Sleep after learning strengthens connections between brain cells and enhances memory
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-brain-cells-memory.html
In study published today in Science, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center show for the first time that sleep after learning encourages the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions from brain cells that connect to other brain cells and facilitate the passage of information across synapses, the junctions at which brain cells meet. Moreover, the activity of brain cells during deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep, after learning is critical for such growth.
Researchers find genome sequencing can be used to identify severe intellectual disability
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-genome-sequencing-severe-intellectual-disability.html
(Medical Xpress)—A large team of researchers based in the Netherlands has found that whole genome sequencing can be used to identify a large percentage of patients who have a severe intellectual disability (SID). In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes how they took a new approach when analyzing gene sequences of SID patients and found that a pattern of genetic abnormalities could be used to diagnose the disorder with an accuracy of 62 percent.
* Brain circuit problem likely sets stage for the 'voices' that are symptom of schizophrenia
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-brain-circuit-problem-stage-voices.html
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified problems in a connection between brain structures that may predispose individuals to hearing the "voices" that are a common symptom of schizophrenia. The work appears in the June 6 issue of the journal Science.
Researchers linked the problem to a gene deletion. This leads to changes in brain chemistry that reduce the flow of information between two brain structures involved in processing auditory information.
Researchers use rhythmic brain activity to track memories in progress
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-06-rhythmic-brain-track-memories.html
University of Oregon researchers have tapped the rhythm of memories as they occur in near real time in the human brain.
Using electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes attached to the scalps of 25 student subjects, a UO team led by psychology doctoral student David E. Anderson captured synchronized neural activity while they held a held a simple oriented bar located within a circle in short-term memory. The team, by monitoring these alpha rhythms, was able to decode the precise angle of the bar the subjects were locking onto and use that brain activity to predict which individuals could store memories with the highest quality or precision
Enjoy.
* Reminds me of the thesis by Julian Jaynes; The Bicameral Brain