Shedding Light on Biology of Human Consciousness

Columbia scientists have identified the brain’s ‘aha!’ moment, that flash in time when you suddenly become aware of information, such as knowing the answer to a difficult question. Today’s findings in humans, combined with previous research, provide compelling evidence that this moment, this feeling of having decided pierces consciousness when information being collected by the brain reaches a critical level.

The results of this study further suggest that this piercing of consciousness shares the same underlying brain mechanisms known to be involved in making far simpler decisions. Importantly, this study offers hope that the biological foundations of consciousness may well be within our grasp.

OnAir Post: Shedding Light on Biology of Human Consciousness

Retrieving memories from early Alzheimer’s

Summary

In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, patients are often unable to remember recent experiences. However, a new study from MIT suggests that those memories are still stored in the brain — they just can’t be easily accessed.

The MIT neuroscientists report in Nature that mice in the early stages of Alzheimer’s can form new memories just as well as normal mice but cannot recall them a few days later.

“Memory retrieval by activating engram cells in mouse models of early Alzheimer’s disease” By Roy et al | Nature, 2016 Mar 24

Article in Nature

Memory retrieval by activating engram cells in mouse models of early Alzheimer’s disease

Readcube PDF

By Dheeraj S. Roy, Autumn Arons, Teryn I. Mitchell, Michele Pignatelli, Tomás J. Ryan and Susumu Tonegawa Nature | March 24, 2016 | 531(7595):508-12

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive memory decline and subsequent loss of broader cognitive functions1. Memory decline in the early stages of AD is mostly limited to episodic memory, for which the hippocampus has a crucial role

OnAir Post: Retrieving memories from early Alzheimer’s