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Zuckerman Institute

·March 2, 2018·5 min read

In Pursuit of Pleasure, the Brain Learns to Hit the Repeat Button

According to researchers, the brain learns to reproduce brain activity patterns that lead to reward. The findings could lead to new avenues for treating addiction and OCD, researchers report.

Image shows a mouse and the chemical structure of dopamine.

Electrophysiology Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·February 1, 2018·5 min read

Body Movements Just Need a Puff of Dopamine to Get Started

Researchers say findings about how dopamine affects the initiation of movement could pave the way for the development of new treatments for Parkinson's and other movement related disorders.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·January 28, 2018·5 min read

Stem Cells that Build a Fly’s Nervous System Discovered

A new study sheds light on key aspects of nervous system development.

Featured Neuroscience Visual Neuroscience

·October 9, 2017·6 min read

Human Brain Recalls Visual Features in Reverse Order Than it Detects Them

A new study upends traditional models of how the brain constructs interpretations of the outside world, revealing that the brain uses a reverse order of processing to recall visual information.

Featured Neurology

·September 11, 2017·4 min read

Body’s Own Defense Against ALS Actually Drives Disease Progression at Later Stages

In early stages of ALS, autophagy helps to suppress disease progression, but accelerates the spread as the disease enters into later stages, researchers report.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 4, 2017·5 min read

Schizophrenia and Memory Deficits: Biological Origins of Core Schizophrenia Symptoms Discovered

A lack of adaptability in hippocampal place cells could be key to memory deficits in schizophrenia, researchers report.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·July 27, 2017·6 min read

In Witnessing the Brain’s ‘Aha!’ Moment, Scientists Shed Light on Biology of Consciousness

Researchers report becoming consciously aware of a decision conforms to the same mechanism the brain goes through to complete a simple decision.

Image shows matrices of the neural activity.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 20, 2017·4 min read

Patterns of Brain Activity Direct Specific Body Movements

A new study sheds light on how neurons in the motor cortex communicate with muscles and drive motion. Using optogenetics, the researchers discovered the motor cortex communicates with muscles differently, depending on the type of movement an animal makes.

Image shows hippocampal serotonin neurons.

Featured Neuroscience

·April 27, 2017·5 min read

Neurons’ Faulty Wiring Leads to Serotonin Imbalance and Depressive Behaviors: Mouse Study

Researchers have identified a gene that allows serotonin neurons to spread their branches throughout the brain. Mice lacking this gene showed entangled neuron branches and signs of depression.