Using a mouse model of fragile X syndrome, the researchers recorded the activity of
networks of neurons in a living mouse brain while the animal was both awake and asleep.
Higher brain functions emerge at the scale
of networks of neurons; brain disorders such as dementia, epilepsy or schizophrenia appear to result when networks fail to operate correctly.
The
way networks of neurons connect and how individual cells react to incoming pulses in principle makes communication over large distances impossible.
The brain has taken potentially destructive molecules and put them to work as architects, fine -
tuning networks of neurons and removing any unwanted connections.
Even the
simplest networks of neurons in the brain are composed of millions of connections, and examining these vast networks is critical to understanding how the brain works.
Another difficulty is that these connections are constantly in flux,
forming networks of neurons that consist of millions of interactions, continually shifting their shape and evolving based on what a person experiences.
Reading comes easily to some students, but many struggle with some part of this complex process that requires many areas of the brain to operate together through an
intricate network of neurons.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have discovered a
vast network of neurons in the brain of mice that governs reproduction and controls the effects of reproductive status on other brain...
A large
network of neurons connected to the VTA glowed green, suggesting that the magnetic fields had effectively stimulated the circuit, the team reports online today in Science.
The imagery a sleeping brain concocts appears to originate in the reticular formation (RF), a diffuse, intricate collection of more than 100
networks of neurons arranged throughout the brain.
A flurry of coordinated activity in a brain -
spanning network of neurons may sound like the formation of a brilliant new idea, but it is actually the description of a seizure.
«This is presumably why, in mammals, there are
specialized networks of neurons that receive light input from the retina and send timing signals to the rest of the body,» Rust explains.
In an era of increasing excitement about mapping the brain's «connectome,» this finding fits with our growing understanding of complex brain functions as residing not in discrete brain regions, but in densely connected
networks of neurons spread throughout different parts of the brain.
That the brain can produce a variety of activity patterns and still arrive at an appropriate grip plan suggests the brian is flexible enough to handle a wide variety of object contexts and can do so with a
local network of neurons.
At its heart is what philosopher David Chalmers at New York University termed the «hard problem» of consciousness: how can
physical networks of neurons produce experiences that appear to fall outside the material world?
In the open - access journal PLOS Computational Biology, Butz and van Ooyen now present a simple rule that explains how these
new networks of neurons are formed.
Knowing the location of these face - selective regions gave the clinicians a unique opportunity to test what Blackwell would experience when the current from the electrode interfered with normal electrical activity connecting these face -
selective networks of neurons in his brain.
Neural networks are inspired by the architecture of the human brain, in which a
dense network of neurons quickly processes and analyzes information.
In earlier research, Jack's Brain, Mind & Consciousness lab used functional magnetic resonance imaging to show the brain has an
analytical network of neurons that enables us to think critically and a social network that enables us to empathize.
«In this study, a new «source analysis» method was used for the first time to measure functional networks in the infant brain: with the help of a computer model, the measured EEG signals were interpreted as activity in the infant cortex, which enabled the evaluation of the
functional networking of neurons in a very versatile manner on the cortical level,» says Sampsa Vanhatalo, a professor in clinical neurophysiology and the head of the study.
In terms of basic neuroscience, I think we're entering a really exciting era where recent technical developments will enable us to look not just at the activity of single neurons, but also at the way
networks of neurons work together.
Charting the activity of
entire networks of neurons «is the major thing to be done to make a breakthrough in our understanding of how the brain works,» says John Donoghue, Director of the Institute for Brain Science at Brown University and a neuroscientist who studies how the brain encodes information and develops prosthetic devices for patients with paralysis.
In fact, the gut is known as the «second brain,» as it houses an
extensive network of neurons and produces and receives a variety of neurotransmitters that we typically associate with the brain (i.e. serotonin and dopamine).
Mapping electrical signaling among the
vast network of neurons is one key aspect of trying to understand how the brain works.
But when the
complex network of neurons in our brain malfunctions, the result can be a near - endless variety and combinations of mental illnesses.
Having studied experimental psychology as an undergraduate at Cambridge, Hinton was enthusiastic about neural nets, which were software constructs that took their inspiration from the way
networks of neurons in the brain were thought to work.
Neuroscientists believe that attachment is such a primal need that there are
networks of neurons in the brain dedicated to setting it in motion and a hormone to foster the process, oxytocin.
This network of neurons, a circuit running through the ventral tegmental area (VTA), the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex, is normally activated when an animal does things — such as eating or sex — that help it to survive.
Much of the circuitry he works with already exists —
networks of neurons, honed by years of evolution — and he augments this circuitry with his own small electronic devices.
Neuroscientists have long suspected that
the network of neurons in our brains might be connected in such a way that they achieve a state of «self - organised criticality» (SOC), in which they are neither ordered nor random, but somewhere in between.
Our brains have
networks of neurons that weigh the costs and benefits of potential actions.
The processors — modeled after the brain's
networks of neurons — are first trained by humans on actual translations and then let loose on new sets of data.
This information was programmed into the chip, enabling it to «listen» to brain signals, decode them, and respond appropriately with its own chain of electrical pulses, just like
a network of neurons would.
The network of neurons in the retina, on the other hand, looks less like a grid than a set of psychedelic snowflakes, with branches upon branches filling the retina in swirling patterns.