Researchers identified the gut bacteria E. faecalis as a mediator of social behavior and corticosterone levels in mice.
Artificial intelligence technology is able to break down a painting's visual attributes. Trained by data from online users, the deep convolutional neural network was accurately able to predict an individual's taste in art.
Focused ultrasound allowed researchers to record and monitor brain activity in a non-invasive way. The technology allowed the researchers to predict movement.
A new theoretical study proposes new models outlining the relationship between personality, genes, and behaviors. Researchers also propose a method to discover where personality resides in the brain, and how it relates to other psychological functions including memory and emotion.
Activity in the medial preoptic area tilts the mouse brain toward love and affection, while activity in the ventromedial hypothalamus is associated with more aggressive or hateful acts.
Hard wired neural circuits in mice that govern aggression are strengthened following victories in aggressive encounters. Synapses in the hypothalamus show signs of LTP following aggression training.
When a mouse senses a threat, neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus become activated and remain active for ten seconds after the threat is removed. Fear responses could be induced by artificially stimulating these neurons. Artificially silencing the neurons reduced fear behavior.
Study identifies a different set of individual neurons in the medial frontal cortex that is responsible for memory-based decision making. The findings have implications for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and other disorders associated with problems in cognitive flexibility.
The brain chooses between two neural systems responsible for emulation learning and imitation learning. Study reveals how the brain chooses which strategy to employ when faced with an observational learning task.
Using mouse models, researchers seeded alpha-synuclein aggregates in gut neurons and discovered the clumps can travel to neurons in the brain.
Study identifies rare brain cell types that are unique to male mice, and others that are unique to females. The cells were discovered in the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that governs both aggression and mating behaviors.
Stable memories are encoded by teams of neurons firing in synchrony, providing redundancy that enables the memory to persist over time.
