Weekly Neuroscience Update

Neuronal activity during exposure to various images reveals distinct spatial groupings. The red region, for example, responds well to face stimuli. Credit by Takayuki Sato/RIKEN Brain Science Institute.

Neuronal activity during exposure to various images reveals distinct spatial groupings. The red region, for example, responds well to face stimuli. Credit by Takayuki Sato/RIKEN Brain Science Institute.

A brain region that responds to a particular category of objects is found to consist of small clusters of neurons encoding visual features of these objects.

Scientists have discovered that by deactivating a major switch in the brain that is linked to learning and memory, memories become jumbled, like “hitting random notes on a keyboard,” and lose their sense of association.

Newcastle University scientists have discovered that as the brain re-organizes connections throughout our life, the process begins earlier in girls which may explain why they mature faster during the teenage years.

Learning requires constant reconfiguration of the connections between nerve cells. Two new studies now yield new insights into the molecular mechanisms that underlie the learning process.

In the first study of its kind, two researchers have used popular music to help severely brain-injured patients recall personal memories. Amee Baird and Séverine Samson outline the results and conclusions of their pioneering research in the recent issue of the journal Neuropsychological Rehabilitation.

Neuroscientists have successfully demonstrated a technique to enhance a form of self-control through a novel form of brain stimulation.

Finally this week, scientists have discovered that as the brain re-organizes connections throughout our life, the process begins earlier in girls which may explain why they mature faster during the teenage years.

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