Systems Neuroscience

Picower Institute scientists seek to understand the complex circuits and processes that the brain constructs and employs so that we can perceive, learn, think, plan, and feel. To learn more about these or other areas of inquiry, select them under Research Topics and you'll find relevant Picower people, discoveries and events.

Grant to help scientists test whether brain region is a key locus of learning

July 23, 2021
New Research
Long thought of as a generic alarm system, the locus coeruleus may actually be a sophisticated regulator of learning and behavior, an MIT team posits
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Bear earns amblyopia research award

June 28, 2021
Picower People
RPB Walt and Lilly Disney Award will support efforts to develop new therapeutic approach
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As novel sights become familiar, different brain rhythms, neurons take over

June 8, 2021
Research Findings
As ‘visual recognition memory’ emerges in visual cortex, one circuit of inhibitory neurons supplants another and slower neural oscillations prevail
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Mice naturally engage in physical distancing, study finds

March 31, 2021
Research Findings
MIT neuroscientists have identified a brain circuit that stops mice from mating with others that appear to be sick
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Study of synapse strength focuses on ‘active zones’

March 16, 2021
New Research
With new NIH grant, team will learn how neurons build key sites that release neurotransmitters a lot, or a little, to drive nervous system communication
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Neural networks need more than neurons, new project posits

March 4, 2021
New Research
With a new grant from the U.S. Army, a team of scientists will seek to enhance artificial intelligence by integrating brain cells called astrocytes
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Steven Flavell earns Sloan Research Fellowship

February 16, 2021
Picower People
Award supports fundamental research on how the brain generates internal states that guide animal behavior
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As you look around, mental images bounce between right and left brain

February 8, 2021
Research Findings
New study explains how the brain helps us remember what we’ve seen, even as it shifts around in our visual system
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Neuroscientists identify brain circuit that encodes timing of events

January 11, 2021
Research Findings
Findings suggest this hippocampal circuit helps us to maintain our timeline of memories.
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Playing chess, not checkers: Neurons dynamically control their myelin patterns

December 18, 2020
Research Findings
Researchers identify a new level of complexity in how the brain responds to stimuli
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Cortex over reflex: Study traces circuits where executive control overcomes instinct

November 30, 2020
Research Findings
Anterior cingulate cortex overrides reflexive inclination of the superior colliculus when rules reqiure
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Brain waves guide us in spotlighting surprises

November 23, 2020
Research Findings
The brain uses different frequency rhythms and cortical layers to suppress expected stimulation and increase activity for what’s novel
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From: https://picower.mit.edu/research-topics/systems-neuroscience