Neocortex News and Research

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The association of dietary patterns with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia symptomology

A new paper discusses the impact of diet on the risk of AD, in which researchers describe the interrelationship between specific nutrients, dietary patterns, other risk factors for AD, and psychosocial factors driving these patterns.

24 Jul 2023

Mathematical neural network theory explains how memories are consolidated in the brain

How useful a memory is for future situations determines where it resides in the brain, according to a new theory proposed by researchers at HHMI"s Janelia Research Campus and collaborators at UCL.

20 Jul 2023

Is an increase in cortisol levels associated with impaired working-memory retrieval and recognition in students?

Researchers examined the memory scores and electroencephalogram profiles of students to understand exam-induced stress and anxiety among the student population.

4 May 2023

An extra gene causes excessive inhibitory connections in the neocortex of Down syndrome mouse models

An extra copy of a gene that controls synapse formation in the cortex causes excessive inhibitory signaling and may contribute to Down syndrome, according to a new study publishing April 20th in the open access journal PLOS Biology by Bing Ye of the University of Michigan, US, and colleagues.

21 Apr 2023

Study reveals new clues to the underlying cause of FXS symptoms

In Fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common cause of autism, sensory signals from the outside world are integrated differently, causing them to be underrepresented by cortical pyramidal neurons in the brain.

17 Feb 2023

“Zone of uncertainty” communicates with the neocortex to rapidly control memory formation

The neocortex is the largest and most complex part of the brain and has long been considered the ultimate storage site for long-term memories. But how are traces of past events and experiences laid down there?

13 Jan 2023

What are the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol and marijuana on fetal development?

Researchers presented the effects of simultaneous alcohol and cannabinoid (SAC) usage during gestation on fetal brain development.

10 Jan 2023

Study shows how ketamine administration starkly changes neuronal activity patterns in the brain

Ketamine, an established anesthetic and increasingly popular antidepressant, dramatically reorganizes activity in the brain, as if a switch had been flipped on its active circuits, according to a new study by Penn Medicine researchers.

1 Dec 2022

Possibility of the first fluid biomarker that reflects brain pathology in primary tauopathies

Addressing this gap in research, a recent Nature Medicine study hypothesized that 4R isoform-specific MTBR-tau species accumulate in the patient’s brain of specific subtypes of 4R tauopathies.

28 Nov 2022

During sleep, the hippocampus and neocortex interact in ways that are key to memory formation

Using a neural network model, Penn neuroscientist Anna Schapiro and colleagues found that as the body moves between REM and slow-wave sleep cycles, the hippocampus and neocortex interact in ways that are key to memory formation.

25 Oct 2022

UCI neuroscientists discover underlying mechanisms behind brain’s high-level work

Our ability to think, decide, remember recent events and more, comes from our brain's neocortex. Now University of California, Irvine neuroscientists have discovered key aspects of the mechanisms behind these functions.

27 Sep 2022

Research reveals the role of microglia-neuron connections during brain development

The Laboratory of Neuroimmunology of the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary, led by Ádám Dénes, describes the presence of a direct interaction site between microglial cells and the cell body of developing neurons, and reveals its role during brain development.

20 Sep 2022

Brain organoids shed light into the evolution of the human brain

Animal studies on great apes have long been banned in Europe for ethical reasons. For the question pursued here, so-called organoids, i.e. three-dimensional cell structures a few millimeters in size that are grown in the laboratory, are an alternative to animal experiments.

13 Sep 2022

Role of the transketolase-like 1 gene in the development of the modern human brain

In a new study, researchers demonstrated how transketolase-like 1 (TKTL1) gene expression influenced neocortical neurogenesis in modern humans.

12 Sep 2022

Single amino acid change in TKTL1 protein underlies greater neuron production in modern humans than Neandertals

Researchers from Dresden uncover a greater neuron production in the frontal lobe during brain development in modern humans than Neandertals, due to the change of a single amino acid in the protein TKTL1.

9 Sep 2022

A single genomic change may have given modern humans an advantage over Neanderthals

A single amino acid change in the transketolase-like 1 (TKTL1) protein may have given modern humans an advantage over more ancient contemporaries like Neanderthals by enabling increased neocortical neurogenesis, researchers report.

9 Sep 2022

HBP researchers detect seven new areas of the human insular cortex

Researchers of the Human Brain Project (HBP) have identified seven new areas of the human insular cortex, a region of the brain that is involved in a wide variety of functions, including self-awareness, cognition, motor control, sensory and emotional processing.

30 Aug 2022