Patterns in the brain shed new light on how we function
The way neurons are structured, and the patterns they make can be used to explain how they behave and function. The findings have implications for creating intelligent robots.... Read More...
visual cortex
Prescription drug improves symptoms of autism by targeting brain’s chemical messengers
A drug commonly prescribed for edema improves the symptoms for young children on the autism spectrum with no significant side effects. The drug, bumetanide, decreases the ratio of GABA to glutamate in the brain.... Read More...
Some learning is a whole-brain affair
Motor learning induces widespread cortical synaptic potentiation by increasing the trafficking of AMPAR into dendritic spines.... Read More...
Controlling attention with brain waves
Attention can be boosted by using neurofeedback to increase alpha brainwaves.... Read More...
Ayahuasca DMT compound changes brainwaves to vivid ‘waking-dream’ state
DMT alters electrical activity in the brain. The compound significantly decreases alpha wave activity, the dominant rhythm associated with wakefulness, and increases theta waves, associated with dreaming. Overall brain activity becomes more chaotic and less predictable. The findings advance the understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of immersive states of consciousness.... Read More...
Immune cells rewire and repair the brain while we sleep
Microglia play a critical role in reorganizing neural connections, fighting infections, and repairing damage to neurons while we sleep.... Read More...
Brain tunes itself to criticality, maximizing information processing
Criticality in the brain was linked to inhibitory neurons imposing and organizing the computational dynamics.... Read More...
Do children’s brains really get thinner?
A new study questions whether a child's brain thins as they get older. Researchers say the cortex does not thin during childhood, but instead becomes more myelinated. ... Read More...
Critical role of brain circuits in improving learning and memory revealed
A newly identified neural network in the hippocampal formation plays a critical role in memory and object-location learning. The findings are highly relevant to learning and memory disorders, including Alzheimer's disease.... Read More...
How the brain repurposes unused regions
There is an underlying organization that dictates how the visual cortex is repurposed in blind people, which is not random. ... Read More...
Human perception of colors does not rely entirely on language
Based on the study of a stroke patient with damage to the occipito-temporal brain region, researchers made a big discovery about color categorization. They reveal color categorization and naming can be independent in the human brain. The finding challenges long-standing theories of the mandatory involvement of language in adult human cognition and color discrimination.... Read More...
How mammals’ brains evolved to distinguish odors is nothing to sniff at
Study reveals at least six types of mammals distinguish odors in similar ways, using neural networks that are evolutionarily preserved across species.... Read More...