Scientists create artificial link between unrelated memories -- ScienceDaily The ability to learn associations between events is critical for survival, but it has not been clear how different pieces of information stored in memory may be linked together by populations of neurons. In a study published April 2nd in Cell Reports, synchronous activation of distinct neuronal ensembles caused mice to artificially associate the memory of a foot shock with the unrelated memory of exploring a safe environment, triggering an increase in fear-related behavior when the mice were re-exposed to the non-threatening environment. The findings suggest that co-activated cell ensembles become wired together to link two distinct memories that were previously stored independently in the brain. "Memory is the basis of all higher brain functions, including consciousness, and it also plays an important role in psychiatric diseases such as post-traumatic stress disorder," says senior study author Kaoru Inokuchi of the University of Toyama.
Scientists Created False Happy Memories In Mice Interesting. I have to be a little bit of a behavior pedant, though, and point out that they did not actually create any "false memories." That would imply that the mice had some sort of conscious remembrance of experiencing rewards in that place, which this study gives us no reason to assume. (I am more than happy to discuss the ways in which the cult of Karen Pryor is potentially problematic, but for now suffice to say the woman definitely understands training, and this is a good explanation of the game.) Flagged Researchers find neural switch that turns dreams on and off At the flip of a switch, University of California, Berkeley, neuroscientists can send a sleeping mouse into dreamland. The researchers inserted an optogenetic switch into a group of nerve cells located in the ancient part of the brain called the medulla, allowing them to activate or inactivate the neurons with laser light. When the neurons were activated, sleeping mice entered REM sleep within seconds. REM sleep, characterized by rapid eye movements, is the dream state in mammals accompanied by activation of the cortex and total paralysis of the skeletal muscles, presumably so that we don't act out the dreams flashing through our mind. Inactivating the neurons reduced or even eliminated a mouse's ability to enter REM sleep. "People used to think that this region of the medulla was only involved in the paralysis of skeletal muscles during REM sleep," said lead author Yang Dan, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
First Videos Created of Whole Brain Neural Activity in an Unrestrained Animal The fundamental challenge of neuroscience is to understand how the nervous system controls an animal’s behavior. In recent years, neuroscientists have made great strides in determining how the collective activity of many individual neurons is critical for controlling behaviors such as arm reach in primates, song production in the zebrafinch and the choice between swimming or crawling in leeches. The problem is that neuroscientists can only study the role that small groups of neurons play in these behaviors. That’s largely because it is hard to watch the individual behaviors of densely packed neurons. So a way of imaging the neural activity of an entire brain in a moving animal would be a significant breakthrough. The technique is relatively straightforward. They then use a standard technique of calcium fluorescent imaging to photograph the neural activity in a thin slice of the nematode’s brain. That’s an impressive piece of work that has significant potential for the future.
That Time When Scientists Zapped Braille Directly Into People's Brains Oh, how I miss the late 60s and 70s, when scientists were beaming all sorts of things into people! Braille, LSD, sublimenal messages, syphillis (just wrapping up the tests, thanks to those pesky journalists), cold and flu viruses.....damn fine time to be an unknowing guinea pig (except for the Braille, though)! Flagged Here's how Obama's brain mapping project will actually work Believe it or not, the tech to do this will be a confluence actually. In order to map the brain you need a high resolution net you can put inside the brain. The only way to achieve that is to build technology that can sit on the neurons themselves and monitor/inject activity by using the brain's existing processes. Individually these nano-devices (because that's what you need) are fragile and won't last long - and if left in place after they fail, would cause damage. So you need another technology capable of running around, harvesting unused, unnecessary, or undesired material from the body to maintain, repair, and replace the tech sitting on the neurons. So why is this important? So you'll build a monitoring solution - something I think will end up looking like a long lounge chair of sorts. I believe in privacy.
Brain circuit problem likely sets stage for the 'voices' that are symptom of schizophrenia 5-Jun-2014 [ Print | E-mail ] Share [ Close Window ] Contact: Carrie Strehlaucarrie.strehlau@stjude.org 901-595-2295St. (MEMPHIS, Tenn. – June 5, 2014) St. Researchers linked the problem to a gene deletion. The research marks the first time that a specific circuit in the brain has been linked to the auditory hallucinations, delusions and other psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. The disrupted circuit identified in this study solves the mystery of how current antipsychotic drugs ease symptoms and provides a new focus for efforts to develop medications that quiet "voices" but cause fewer side effects. "We think that reducing the flow of information between these two brain structures that play a central role in processing auditory information sets the stage for stress or other factors to come along and trigger the 'voices' that are the most common psychotic symptom of schizophrenia," said the study's corresponding author Stanislav Zakharenko, M.D., Ph.D., an associate member of the St. St.
Toward a Theory of Self-Organized Criticality in the Brain | Simons Foundation In 1999, the Danish physicist Per Bak proclaimed to a group of neuroscientists that it had taken him only 10 minutes to determine where the field had gone wrong. Perhaps the brain was less complicated than they thought, he said. Perhaps, he said, the brain worked on the same fundamental principles as a simple sand pile, in which avalanches of various sizes help keep the entire system stable overall — a process he dubbed “self-organized criticality.” As much as scientists in other fields adore outspoken, know-it-all physicists, Bak’s audacious idea — that the brain’s ordered complexity and thinking ability arise spontaneously from the disordered electrical activity of neurons — did not meet with immediate acceptance. But over time, in fits and starts, Bak’s radical argument has grown into a legitimate scientific discipline. “How do we know that the creations of worlds are not determined by falling grains of sand?” Think of sand running from the top of an hourglass to the bottom.
Edge of the abyss Daddy’s little girl … Michael Schofield with his daughter, Janni, in 2006. The first weeks of Janni's life, my wife, Susan, and I are taking lots of home video, imagining her watching these tapes alongside us and her friends as a teenager, pretending to be mortified, but happy on the inside knowing how important she's been to us from the beginning. About a week into her life, she stops sleeping, aside from 20 to 30 naps within a 24-hour day. We're still recording, though. We don't want to miss anything, although we do need to sleep at some point. A couple of weeks go by and she's still not sleeping for even one hour straight. Keeping it together … the Schofield family in 2011. We tell our paediatrician that Janni is getting a total of four to five hours of sleep a day. Advertisement We leave somewhat relieved, but still have to figure out what to do. Before Janni was born, we were given baby toys by family and friends. "Janni, where's the yellow circle?" "Correct," the toy announces. No.
Laser creates 'false memories' in fly brains - life - 15 October 2009 Video: Tracking fruit flies A flash of laser light can alter the brains of fruit flies so that they learn to fear pain that they never actually felt. Gero Miesenböck at the University of Oxford and his colleagues genetically engineered fruit flies so that a handful of their nerve cells fired when lit up with a laser. This allowed them to write false pain "memories" into the fruit flies' brains. It is known that the release of dopamine by neurons in the "mushroom body" – part of the fruit fly brain – is critical to learning. Lessons in pain To investigate, Miesenböck and his colleagues started by putting ordinary fruit flies into a small chamber while two different odours were pumped in from either end to create two separate odour streams. The researchers delivered an electric shock each time a fly strayed into a particular odour stream, which taught the flies to prefer the other one: the flies learned to move in the direction of the shock-related odour 30 per cent less often. Bright ideas
Q&A: Daniel Pasini, Policy and Programme Officer at the European Commission Dr. Daniel Pasini, Policy and Programme Officer at the European Commission + Enlarge Daniel Pasini, PhD, is a Policy and Programme Officer at the European Commission, working in the Horizon 2020 Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Programme. Q: It is an exciting time for neuroscience, and The Human Brain Project is an example of the promise of the field. The aim of the Human Brain Project (HBP) is to better understand the human brain and its diseases. HBP has formally started on Oct. 1, 2013. Q: The Human Brain Project has identified six areas of research. A key part of the HBP research effort will be dedicated to design, build, and operate its system of six IT platforms; each of them was chosen to address a specific element of the overall program, while working together in an integrated way. However, the project has also several other important dimensions. Q: The first major congress of the Human Brain Project was held in October.
This famous brain was cut into 2,400 slices and uploaded to the cloud Good thing this guy wasn't on staff. SExpand This is one of the movies I know by heart, and I promise people every time that if we watch it, I won't quote along. I lie. Doesn't matter how many times I've seen it, I'm always too busy laughing. This movie has to be somewhere in my top ten list. that's me with Spaceballs! At risk of opening Pandoras box... you have a fave quote? Oh good, because if you don't quote it, I will. "That's right! "Taffeta, darling." "Taffeta, sweetheart." "No, the dress, it's taffeta—it wrinkles so easily." and "...the other one is just for socks and poo-poo undies." Madeline Kahn is my personal hero, and I adore her so much in this movie. And this is probably my favourite scene: I still ask people if they want Ovaltine, in her voice. I also say "the staircase can be treacherous" a lot, whenever I'm in a dim or darkened place.
Sight, Sound Out of Sync in Kids With Autism Says Study The new diagnostic term “autism spectrum disorder” doesn’t reflect how devastating it can be for parents to have children limited in their ability to communicate and show affection, but it does reflect how little is still known about the condition that affects roughly 2 percent of children in the United States. Doctors have made great strides in accurately describing and diagnosing autism, but its causes remain opaque. A recent Vanderbilt University offers neurological findings that help explain for the disorder’s seemingly disparate symptoms. The study, published in January in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that children with autism have a broader window of time than normal children during which their brains process two distinct sensory stimuli as aspects of the same event. “The auditory and visual signals do not match in their brains,” Camarata explained. What’s more, the study found, that longer windows corresponded to greater difficulties processing speech.
Crows could be the key to understanding alien intelligence But seriously, Annalee.... We're all ready for you to write the definitive science fiction novel about crows. In fact, you've been teasing us all far too long now :-) Write it already! Flagged I'm just gonna leave this here....