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memory

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Illustration of a person remembering the orientation of an arrow, but also a range of other orientations it might have had.
neuroscience

Neural Noise Shows the Uncertainty of Our Memories

By Veronique Greenwood
January 18, 2022
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The electrical chatter of our working memories reflects our uncertainty about their contents.

2021 in Review

The Year in Biology

By John Rennie
December 21, 2021
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The detailed understanding of brains and multicellular bodies reached new heights this year, while the genomes of the COVID-19 virus and various organisms yielded more surprises.

Photo of rat climbing through a lattice of thin rods.
neuroscience

How Animals Map 3D Spaces Surprises Brain Researchers

By Jordana Cepelewicz
October 14, 2021
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When animals move through 3D spaces, the neat system of grid cell activity they use for navigating on flat surfaces gets more disorderly. That has implications for some ideas about memory and other processes.

Artist’s conception of DNA breaking.
neuroscience

To Learn More Quickly, Brain Cells Break Their DNA

By Jordana Cepelewicz
August 30, 2021
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New work shows that neurons and other brain cells use DNA double-strand breaks, often associated with cancer, neurodegeneration and aging, to quickly express genes related to learning and memory.

An artist’s conception of the ways that functional capacities have been mapped to regions of the brain.
neuroscience

The Brain Doesn’t Think the Way You Think It Does

By Jordana Cepelewicz
August 24, 2021
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Familiar categories of mental functions such as perception, memory and attention reflect our experience of ourselves, but they are misleading about how the brain works. More revealing approaches are emerging.

A drawing of a mouse, with lines representing sensory data rotating 90 degrees to become lines of memory data.
neuroscience

The Brain ‘Rotates’ Memories to Save Them From New Sensations

By Jordana Cepelewicz
April 15, 2021
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Some populations of neurons simultaneously process sensations and memories. New work shows how the brain rotates those representations to prevent interference.

Fluorescent cross-section of a mouse’s brain.
Abstractions blog

Brain Cell DNA Refolds Itself to Aid Memory Recall

By Elena Renken
November 2, 2020
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Researchers see structural changes in genetic material that allow memories to strengthen when remembered.

Two arrows that are intertwined for most of their length but then point in different directions.
Abstractions blog

In Brain Waves, Scientists See Neurons Juggle Possible Futures

By Jordana Cepelewicz
February 24, 2020
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Faced with a decision, the brain weighs its options by bundling them into rapidly alternating cycles of brain waves.

Animation of one icon tracing a wave pattern over a brain, followed by another icon that erases the pattern.
neuroscience

Dueling Brain Waves Anchor or Erase Learning During Sleep

By Elena Renken
October 24, 2019
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While we sleep, one kind of slow brain wave helps to reinforce memories, but a competing wave weakens them.


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