Memory

By exposing mice to a unique combination of light and sound, MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can improve cognitive and memory impairments similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s patients. At left, the mouse cortex shows a reduction in amyloid plaques following visual and auditory stimulation, compared to the untreated mouse at right.

Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer’s symptoms

Noninvasive treatment improves memory and reduces amyloid plaques in mice.

March 14, 2019

Matthew Wilson and former postdocs Zhe "Sage" Chen and Fabian Kloosterman have been working for a decade on systems to decode neural signals.

Real-time readouts of thinking in rats

New open-source system provides fast, accurate neural decoding and real-time readouts of where rats think they are.

December 19, 2018

Red staining indicates expression of Kir2.1 potassium ion channels in dentate gyrus engram cells in the hippocampus of the brain.

How returning to a prior context aids memory recall

Picower Institute researchers discover the brain mechanism that helps details come flooding back when you visit a scene again.

December 12, 2018

Neural representations of task rules are maintained in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for planning action.

How the brain switches between different sets of rules

When you slow down after exiting the highway, or hush your voice in the library, you’re using this brain mechanism.

November 19, 2018

Alexi Choueiri (left) and Mahdi Ramadan, both evacuees from Lebanon, met at MIT 11 years after leaving their homeland on the same boat.

Meeting of the Minds

Mahdi Ramadan and Alexi Choueiri’s common experiences as Lebanese evacuees led both to study the human brain at MIT.

October 26, 2018

Earl Miller presents a new model of working memory at a recent Picower Institute symposium

How working memory gets you through the day

A new model shows how brain waves are key to both maintenance and control of information in the mind.

October 24, 2018

Neuroscientists are debating the nature and meaning of neural activity during the critical moment of working memory when people must hold information in mind.

The debate over how working memory works

Scientists present dueling theories in the high-stakes quest to understand how we hold and juggle multiple pieces of information in mind.

August 9, 2018

As it moves from a raw perception to a categorical judgement, information is processed via a gradual progression among many areas of the brain's cortex.

As brain extracts meaning from vision, study tracks progression of processing

Six brain regions participate in a more blended way than has been appreciated.

July 18, 2018

The image of a dendrite and its spines was reconstructed with electron microscopy (foreground) after it was imaged with two-photon microscopy in an intact brain (background).

MIT scientists discover fundamental rule of brain plasticity

Study reveals how, when a synapse strengthens, its neighbors weaken.

June 22, 2018

Brighter fluorescence (at right) represents greater expression of the protein neurogranin in the hippocampus of mice exposed to new contexts (versus mice not exposed to new contexts, at left). The quick production of neurogranin is believed to help in the creation of new memories.

Protein pair quickly makes memories of new places

MIT researchers find that encountering novel contexts cues the brain to churn out neurogranin.

June 6, 2018

Ravi Raju, a Picower Clinical Research Fellow, explains how gene expression differs as mice respond to circumstances modeling poverty.

Fighting toxic stress in children is tough but possible

Taking time to understand underlying causes of stress can help children escape debilitating health effects, symposium speakers argue.

May 31, 2018

It’s often said that experience is the best teacher, but the experiences of other people may be even better.

Brain circuit helps us learn by watching others

Scientists pinpoint neural interactions that are necessary for observational learning.

May 3, 2018

Three brain regions collaborate to produce working memory, but when it reaches capacity, their synchrony breaks down.

A heavy working memory load may sink brainwave 'synch'

Picower Institute study explains what happens when working memory reaches its full capacity.

April 6, 2018

Our daily lives include hundreds of routine habits, made up of many smaller actions, such as picking up our toothbrush, squeezing toothpaste onto it, and then lifting the brush to our mouth. This process of grouping behaviors together into a single routine is known as “chunking.” MIT neuroscientists have now found that certain neurons in the brain are responsible for marking the beginning and ...

Distinctive brain pattern helps habits form

Study identifies neurons that fire at the beginning and end of a behavior as it becomes a habit.

February 8, 2018

This image shows neurons in the CA3 region of the hippocampus, which is important for memory encoding and retrieval. Nuclei of the CA3 neurons are labeled in green and their dendrites in red, and the smaller specks of green above represent axons projecting to the CA3 neurons from the dentate gyrus.

Study reveals molecular mechanisms of memory formation

Neuroscientists discover a cellular pathway that encodes memories by strengthening specific synapses.