Memory Performance Improves with Deep Brain Stimulation

New research led by scientists from UCLA Health and Tel Aviv University provides the first physiological evidence from within the human brain to support the prevailing scientific theory regarding how the brain consolidates memories during sleep. Furthermore, the researchers discovered that targeted deep-brain stimulation during a critical time in the sleep cycle appeared to improve…

Aging Affects Immune Cell Response After Spinal Cord Injury

Age diminishes the immune system’s capacity to respond to spinal cord injuries, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Virginia. This study identifies potential avenues for improving this response and aiding in the recovery of patients. The results shed light on how the immune system responds to spinal cord injuries and…

Retinal Blood Vessel Damage May Be Driver for Alzheimer’s

Blood vessel abnormalities in the eye are a significant factor in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research conducted by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. These alterations correspond to alterations in the brain, highlighting a new opportunity for early diagnosis. The study sheds new light on the vascular changes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, particularly…

Gamma Wave Activity May Surge in Dying Brains

A new study provides evidence that consciousness in the dying brain is associated with an increase in activity. The paper is a follow-up to animal studies conducted nearly ten years ago in collaboration with George Mashour, M.D., Ph.D., the founding director of the Michigan Center for Consciousness Science. It is led by Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D.,…

Neurons Metabolize Glucose Through Glycolysis

The human brain consumes nearly one-quarter of the body’s sugar energy, or glucose, daily. Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco researchers have now shed new light on how neurons consume and metabolize glucose and how these cells adapt to glucose shortages. Previously, scientists suspected that much of the glucose used by the brain was metabolized…

Astrocytes May Play Important Role in OCD

According to new UCLA Health research, astrocytes appear to play an important role in obsessive-compulsive disorder-related behaviours. Researchers were surprised by the new clue about the brain mechanisms underlying OCD, a disorder that is still poorly understood. They wanted to know how neurons interact with astrocytes, the star-shaped helper cells that support and protect neurons.…

Developmental Brain Plasticity Lasts Longest In Associative Regions

According to a new Penn Medicine study, brain development does not occur uniformly across the brain, but rather follows a newly identified developmental sequence. Throughout adolescence, brain regions that support cognitive, social, and emotional functions appear to remain more capable of changing, adapting, and remodelling than other brain regions, making adolescents more sensitive to socioeconomic…

Your Brain Creates Transposable Memory Sketches of People

Mundane scenes have clarified how the brain uses memory in a new study. Researchers used functional MRI scanners to monitor subjects’ brains while watching short videos of real-life scenes. People working on laptops in a cafe or shopping in a supermarket were examples of this. “They were very ordinary scenes. No car chases or anything,”…

Fixational Ocular Drifts are Under Cognitive Influence

According to Weill Cornell Medicine neuroscientists, ocular drift, a very subtle and seemingly random type of eye movement, can be influenced by prior knowledge of the expected visual target, implying a surprising level of cognitive control over the eyes. The discovery advances scientific understanding of how vision, which is more than just the absorption of…