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neural networks

The image is a pencil drawing of a head with a colorized computer component brain area.

·January 30, 2013·2 min read

Engineers Solve a Biological Mystery and Boost Artificial Intelligence

Simulating 25,000 generations of evolution within computers, researchers discover why biological networks tend to be organized as modules, a finding that will lead to a deeper understanding of the evolution of complexity.

The image shows Dr Tandon operating on a patient to place electrodes on the brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 29, 2013·3 min read

In-Brain Monitoring Shows Memory Network

Working with patients with electrodes implanted in their brains, researchers show that areas of the brain work simultaneously to recall memories. The approach promises new insights into how we remember details of time and place.

Featured Psychology

·October 24, 2012·3 min read

Brainwave Training Boosts Network for Cognitive Control and Predicts Mind Wandering

Using several neuroimaging methods, a team of researchers working at the University of Western Ontario have now uncovered that functional changes within a key brain network occur directly after a 30-minute session of noninvasive, neural-based training.

Neural network model is shown and described in the caption.

Featured Neurology

·October 24, 2012·3 min read

Like a Noisy Political Campaign, “Grassroots” Neurons Wire and Fire Together for Dominance in the Brain

Researchers found that neurons team up together to sway particular outcomes in the brain and take over the nervous system in the name of their preferred action or behavior.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 19, 2012·2 min read

How the Brain Forms Categories

Neurobiologists investigated how the brain is able to group external stimuli into stable categories. They found the answer in the discrete dynamics of neuronal circuits.

Neurons and a neural network are shown. Caption describes well.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·October 18, 2012·3 min read

A Glance at the Brain’s Circuit Diagram

Scientists developed a method for decoding neural circuit diagrams. Using measurements of total neuronal activity, they can determine the probability that two neurons are connected with each other.

The numbers 1 through 9 are shown over a brain with two question marks over 3 and 5.

Featured Psychology

·October 5, 2012·4 min read

What Number is Halfway Between 1 and 9? Is it 5 or 3?

A new information-theoretical model of human sensory perception and memory sheds light on some peculiarities of the nervous system. Ask adults from the industrialized world what number is halfway between 1 and 9, and most will say 5. But pose the same question to small children, or people living in some traditional societies, and they're likely to answer 3.

Featured Neuroscience

·September 17, 2012·4 min read

Blue Brain Project Accurately Predicts Connections Between Neurons

Proof of concept: Researchers identify principles to support brain simulation models. Blue Brain Project has identified key principles that determine synapse-scale connectivity by virtually reconstructing a cortical microcircuit and comparing it to a mammalian sample. These principles now make it possible to predict the locations of synapses in the neocortex.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·August 24, 2012·2 min read

Astrocytes Control the Generation of New Neurons from Neural Stem Cells

Neuroscience researchers show how astrocytes control the generation of new neurons in the brain. “In the brain, astrocytes control how many new neurons are formed from neural stem cells and survive to integrate into the existing neuronal networks. Astrocytes do this by secreting specific molecules but also by much less understood direct cell-cell interactions with stem cells”, says Prof. Milos Pekny.

Featured Neuroscience

·August 1, 2012·4 min read

Brain Imaging Can Predict How Intelligent You Are, Study Finds

Research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that another 10 percent of individual differences in intelligence can be explained by the strength of neural pathways connecting the left lateral prefrontal cortex to the rest of the brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 27, 2012·2 min read

Connectomics: Mapping the Neural Network Governing Male Roundworm Mating

Researchers determined how the neurons and muscles are connected in a decision-making neural network important for mating in C. elegans. The team also accurately measured the weights of those connections, i.e., an estimate of the strength with which one neuron or muscle communicates with another.