News reports of research into memory March 2002
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March 2002
An imaging study looked at the brain activity
of 14 college-aged men and women as they performed difficult
cognitive tasks requiring the active retention of information in
working memory, after watching short, emotional videos, designed to
elicit one of three emotional states: pleasant, neutral or anxious.
It was found that mild anxiety improved performance on some tasks,
but hurt performance on others. Being in a pleasant mood boosted
some kinds of performance but impaired other kinds. A region of the
prefrontal cortex was jointly influenced by a combination of mood
state and cognitive task, but not by either one alone.
The report appeared in the March 19 issue of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-03/wuis-mlt031802.php
Memory in fruit flies can be improved by boosting the level of a
protein called PKM. The research may provide some answers to the
burning question of how particular synapses are chosen. While it is
generally agreed that memories are stored as changes in the number
and strength of the connections between brain neurons (synapses), it
has not been known how the particular synapses involved in a memory
or learned skill are selected. It is thought that PKM may be
involved in a process that 'tags' synapses during memory formation.
The study was published in the April issue of
Nature Neuroscience.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-03/cshl-sef032202.php
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1894000/1894097.stm
Experiments with rats have demonstrated that levels of transport
molecules for
glutamate – chemicals that latch on to and “sweep away”
glutamate – increase significantly in the period after the onset of
long-term potentiation – the process believed to underlie long-term
learning. This suggests that the regulation of glutamate uptake by
the transport molecules may be important for maintaining the
strength of connections among the neurons. Deficiencies in glutamate
transporters have been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases such
as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gherig’s disease.
The study appeared in the February issue of
Nature Neuroscience.
Full reference
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-03/uoh-bcc031202.php
Using mice, scientists have identified a key
brain protein involved in retaining memories, which could help
explain why some things are remembered and some are not. The protein
CREB (cAMP response element binding protein) apparently primes brain
cells to retain long-term memories. Neurons in mice engineered to
express a chimeric CREB protein were found to need a smaller first
stimulus to generate a lasting increase in synaptic strength
(long-term potentiation).
The report appeared in Cell.
Full reference
http://news.bmn.com/news/story?day=020308&story=2
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1862000/1862819.stm
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