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spatial learning

This shows AI representations of neurons.

·June 2, 2025·6 min read

Inhibitory Neurons May Hold the Key to Spatial Learning and Memory

A new study explores how the brain quickly learns and remembers important locations by focusing not on excitatory neurons, but on inhibitory ones called parvalbumin interneurons (PVs). These PVs act like circuit breakers, briefly reducing their activity to allow learning-related neurons to strengthen connections. Using optogenetics and virtual reality mazes in mice, researchers found that learning was blocked when PV inhibition didn’t decrease at the right time.

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·August 7, 2023·5 min read

Navigators of Nature: Butterflies Exhibit Spatial Learning

Until now, research on insect spatial learning primarily focused on social species like bees and ants. This new revelation underscores the possibility of more widespread complex learning skills, such as the use of spatial information, in insects than previously recognized.

Featured Neuroscience

·January 10, 2023·5 min read

Glial Cells Help Memory Along

Astrocytes play a crucial role in spatial learning, researchers discovered.

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·March 8, 2022·4 min read

Astrocyte Networks in the Mouse Brain Control Spatial Learning and Memory

In the brains of adult mice, astrocytes coupling contributes to neural functioning in the hippocampus, an area of the brain associated with spatial memory and learning.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 10, 2022·3 min read

New Neural Circuits That Regulate Spatial Learning and Memory in the Brain’s Hippocampal Formation Discovered

Study identifies a novel neural circuit that regulates spatial learning and memory in the brain's hippocampal formation.

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·August 2, 2019·6 min read

Knowing where the center of a space is helps inform spatial awareness

The postrhinal cortex of rats contains three types of spatial cells which act together to provide a sense of location and directional orientation.

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·January 31, 2019·5 min read

Pinpointing Cells That Control the Brain’s Memory Flow

A new mouse study reveals a small cluster of interneurons in the hippocampus help the brain remember the places that matter the most. The findings could have implications for future studies of psychiatric disorders.

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·October 14, 2018·4 min read

Previous Motherhood Could Affect Hormone Therapy’s Ability to Prevent Memory Loss

A new study reports mother rats who received hormone replacement therapy responded worse to memory and spatial learning tasks than those who had not given birth. Researchers suggest a woman's reproductive history could impact how the brain responds to hormones later in life.

Featured Neurology

·June 9, 2018·4 min read

Researchers Reverse Cognitive Impairments in Mice with Dementia

Researchers report tau pathology can be reversed in Alzheimer's patients with the help of a drug. Their study reveals reversing tau pathology in mouse models of dementia resulted in a reversal of cognitive deficits in spatial learning.

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·August 10, 2017·6 min read

Hormone Shows Promise as Cognition Enhancer

Researchers report klotho, a life extending protein, improved working memory, spatial memory and learning in mice. The researchers also noted a single injection of klotho was sufficient to improve cognitive ability and the effects were long lasting.