Sleep problems in a baby’s first 12 months may not only precede autism diagnosis, but also associate with an altered growth trajectory in the hippocampus, a new study suggests. Infants spend most of their first year of life asleep. Those hours serve as prime time for brain development, when neural connections form and sensory memories...
Tag: <span>Hippocampus</span>
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New research explains why people with Down syndrome have spatial memory problems
The triplication of a single gene, GRIK1, located on chromosome 21, causes alterations in inhibitory synaptic transmission in the hippocampus, related to memory and space orientation SPANISH NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (CSIC) Professor Juan Lerma’s group, from the UMH-CSIC Institute of Neurosciences, in Alicante (Spain), has identified the gene called GRIK1, fundamental in the balance between...
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Sleep frees up the hippocampus for new memories
by Universitaet Tübingen Two regions of our brain are central for storing memories: the hippocampus and the neocortex. While the hippocampus is primarily responsible for learning new information and its short-term storage, the neocortex is able to store large amounts of information for a long time. Lea Himmer, Dr. Monika Schönauer and Professor Steffen Gais of the Institute of Medical Psychology at the...
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Scientists shed light on processes behind age-related decline in brain structures
Ageing can cause damage to support cells in the white matter, which in turn may lead to damage in the grey matter of the hippocampus, finds a new study by Cardiff University. The discovery gives researchers a new area to focus on in the search for treatments that can protect cognitive function. Claudia Metzler-Baddeley, from...
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Learning new vocabulary during deep sleep
Sleeping time is sometimes considered unproductive time. This raises the question whether the time spent asleep could be used more productively – e.g. for learning a new language? To date sleep research focused on the stabilization and strengthening (consolidation) of memories that had been formed during preceding wakefulness. However, learning during sleep has rarely been...
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Pinpointing the cells that control the brain’s memory flow
From the cab driver heading for Times Square to the commuter returning home on the freeway, we all carry maps in our head labeled with important locations. And a new Columbia study in mice shows that, by directing the delicate ebb-and-flow of brain activity, a small cluster of cells helps the brain’s internal GPS remember...
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New functions of hippocampus unveiled
HKU scientists achieve major breakthrough in untangling mysteries of the brain A research team led by Lam Woo Professor of Biomedical Engineering Ed X. Wu of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Hong Kong has made major breakthrough in unveiling the mysteries of the brain to reveal functions of an...