Sparse, small, but diverse neural connections help make perception reliable, efficient
First detailed mapping and modeling of thalamus inputs onto visual cortex neurons show brain leverages “wisdom of the crowd” to process sensory information
Holding information in mind may mean storing it among synapses
Comparing models of working memory with real-world data, MIT researchers found that information resides not in persistent neural activity, but in the pattern of their connections
Research offers insights into mechanisms underlying bipolar mania, sleep homeostasis
At a press conference at Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, young Picower scientist Takato Honda presented findings of key neurons involved in the neuropsychiatric disorder and sleep homeostasis
Alzheimer’s risk gene undermines insulation of brain’s “wiring”
In people carrying the APOE4 risk variant, a key brain cell type mismanages cholesterol needed to insulate neurons properly—another sign that APOE4 contributes to disease by disrupting lipids in the brain
Analyzing brain waves demystifies general anesthesia
At Neuroscience 2022, Emery N. Brown relayed how statistical analysis of brain rhythms in patients and animals under anesthetics has revealed important information about how the drugs work.