Memory

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.

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.

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.

Some populations of neurons simultaneously process sensations and memories. New work shows how the brain rotates those representations to prevent interference.

Researchers see structural changes in genetic material that allow memories to strengthen when remembered.

Faced with a decision, the brain weighs its options by bundling them into rapidly alternating cycles of brain waves.

While we sleep, one kind of slow brain wave helps to reinforce memories, but a competing wave weakens them.

Researchers found that elongating certain brain signals in rats improved their memory. The work revealed a new property to look out for in the hunt for “biomarkers” of learning.

Two new studies show that the brain’s navigation system changes how it represents physical space to reflect personal experience.