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Oct 11, 2022

Trains in the brain: Scientists uncover switching system used in information processing and memory

Posted by in category: neuroscience

A team of scientists has uncovered a system in the brain used in the processing of information and in the storing of memories—akin to how railroad switches control a train’s destination. The findings offer new insights into how the brain functions.

“Researchers have sought to identify that have specialized functions, but there are simply too many tasks the performs for each circuit to have its own purpose,” explains André Fenton, a professor of neural science at New York University and the senior author of the study, which appears in the journal Cell Reports. “Our results reveal how the same circuit takes on more than one function. The brain diverts ‘trains’ of from encoding our experiences to recalling them, showing that the same circuits have a role in both information processing and in memory.”

This newly discovered dynamic shows how the brain functions more efficiently than previously realized.

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