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.”
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”
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”
Every person has a unique brain anatomy
Like with fingerprints, no two people have the same brain anatomy, a study by researchers of the University of Zurich has shown. This uniqueness is the result of a combination of genetic factors and individual life experiences. Continue reading “Every person has a unique brain anatomy”
The increasingly efficient teenage brain
Some brain networks become more densely connected during adolescence while others become less so, according to a new analysis published in eNeuro of neuroimaging data collected from more than 700 children and adolescents from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. These changes in network connectivity may underlie the refinement of cognitive abilities that develop during the teenage years. Continue reading “The increasingly efficient teenage brain”
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