Brain atlas, trauma memory, and error-predicting neurons

As part of the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) initiative, an international team of scientists have presented the most detailed and complex portrait of the human brain so far, made up of more than 3,000 types of brain cells that are responsible for emotion, thought, memory and disease. Experts examine the brains of children and adults diagnosed with schizophrenia, autism, as well as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. BRAIN’s most important goal is to develop tools and technologies to understand and map the human brain.

Scientists from New York University have identified the so-called error-predicting neurons. They respond to sounds only when we hear sounds other than those we expect. In this way, neurons signal that a person has made a mistake. It could be closing the door incorrectly or improperly hitting the ball. Research can help in understanding the learning process or identifying the causes of certain diseases.

During research conducted at the Japanese National Institute of Physiological Sciences (NIPS), it was possible to detect neural networks of the brain involved in trauma memory. Thanks to the use of an innovative method – an optical approach and machine learning – the complex changes occurring during remembering were captured, and the mechanisms by which traumatic memories are formed were discovered.