Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience – Page 192

Researchers Have Found a Way to Help Erase Bad Memories

Being able to erase bad memories and traumatic flashbacks could help in the treatment of a host of different mental health issues, and scientists have found a promising new approach to do just this: weakening negative memories by reactivating positive ones.

In an experiment covering several days, an international team of researchers asked 37 participants to associate random words with negative images, before attempting to reprogram half of those associations and ‘interfere’ with the bad memories.

“We found that this procedure weakened the recall of aversive memories and also increased involuntary intrusions of positive memories,” write the researchers in their published paper.

Dopamine and Serotonin Drive Emotional Word Processing

The brain’s response to emotional words is guided by neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, shaping how we interpret language. Surprising new research shows even the thalamus is involved, bridging emotion and cognition.

Summary: Researchers have uncovered how neurotransmitters in the brain respond to the emotional content of language, shedding light on the intersection of emotion, cognition, and communication. Using advanced techniques, the team simultaneously measured dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine release in patients during exposure to emotionally charged words.

They found distinct patterns of neurotransmitter activity across brain regions like the thalamus and anterior cingulate cortex, challenging assumptions about their roles in emotional and linguistic processing.

These findings suggest that brain systems evolved for survival also support complex human functions like language interpretation. Validation in animal models confirmed these patterns, paving the way for future studies on decision-making and mental health.

Neuralink Brain Chip Implanted In 3rd Patient, Elon Musk Says “Working Well”

Neuralink Corp.’s brain-computer device has been implanted in a third patient and the company has plans for about 20 to 30 more implants in 2025, founder Elon Musk said.

“We’ve got now three humans with Neuralinks implanted and they’re all working well,” Musk said during an event in Las Vegas this week that was streamed on X, his social media service.

Neuralink is one of a growing group of startups developing brain implants that can help treat conditions such as paralysis and ALS. They are experimental procedures that usually require opening up the skull to place electrodes in the brain tissue. A year ago, Neuralink said it had implanted its device in its initial patient, Noland Arbaugh.

Consciousness, Gödel, and the incompleteness of science

In the early 20th century, the mathematician Godel showed that any mathematical system is incomplete, using a version of the self-referential paradox: ‘this sentence is not true’. Here, neuroscientist and philosopher, Erik Hoel, argues this incompleteness extends to the scientific project as a whole; in part due to science’s reliance on mathematics. More radically, Hoel argues, this incompleteness of science may account for why we can’t find scientific evidence for consciousness anywhere in the world.

Let’s say you lived in a universe where you really were some sort of incarnated soul in a corporeal body. Or some sort of agent from a vaster reality embedded in a simulation (depending on definitions, the two scenarios might not be that different). What would the science in such a dualistic universe look like?

Sign up to get exclusive access.

New Neuron Types Discovered in Brainstem’s Sound Processing Center

Summary: Researchers have identified and mapped diverse cell types in the cochlear nucleus, the brainstem region responsible for processing sound. Using advanced molecular techniques, they uncovered distinct and newly identified cell types that process specific sound features, such as sharp noises or pitch changes.

These findings challenge existing ideas about hearing and pave the way for targeted treatments for auditory disorders. By creating a cellular and molecular atlas, scientists can now develop more precise therapies for conditions like hearing loss, advancing the field of personalized auditory medicine.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink just gave third human a brain implant — Here’s what’s next

Neuralink has implanted its device in third human patient and plans more procedures in 2025. The device allows paralyzed individuals to control external devices with their thoughts. The company is conducting studies to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its brain implants. Neuralink aims to revolutionize neurotechnology.

New blood test could tell if you’ll get Alzheimer’s years from now

A new blood test may be key to diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease before the condition becomes debilitating.

Neuroscientists at New York University collected and analyzed the blood samples of 125 subjects for acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) and free-carnitine, two markers essential for brain function.

These substances help to power cells, as well as regulate glutamate, which is involved in most brain activities.

Why Alzheimer’s scientists are rethinking the amyloid hypothesis

For decades, scientists have been trying to develop therapeutics for people living with Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by cognitive decline. Given the global rise in cases, the stakes are high. A study published in The Lancet Public Health reports that the number of adults living with dementia worldwide is expected to nearly triple, to 153 million in 2050. Alzheimer’s disease is a dominant form of dementia, representing 60 to 70 percent of cases.

Recent approvals by the Food and Drug Administration have focused on medications that shrink the sticky brain deposits of a protein called amyloid beta. The errant growth of this protein is responsible for triggering an increase in tangled threads of another protein called tau and the development of Alzheimer’s disease — at least according to the dominant amyloid cascade hypothesis, which was first proposed in 1991.

Over the past few years, however, data and drugs associated with the hypothesis have been mired in various controversies relating to data integrity, regulatory approval, and drug safety. Nevertheless, the hypothesis still dominates research and drug development. According to Science, in fiscal year 2021 to 2022, the National Institutes of Health spent some $1.6 billion on projects that mention amyloids, about 50 percent of the agency’s overall Alzheimer’s funding. And a close look at the data for recently approved drugs suggests the hypothesis is not wrong, so much as incomplete.

Neuroplasticity linked to PTSD resilience in Paris terror attack

Normandie University researchers have identified critical links between the brain’s inhibitory memory control mechanisms and resilience to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They examined how the hippocampus and prefrontal memory control processes adapt over time in individuals exposed to trauma, with findings suggesting that the plasticity of these systems supports recovery from PTSD and protects against further neurological damage.

PTSD involves intrusive memories and following trauma, with significant attention previously focused on stress vulnerability and hippocampal alterations. The hippocampus, critical for memory processing, is highly susceptible to stress, which can result in structural and functional impairments.

Brain resilience is the process that mitigates stress effects and involves neuroplasticity, or the brain’s ability to reorganize itself. The specific neural mechanisms underlying resilience have remained unclear, though outcomes related to regional brain activation have been observed.

Single-neuron mechanism may bridge gap between working memory and long-term memory

The human working memory (WM) is the cognitive system responsible for the temporary storage and processing of information vital to task completion. In contrast, human long-term memory (LTM) is the system that holds information for prolonged periods of time, organizing acquired knowledge into distinct categories, such as facts, events, skills and habits.

For decades, most psychologists and neuroscientists have viewed these two memory components as separate systems, one tackling short-term and the other long-term tasks, supported by distinct neural processes. Therefore, most studies conducted so far have focused on only one of these systems, instead of exploring the potential connections between working memory and long-term memory processes.

Researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and other institutes recently set out to simultaneously investigate the neural underpinnings of both WM and LTM, to determine whether these systems utilize some common mechanisms to store information. Their findings, published in Neuron, suggest that the two systems interact in the hippocampus, with persistent WM activity predicting the formation of LTM.

/* */