learning and memory

While guppies with larger optic lobes were champions at learning visual discrimination tasks, guppies with larger telencephalons fared better when researchers switched things up.

The relative sizes of specific parts of the guppy brain may explain why some fish are better at learning certain tasks than others. 

His work blended biology and the methods of theoretical physics to explain neural networks. 

Low-intensity electrical stimulation allows older adults to better recall a list of words for at least a month following the treatment, a study finds, providing further evidence for the debated idea that electrical stimulation can enhance cognitive performance.

Microbes in the gut influence the death of support cells in the brain by producing isoamylamine, a study suggests.

People who had cognitive functions depleted by noninvasive brain stimulation or a mentally demanding task could subconsciously recognize individual words in a made-up language more easily than controls, researchers find.

Research in mice and flies suggests that bacteriophages, including those found in dairy foods, may have an influence on an animals’ ability to learn and remember information.

His work bridged the gap between psychology and neurobiology.

Leiden University’s Carel ten Cate tracked down 34-year-old duck recordings—and the man who made them—to verify that musk ducks are capable of vocal learning, an ability that hadn’t been thought to exist in waterfowl.

Microbiota from young mice reversed some aspects of aging and enhanced brain health in aged mice.

A controversial idea from the mid-20th century is attracting renewed attention from researchers developing theories for how cognition arises with or without a brain.

Historical and modern experiments have hinted that unicelluar organisms can learn from their experiences, but the idea still has its critics.

Mice and flies given the polyamine in their diet have increased brain cell metabolism and cognitive function, and epidemiological data hints at a similar benefit in humans.

Manipulating the activity of neurons active during training had similar effects on the mice’s behavior.

Dreamers answered experimenters’ questions or solved simple math problems, showing that complex two-way communication between the dreaming and waking world is possible.

Technologies such as noninvasive brain stimulation and virtual reality gaming offer insights into how dreams arise and what functions they might serve.

Their ability to distinguish between individuals is strong evidence for fast mapping, a learning tool generally thought to belong only to humans.

Conversations between the immune and central nervous systems are proving to be essential for the healthy social behavior, learning, and memory.

Several routes exist for immune cells to communicate with neurons in the central nervous system, though T cells rarely come in direct contact with neural tissue.