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Memory

·September 8, 2025·3 min read

REM Sleep Reactivation Locks Memories in Place

Rare adult-born neurons in the hippocampus are reactivated during REM sleep, locking waking experiences into long-term memory. Using genetically modified mice, they found that these neurons fire in the same patterns during sleep as they did during learning.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 3, 2025·5 min read

How the Brain Extinguishes Fear Memories

Scientists have, for the first time, identified the brain signals linked to extinguishing fear memories in humans. Using implanted electrodes and advanced Representational Similarity Analysis, they showed that theta activity in the amygdala increases when previously unpleasant cues are re-learned as safe.

This shows the outline of a woman, pills, and "negative memories" flowing from her head.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 29, 2025·5 min read

Hormonal Contraceptives Influence Memory of Emotional Events

A new study reveals that hormonal contraceptives may shape both emotional responses and memory processing in women. Compared with naturally cycling women, users of hormonal birth control had stronger emotional reactions and remembered fewer details of negative events when using regulation strategies like distancing or reinterpretation.

This shows a person walking in a room surrounded by books and photos.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 28, 2025·6 min read

Inside the Minds That Never Forget: Exploring Hyperthymesia

Autobiographical memory allows us to relive experiences, form identity, and project into the future. A rare few, known as hyperthymesics, can recall events from their lives with remarkable precision, linking them to specific dates and vivid sensory details.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 24, 2025·6 min read

Music After Learning Boosts Memory, But Only at the Right Emotion Level

A new study reveals that listening to music immediately after an experience can enhance memory—if the emotional response is just right. Researchers found that volunteers who experienced moderate arousal while listening to music were better at recalling details, while those with stronger or weaker emotions remembered only the gist.

This shows a man with headphones on and musical notes swirling around him.

Auditory Neuroscience Featured Neuroscience

·August 20, 2025·5 min read

Songs Don’t Just Move Us, They Shape Memories

A new study reveals that different types of music shape the emotional tone of the memories they evoke. Acoustic, lower-energy songs often triggered personal memories filled with calmness, romance, and sadness, while energetic, less acoustic songs sparked memories of social fun, excitement, and amusement.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·August 20, 2025·3 min read

Blocking Protein Reverses Age-Related Memory Loss

Aging disrupts memory by increasing levels of the protein FTL1 in the hippocampus, new research shows. In mice, excess FTL1 caused neurons to grow abnormally and led to memory decline, while reducing FTL1 reversed these impairments.

This shows hippocampal neurons, and is an AI representation.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 18, 2025·5 min read

New Neuron Type Controls How Accurately We Recall Memories

Scientists have identified a previously unknown group of inhibitory neurons defined by the adhesion molecule Kirrel3. These neurons receive input from dentate granule cells and project strongly onto CA3 hippocampal neurons, placing them at a critical juncture for memory retrieval.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 11, 2025·5 min read

Brain’s Memory Rhythm: How Neurons Sync to Store and Recall

Researchers studying people with epilepsy have discovered that nerve cells in the medial temporal lobe coordinate their firing with slow brain waves to encode and retrieve memories. This synchronization, known as theta-phase locking, occurs at one to ten cycles per second and is active during both learning and recall.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 9, 2025·5 min read

Why Some 80-Year-Olds Have the Memory of 50-Year-Olds

For 25 years, scientists have studied “SuperAgers”—people aged 80 and above whose memory rivals those decades younger. Research reveals that their brains either resist Alzheimer’s-related plaques and tangles or remain resilient despite having them.

This shows a brain with the amygdala and hippocampus glowing red.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 26, 2025·6 min read

How the Brain Reactivates Emotional Experiences

A new study using direct recordings from human brains reveals how the amygdala and hippocampus coordinate to form and retrieve emotional memories. During aversive memory encoding, high-frequency gamma activity in the amygdala shapes hippocampal responses, which are later reactivated in the hippocampus—but not the amygdala—during memory recall.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·July 25, 2025·6 min read

Brain Decodes Visual Memories by Timing, Not Just Firing Neurons

A new study has uncovered how the brain efficiently encodes and recalls visual memories—by organizing them into categories and using the precise timing of neuronal activity.