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Feast or forage: Study finds circuit that helps a brain decide

November 22, 2021

… 22, 2021 Research Findings By integrating multiple sensory inputs, a loop of mutual inhibition among a small set of neurons allows worms to switch between long-lasting … By integrating multiple sensory inputs, a loop of mutual inhibition among a small set …

Autism advances

June 16, 2025

… and scales, ranging from the molecules that help neurons communicate via “synapse” connections to the … to why many autistic people experience a feeling of sensory overload. Prediction enables the brain to filter out … activity of higher-frequency “gamma” waves that encode new sensory information. Miller’s team hypothesizes that the beta …

Fellowship supports student’s work to advance Alzheimer’s research and equity

July 09, 2024

… 40Hz stimulation (or “GENUS” for Gamma Entrainment Using Sensory stimuli) prompts specific neurons to release peptide signals that, in turn, prompt …

As brain extracts meaning from vision, study tracks progression of processing

July 10, 2018

… A new study that tracked how the brain turns simple sensory inputs, such as “green,” into meaningful categories, … of six cortical regions operated along a continuum between sensory processing and categorization. To be sure, general … were eavesdropping on the activity of hundreds of neurons in six regions across the cortex: prefrontal (PFC), …

Tsai presents non-invasive stimulation study at Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress

March 27, 2024

… benefits. With early studies indicating that non-invasive sensory stimulation of a gamma frequency brain rhythm may … band frequency of the brain associated with processing sensory information and also memory and cognition. Finding a … health-promoting changes in brain cells including neurons, astrocytes and the brain’s vasculature. One of the …

A noninvasive treatment for “chemo brain”

March 06, 2024

… to the chemotherapy drug cisplatin. Mice treated with 40Hz sensory stimulation (right) showed much less DNA damage than mice that did not receive 40Hz sensory stimulation (left). Tsai, who also leads MIT's Aging … loss of myelin, the protective fatty coating that allows neurons to propagate electrical signals. Many of these …

Circuit that focuses attention brings in wide array of inputs

April 21, 2022

… brain incorporates and integrates information to focus its sensory resources on its goals. Working in mice, the team … smaller and less evolved than the pulvinar. ACC-projecting neurons visible in the LP region of a mouse brain “In these … information as well. “We’re seeing that it’s not just sensory—there are so many inputs that are coming from …

An elegant behavior switching circuit

40Hz rhythms fight Alzheimer’s at the cellular and molecular level

… light and sound together was especially powerful. Above: Sensory exposure to 40Hz light prevented neurodegeneration in … Alzheimer's mouse brain is on the left. One treated with sensory stimulation is on the right. Importantly the MIT team … reflected in substantial changes in gene expression in neurons and microglia that the team measured in mice exposed …

Brain waves and cognition

… largely dismissed the coordinated rhythmic activity of neurons as a byproduct of the brain’s operation, rather than … a seminal study in his lab demonstrated that “bottom up” sensory signals (e.g. “the eyes see a triangle”) are … beta rhythms increases as regions move from more basically sensory (v4)to more cognitively sophisticated (PFC). The …