Shutterstock Four weeks on a diet of highly processed food led to a strong inflammatory response in the brains of aging rats...
by Ingrid Fadelli , Medical Xpress Credit: Sterpenich et al. Past neuroscience studies have consistently showed that sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation. For instance, some neuroimaging research showed that the brain regions that are activated while humans are encoding waking experiences can later be reactivated during sleep, particularly during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep....
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY IMAGE: THIS IMAGE SUPERIMPOSES HIPPOCAMPAL LOCAL FIELD POTENTIALS ON RAILWAY TRACKS CONTROLLED BY A SWITCH THAT IS OVERLAID BY A DENTATE SPIKE COLORED YELLOW. RAILWAY TRACKS PROVIDE DIFFERENT PATHWAYS TO DISTINCT DESTINATIONS, LIKE DIFFERENT HIPPOCAMPAL INFORMATION PROCESSING MODES CAN ENABLE DISTINCTIVE MEMORY ENCODING AND RECOLLECTION INFORMATION PROCESSING FUNCTIONS. CREDIT: ANDRÉ FENTON, NEW...
