MIT Picower Institute neuroscientists lay out a framework for understanding how thought arises from the coordination of neural activity driven by oscillating electric fields also known as brain “waves” or “rhythms.”
Electroconvulsive therapy often evokes inaccurate images of seizing bodies and smoking ears. Better understanding of how it reduces depression symptoms can illuminate new ways to treat mental illness.
Learning new rules requires the suppression of old ones. A better understanding of the brain circuits involved in behavioral adaptation could lead to new ways to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Early-stage clinical studies testing the safety and efficacy of 40-hertz sensory stimulation to treat Alzheimer’s disease found that the potential therapy was well-tolerated and was associated with some significant neurological and behavioral benefits among a small cohort of participants.
Holding information in mind is accompanied by coordination of rotating brain waves in the prefrontal cortex, a phenomenon that may convey specific advantages, a new study suggests. The work was performed by scientists at the Picower Institute of Learning and Memory at MIT.