RxPG News : Memory

How brain pacemakers erase diseased messages

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:00:00 PST

Brain pacemakers that have helped ease symptoms in people with Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders seem to work by drowning out the electrical signals of their diseased brains.

Relational memory requires time and sleep

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 07:19:27 PST

A new study demonstrates that relational memory -the ability to make logical "big picture" inferences from disparate pieces of information - is dependent on taking a break from studies and learning, and even more important, getting a good night's sleep.

Phase locking of hippocampal interneuron membrane potential

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 08:16:20 PST

If I can't remember this morning where I put my car keys last night, it's due to my memory failing me again. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have been investigating how memories might be consolidated. Their new study offers the hitherto strongest proof that new information is transferred between the hippocampus, the short term memory area, and the cerebral cortex during sleep. According to their findings and contrary to previous assumptions, the cerebral cortex actively controls this transfer. The researchers developed a new technique for their investigations which promises previously impossible insight into the largely under-researched field of information processing in the brain (Nature Neuroscience, November 2006).

Poor memory could signal heart disease

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 14:10:57 PST

London, Nov 26 - People who have poor memory and react slowly may face a higher risk of cardiovascular or respiratory disease, says a new study.

Memories: It's all in the packaging

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:08:00 PST

Researchers at UC Irvine have found that how much detail one remembers of an event depends on whether a certain portion of the brain is activated to package the memory.

Atrial Fibrillation linked to Reduced Cognitive Performance

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:10:00 PST

Researchers from Boston University have found a link between atrial fibrillation and low cognitive performance in men. Using a subset of participants from the Framingham Offspring Study, part of the long-running Framingham Heart Study, the team found an association between atrial fibrillation and poor mental functioning.

Human Memory Gene Identified

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 23:37:00 PST

Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) today announced the discovery of a gene that plays a significant role in memory performance in humans. The findings, reported by TGen and research colleagues at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, Banner Alzheimer's Institute, and Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, appear in the October 20 issue of Science. The study details how researchers associated memory performance with a gene called Kibra in over 1,000 individuals --both young and old-- from Switzerland and Arizona. This study is the first to describe scanning the human genetic blueprint at over 500,000 positions to identify cognitive differences between humans.

How the Brain Loses Plasticity of Youth

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:51:00 PST

A protein once thought to play a role only in the immune system could hold a clue to one of the great puzzles of neuroscience: how do the highly malleable and plastic brains of youth settle down into a relatively stable adult set of neuronal connections? Harvard Medical School researchers report in the August 17 Science Express that adult mice lacking the immune system protein paired-immunoglobulin like receptor-B (PirB) had brains that retained the plasticity of much younger brains, suggesting that PirB inhibits such plasticity.

Apple Juice Inproves Memory By Boosting Acetylcholine Production

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 12:01:00 PST

For those who think that apple juice is a kid's drink, think again. Apples and apple juice may be among the best foods that baby boomers and senior citizens could add to their diet, according to new research that demonstrates how apple products can help boost brain function similar to medication. Animal research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice consumption may actually increase the production in the brain of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine, resulting in improved memory. Neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine are chemicals released from nerve cells that transmit messages to other nerve cells. Such communication between nerve cells is vital for good health, not just in the brain, but throughout the body.

Fresh Light on How we form New Memories

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 11:54:00 PST

A study conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh involving an amnesia-inducing drug has shed light on how we form new memories.

Multi-tasking affects the brain's learning systems

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 08:56:00 PST

Multi-tasking affects the brain's learning systems, and as a result, we do not learn as well when we are distracted, UCLA psychologists report this week in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Music thought to enhance intelligence

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 16:06:00 PST

A recent volume of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences takes a closer look at how music evolved and how we respond to it. Contributors to the volume believe that animals such as birds, dolphins and whales make sounds analogous to music out of a desire to imitate each other. This ability to learn and imitate sounds is a trait necessary to acquire language and scientists feel that many of the sounds animals make may be precursors to human music.

Our grip on reality is slim

Sat, 24 Jun 2006 03:10:00 PST

The neurological basis for poor witness statements and hallucinations has been found by scientists at UCL (University College London). In over a fifth of cases, people wrongly remembered whether they actually witnessed an event or just imagined it, according to a paper published in NeuroImage this week.

Short term synaptic plasticity play a widespread role in information processing

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 00:33:00 PST

Animals' neurons, and the synapses that connect them, are constantly changing. This plasticity is thought to underlie learning and memory. Take the rat in the maze. As he learns to navigate a new environment, familiarity with the space is reflected in the neuronal activity of a small almond-shaped brain structure called the hippocampus. Neurons in the hippocampus are generally quiescent. But when the rat meanders into a spot that a specific neuron prefers, called its place field, the neuron responds with high-frequency bursts of spikes. As the rat's familiarity with the maze increases over only a few minutes, so does the reliability by which hippocampal neurons respond to their preferred place. This short-term experience modifies the neurons' responses, and very likely the synapses, although the synaptic mechanisms of short-term plasticity in this context have not been fully described.

Brain Rewards Curiosity with Shot of Natural Opiates

Wed, 21 Jun 2006 00:06:00 PST

Neuroscientists have proposed a simple explanation for the pleasure of grasping a new concept: The brain is getting its fix. The "click" of comprehension triggers a biochemical cascade that rewards the brain with a shot of natural opium-like substances, said Irving Biederman of the University of Southern California. He presents his theory in an invited article in the latest issue of American Scientist.

Sleepy fruit flies provide clues to learning and memory

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:54:00 PST

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a brain region previously known for its role in learning and memory also serves as the location of sleep regulation in fruit flies. Through further examination of this brain structure, researchers hope to shed light on sleep regulation and its role in memory. Despite its importance in everyday human function, very little is known about the regulation of sleep. In search of the underlying brain region responsible for sleep regulation, senior author Amita Sehgal, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator, and colleagues turned their attention to the fruit fly.

New Insights into Working Memory Mechanism

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 13:15:00 PST

Memory tests performed with amnesiacs have enabled researchers to refute a long-held belief in an essential difference between long-and short-term memories. In the study, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania determined that the hippocampus -- a seahorse shaped structure in the middle of the brain -- was just as important for retrieving certain types of short-term memories as it is for long-term memories.

Dysbindin-1 gene (DTNBP1) - The Intelligence Gene

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:10:00 PST

Psychiatric researchers at The Zucker Hillside Hospital campus of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have uncovered evidence of a gene that appears to influence intelligence. Working in conjunction with researchers at Harvard Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics in Boston, the Zucker Hillside team examined the genetic blueprints of individuals with schizophrenia, a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by cognitive impairment, and compared them with healthy volunteers.

Brains of the smarter kids tend to change more dramatically

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:03:00 PST

Brains of the smarter kids tend to change more dramatically as they grow up, say scientists who claim to have discovered why some children have higher IQ levels.

Memory - Retention Begins While You're Still Awake

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 06:33:00 PST

There's some unwritten law of stadium parking that says after any event some fraction of hapless souls must perform an embarrassing reenactment of Dude, Where's My Car? It might seem like a simple thing to remember until you consider that the brain must often process and retain new memories while simultaneously tending to several unrelated cognitive tasks. Though it's not exactly clear how the brain processes a recent memory, evidence suggests that a good nap during an event might prevent parking mishaps. Many studies have shown that brain regions activated while learning a task are reactivated during sleep, suggesting that this offline processing facilitates memory retention. But when does the memory consolidation process begin?

Strategies help keep memory fit - Research

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 21:50:00 PST

Believing that you can retain a good memory even in your twilight years is the first step to achieving that goal. Those who believe they can control their memory are more likely to employ mnemonic strategies that help keep memory fit despite the march of time. These are the conclusions of a new Brandeis study published in the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.

Learning and memory stimulated by gut hormone

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 12:13:00 PST

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found evidence that a hormone produced in the stomach directly stimulates the higher brain functions of spatial learning and memory development, and further suggests that we may learn best on an empty stomach. Published in the February 19 online issue of Nature Neuroscience by investigators at Yale and other institutes, the study showed that the hormone ghrelin, produced in the stomach and previously associated with growth hormone release and appetite, has a direct, rapid and powerful influence on the hippocampus, a higher brain region critical for learning and memory.

How memory is stored at the level of neurons

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 17:23:00 PST

Researchers from The University of Texas at Austin studying electric fish have gained new insight into how memory is stored at the level of neurons. Their finding, published in the Feb. 16 issue of Neuron, could help researchers better understand memory formation and neural disorders like epilepsy in humans. Dr. Harold Zakon, Dr. Jörg Oestreich and colleagues show that when electric fish zap each other in dark waters, their neurons store a memory of the sizzling communiqué by turning on special cell membrane channels. The channels give the fish neurons the ability to retain a memory long after its original stimulus is gone.

Age-related memory improvement linked with consumption of apple products

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 23:48:00 PST

"An apple a day" now has new meaning for those who want to maintain mental dexterity as they age. New research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell suggests that consuming apple juice may protect against cell damage that contributes to age-related memory loss, even in test animals that were not prone to developing Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Activation of protein kinase A (PKA) solidifies fear memory in the brain

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 23:38:00 PST

When activated, a specific protein in the brain enhances long-term storage of fearful memories and strengthens previously established fearful memories, Yale School of Medicine researchers report this week in Nature Neuroscience.

Working memory retains visual details despite distractions

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 22:00:00 PST

The ability to retain memory about the details of a natural scene is unaffected by the distraction of another activity and this information is retained in "working memory" according to a study recently published in Journal of Vision, an online, free access publication of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). These results reinforce the notion that humans maintain useful information about previous fixations in long-term working memory rather than the limited capacity of visual short-term memory (VSTM).

Sugared drinks can boost memory retention

Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:38:00 PST

Sugared drinks can help boost memory retention and combat dementia, a study has found.

Memory retrieval is a form of mental time travel

Tue, 27 Dec 2005 17:27:00 PST

Neuroscientists at Princeton University have developed a new way of tracking people's mental state as they think back to previous events -- a process that has been described as "mental time travel."

Brain size matters for intellectual ability

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 18:53:00 PST

Brain size matters for intellectual ability and bigger is better, McMaster University researchers have found. The study, led by neuroscientist Sandra Witelson, a professor in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and published in the December issue of the journal Brain, has provided some of the clearest evidence on the underlying basis of differences in intelligence. The study involved testing of intelligence in 100 neurologically normal, terminally ill volunteers, who agreed that their brains be measured after death. It found bigger is better, but there are differences between women and men. In women, verbal intelligence was clearly correlated with brain size, accounting for 36 percent of the verbal IQ score. In men, this was true for right-handers only, indicating that brain asymmetry is a factor in men.

New Research on Mental Time Travel

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 16:00:00 PST

Neuroscientists at Princeton University have developed a new way of tracking people's mental state as they think back to previous events -- a process that has been described as "mental time travel." The findings, detailed in the Dec. 23 issue of Science, will aid efforts to learn more about how people mine the recesses of memory and could have a wide-ranging impact in the field of neuroscience, including studies of brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. The researchers showed nine participants a series of pictures and then asked them to recall what they had seen. By applying a computerized pattern-recognition program to brain scanning data, the researchers were able to show that the participants' brain state gradually aligned with their brain state from when they first studied the pictures. This supports the theory that memory retrieval is a form of mental time travel.

How brain replenishes memory-making molecules

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 05:00:00 PST

New research on living neurons has clarified how the brain refreshes the supply of molecules it needs to make new memories. The discovery by scientists at UCSF is reported today in the December 22 issue of the journal Neuron and is featured on the journal's cover. Memory formation is thought to involve a strengthening of the communication between neurons in the part of the brain known as the hippocampus. Researchers know that this increased communication results from a surge in the number of receptors on one neuron that is available to bind to the neurotransmitter glutamate released from another neuron. The two neurons meet at a synapse.

Amnesiac gene mediates in memory trace formation

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 06:15:00 PST

Memory formation follows a dynamic pattern, allowing for retrieval from different areas of the brain, depending on when an organism needs to remember, said a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine.

Memory formation follows a dynamic pattern

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 20:22:00 PST

Memory formation follows a dynamic pattern, allowing for retrieval from different areas of the brain, depending on when an organism needs to remember, said a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine.

Synchronized Brain Interactions Associated with Memory and Decision-Making

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:39:00 PST

Next time you lose your keys, you might consider the Clark's nutcracker. During the fall, this woodland resident collects over 30,000 seeds, buries them in discrete locations, then returns over the winter to retrieve its cache. This improbable behavior requires the coordinated activity of different brain structures to integrate spatial coordinates encoded in the hippocampus with memories of how to find the seed stash. As it turns out, food-storing birds have a significantly larger hippocampusâa brain region involved in spatial organization and memoryâthan nonhording species.

"Sharp" older brains store memories differently than younger brains

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 01:46:00 PST

Researchers working with rats have found the first solid evidence that still "sharp" older brains store and encode memories differently than younger brains. This discovery is reported by a Johns Hopkins team in the issue of Nature Neuroscience released online Nov. 13. Should it prove to apply as well to human brains, it could lead eventually to the development of new preventive treatments and therapies based on what healthy older brains are doing, rather than on the less relevant, younger brain model, according to study co-author Michela Gallagher, chair of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins' Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences.

Neuronal Dendrite Changes Llinked to Learning and Memory

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 13:10:00 PST

Neurons experience large-scale changes across their dendrites during learning, say neuroscientists at The University of Texas at Austin in a new study that highlights the important role that these cell regions may play in the processes of learning and memory. The research, published online Oct. 23 and in the November issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience, shows that ion channels distributed in the dendritic membrane change during a simulated learning task and that this requires the rapid production of new proteins.

Impaired Olfactory Memory by Spatially Controlled Switch of AMPA Receptors

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 12:11:00 PST

The smell of baking bread, the perfume of flowers, the tang of sea airyour nose can sense and distinguish between these smells and thousands more. The sense of smellmanaged by the olfactory systemis a crucial tool for sensing the environment. Thousands of low molecular weight molecules bind to a vast repertoire of odor receptors on olfactory sensory neurons in the nose. These neurons extend long projections into an area of the forebrain known as the olfactory bulb, where chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) pass on information to other neurons elsewhere in the brain. In ways that are only just beginning to be understood, all this information is integrated by neural circuits in the brain so that different odors can be learned and discriminated; in addition, changes in neuron activity are responsible for remembering odors.

Age related memory loss is due to inability to filter distractions

Mon, 12 Sep 2005 20:32:00 PST

The short-term memory problems that accompany normal aging are associated with an inability to filter out surrounding distractions, not problems with focusing attention, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley.

Da Memory Code, A Neurobiologist's Holy Grail?

Sat, 10 Sep 2005 14:47:00 PST

By examining how sounds are registered during the process of learning, UC Irvine neurobiologists have discovered a neural coding mechanism that the brain relies upon to register the intensity of memories based on the importance of the experience.

Translational control of memory by eIF2a kinase GCN2

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:58:00 PST

A group of Montreal researchers has discovered that GCN2, a protein in cells that inhibits the conversion of new information into long-term memory, may be a master regulator of the switch from short-term to long-term memory. Their paper Translational control of hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory by the eIF2a kinase GCN2, which was published in the August 25th issue of the journal Nature, provides the first genetic evidence that protein synthesis is critical for the regulation of memory formation.

Misty Watercolor Memories, Biochemically Speaking

Wed, 24 Aug 2005 04:26:00 PST

Eyewitness testimony has a unique ability to convince juries. The attorney asks the witness to identify the guilty party. The witness points to the defendant, the crowd gasps, and the judge pounds her gavel, demanding order in the court. The jurors casually scribble something in their notes, and everybody knows that the fate of the accused has been sealed. But how reliable is a witnesss memory, especially after rehearsing the testimony ad nauseam with a team of lawyers? When a witness presents testimony, is she really remembering the event, or is she remembering something she remembered? Does the initial memory remain intact, or does it degrade like a copy of a copy?

Snails Helping to Make Viagra for Brain

Sun, 08 May 2005 20:22:00 PST

Drug manufacturers are looking at ways to create a "Viagra for the brain", which could alleviate memory loss, one of the distressing symptoms of diseases such as Alzheimer's. Work carried out by Dr George Kemenes, Senior Fellow in the Department of Biology and Environmental Science at the University of Sussex, will hopefully help to show how such drugs could work.

"Neural Cliques" Create Real-Time Memories

Tue, 12 Apr 2005 12:53:00 PST

By simultaneously recording the activity of hundreds of neurons in live mice, researchers have identified clusters of brain cells that act together to form and store memories.

Human Eyes learn best in an Uncluttered Setting

Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:25:00 PST

If athletes, soldiers and drivers must perform every day in visually messy environments, common sense suggests that any visual training they receive should include distractions and disorder.

Modeling the CaMKII Molecular Memory Switch

Tue, 29 Mar 2005 16:32:00 PST

Scientists attribute our ability to store apparently infinite numbers of memories for decades to long-lasting changes in the electrical, structural, and biochemical properties of neurons. One cellular mechanism proposed to be involved in the storage of memorieslong-term potentiationinvolves alterations in the strength of messages passed from one neuron to another across structures known as synapses.

Mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor is key proteing for long term memory

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:43:00 PST

A cellular enzyme appears to play a crucial role in the manufacture of a protein needed for long-term memory, according to a team of researchers led by scientists at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

Self-reinforcing loop found in Emotional Memory

Wed, 09 Mar 2005 17:43:00 PST

Researchers exploring the brain structures involved in recalling an emotional memory a year later have found evidence for a self-reinforcing "memory loop" -- in which the brain's emotional center triggers the memory center, which in turn further enhances activity in the emotional center.

A-Adducin Family of Proteins That Help Build the Cytoskeleton Also Critical in Learning and Memory

Wed, 02 Mar 2005 18:15:00 PST

A family of proteins that help build the cytoskeleton, or the bones of the cell, also play an important role in learning and memory, according to a study published this month in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Rather than permanent storage, memory is a dynamic, meta-stable process

Sun, 16 Jan 2005 13:31:00 PST

While it is universally agreed that brain proteins are critical for memory storage, Routtenberg's hypothesis challenges the widely accepted, 40-year-old model that long-term memories are stabilized only once newly synthesized proteins are transported to recently activated synapses.

A restrictive diet in mice reduces the build-up of a substance linked to memory loss.

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 19:10:00 PST

Restricting the diets of mice reduces the build-up of plaques in the brain that are linked to Alzheimer's disease, according to a USC study.

With obese people generally considered to be at a higher risk for developing Alzheimer's, the research raises questions about whether the findings are potentially applicable to humans.

"This is the first indication that modest changes in the normal diet can slow some aspects of Alzheimer's disease," said Caleb Finch, co-author of the study published in the online version of the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

"But that is far and away yet to be proven for humans. It's a big jump to say that what's true for a mouse in a cage is relevant to people living in our complex world," Finch said.

In the study, conducted with collaborators at the University of South Florida in Tampa, researchers used mice whose DNA had been altered with human genes from two families with early onset hereditary Alzheimer's.

The mice were then split into two groups as young adults: one that could eat all it desired ("ad libitum") and the other that had its food intake reduced by 40 percent over a four-week period (diet- restricted).

The researchers were looking specifically at the formation of plaques caused by a build-up of the fiber-like substance called beta-amyloid.

Made up of proteins and polysaccharides, amyloid plaques are deposited in the brain during Alzheimer's disease. Specifically, plaques accumulate in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of Alzheimer's sufferers - areas responsible for memory.

In the diet-restricted mice, both the amount and size of plaque was about 50 percent less than in mice that ate as much as they wanted.

"The power of this study is that two different sets of [human] family mutations were equally sensitive to the effect of diet and slowing the Alzheimer's-like change," said Finch, holder of the ARCO-William F. Kieschnick Chair in the Neurobiology of Aging at USC.

The next goal is to find out why diet restriction has such profound and rapid effects, Finch said.

"We are going to look into the details of metabolism to try and isolate which of the consequences of diet restriction is at work," Finch said. "Is it the blood glucose? Is it the lowered insulin? Those are two targets."