amygdala
jhalper | July 1, 2011Do you ever doubt your own memory? New research at the Institute suggests that some of the things we think we remember could be wrong. It seems that our brains are surprisingly willing to exchange a true memory for a false one, just on the basis of friends' claims. The scientists not only demonstrated just how easy it is to create false memories, they showed that the switch in memory has a signature pattern of brain activity. The most significant feature? They found strong connectivity between areas of the brain known to be involved in memory and learning, and the amygdala, which, among other…
jhalper | March 30, 2011Today's Weizmann Institute news stories include two new papers from the prolific lab of Prof. Yadin Dudai. The first is on a protein that boosts memory in rats. Dudai and his group have been investigating this protein for several years. Previously, they had managed to show that blocking the protein, even for a very short time, erases memories. Now, they have demonstrated that adding more of the protein to certain areas of the brain can strengthen memory. Note: They increased the protein via gene-carrying viruses that infiltrated the rats' brain cells - not a clinic-ready technique. But until…
neurophilosophy | December 17, 2010A 44-year-old woman with a rare form of brain damage can literally feel no fear, according to a case study published yesterday in the journal Current Biology. Referred to as SM, she suffers from a genetic condition called Urbach-Wiethe Disease. The condition is extremely rare, with fewer than 300 reported cases since it was first described in 1929, and is caused by a mutation in a gene on chromosome 1, which encodes an extracellular matrix protein. The symptoms vary widely, and in about 50% of cases there is calcification, or hardening, of structures in the medial temporal lobe of the brain.…
neurophilosophy | July 2, 2010
WHO could have guessed that a protein isolated from pond scum would transform the way researchers investigate the brain? The protein, called channelrhodopsin (ChR), is found in algae and other microbes, and is related to the molecule in human photoreceptors that captures light particles. Both versions control the electrical currents that constantly flow in and out of cells; one regulates the algae's movements in response to light, the other generates the nervous impulses sent along the optic nerve to the brain. Unlike its human equivalent, the algal ChR controls the currents directly because…
edyong | August 30, 2009We all have a personal bubble, an invisible zone of privacy around our bodies. When strangers cross this boundary, it makes us feel uncomfortable. But not all of us - Daniel Kennedy from the California Institute of Technology has been studying a woman known only as SM, who lacks any sense of personal space.
SM suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Urbach-Wiethe disease, that causes parts of the brain's temporal lobes to harden and waste away. This brain damage has completely destroyed SM's amygdalae, a pair of small, almond-shaped structures that help us to process emotions.
Kennedy…
edyong | July 22, 2009
This is a repost from the old Wordpress incarnation of Not Exactly Rocket Science
You are being hunted, chased through a labyrinth by a relentless predator. Do you consider your options and plan the best possible escape, or do you switch off and rely solely on instinct? A new study provides the answer - you do both, flicking from one to the other depending on how far away the threat is.
Earlier studies have found that different parts of a rodent's brain are activated in the face of danger, depending on how imminent that danger is. Now, scientists at University College London has found the…
edyong | March 12, 2009A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about propranolol, a drug that can erase the emotion of fearful memories. When volunteers take the drug before recalling a scary memory about a spider, it dulled the emotional sting of future recollections. It's not, however, a mind-wiping pill in the traditional science-fiction sense, and it can't erase memories as was so widely reported by the hysterical mainstream media.
The research that's published today is a different story. Jin-Hee Han from the University of Toronto has indeed found a way to erase a specific fearful memory, but despite the superficial…
edyong | February 16, 2009The wiping of unwanted memories is a common staple of science-fiction and if you believe this weekend's headlines, you might think that the prospect has just become a reality. The Press Association said that a "drug helps erase fearful memories", while the ever-hyperbolic Daily Mail talked about a "pill to erase bad memories". The comparisons to The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind were inevitable, but the actual study, while fascinating and important, isn't quite the mind-wiper these headlines might have you believe.
The drug in question is propranolol, commonly used to treat high…