Using brain images of people listening to short symphonies by an obscure 18th-century composer, a research team from the Stanford University School of Medicine has gained valuable insight into how the brain sorts out the chaotic world around it. Continue reading “Music moves brain to pay attention, Stanford study finds”
Can’t get an image out of your head? Your eyes are helping to keep it there.
Even though you are not aware of it, your eyes play a role in searing an image into your brain, long after you have stopped looking at it. Continue reading “Can’t get an image out of your head? Your eyes are helping to keep it there.”
Increased stress on fathers leads to brain development changes in offspring
New research in mice has found that a father’s stress affects the brain development of his offspring. This stress changes the father’s sperm, which can then alter the brain development of the child. This new research provides a much better understanding of the key role that fathers play in the brain development of offspring. Continue reading “Increased stress on fathers leads to brain development changes in offspring”
Why are neuron axons long and spindly? Study shows they’re optimizing signaling efficiency
A team of bioengineers at UC San Diego has answered a question that has long puzzled neuroscientists, and may hold a key to better understanding the complexities of neurological disorders: Why are axons, the spindly arms extending from neurons that transmit information from neuron to neuron in the brain, designed the way they are? Continue reading “Why are neuron axons long and spindly? Study shows they’re optimizing signaling efficiency”
Depression speeds up brain aging, find psychologists
Psychologists at the University of Sussex have found a link between depression and an acceleration of the rate at which the brain ages. Although scientists have previously reported that people with depression or anxiety have an increased risk of dementia in later life, this is the first study that provides comprehensive evidence for the effect of depression on decline in overall cognitive function (also referred to as cognitive state), in a general population. Continue reading “Depression speeds up brain aging, find psychologists”
Synapse-specific plasticity governs the identity of overlapping memory traces
Memories are formed through long-term changes in synaptic efficacy, a process known as synaptic plasticity, and are stored in the brain in specific neuronal ensembles called engram cells, which are activated during corresponding events. When two memories are associated, cell ensembles corresponding to each memory overlap. However, each memory has its own identity. How the brain stores and defines a specific memory identity when two memories interact and are encoded in the shared ensemble was elusive. Here, a research team led by Dr. Kaoru Inokuchi at the University of Toyama shows that synapse-specific plasticity represents specific memory entities, and that synaptic plasticity between specific engram assemblies is both sufficient and crucial for information storage. Continue reading “Synapse-specific plasticity governs the identity of overlapping memory traces”
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