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Neural Noise Shows the Uncertainty of Our Memories
The electrical chatter of our working memories reflects our uncertainty about their contents.
The Year in Biology
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.
How Animals Map 3D Spaces Surprises Brain Researchers
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.
To Learn More Quickly, Brain Cells Break Their DNA
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.
The Brain Doesn’t Think the Way You Think It Does
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.
The Brain ‘Rotates’ Memories to Save Them From New Sensations
Some populations of neurons simultaneously process sensations and memories. New work shows how the brain rotates those representations to prevent interference.
Brain Cell DNA Refolds Itself to Aid Memory Recall
Researchers see structural changes in genetic material that allow memories to strengthen when remembered.
In Brain Waves, Scientists See Neurons Juggle Possible Futures
Faced with a decision, the brain weighs its options by bundling them into rapidly alternating cycles of brain waves.
Dueling Brain Waves Anchor or Erase Learning During Sleep
While we sleep, one kind of slow brain wave helps to reinforce memories, but a competing wave weakens them.