In The News

When you enter a room, your brain is bombarded with sensory information. If the room is a place you know well, most of this information is already stored in long-term memory. However, if the room [...]

Learning and memory are generally thought to be composed of three major steps: encoding events into the brain network, storing the encoded information, and later retrieving it for recall.

When we have a new experience, the memory of that event is stored in a neural circuit that connects several parts of the hippocampus and other brain structures. Each cluster of neurons may store [...]

A new MIT study of the neural circuits that underlie this process reveals, for the first time, that memories are actually formed simultaneously in the hippocampus and the long-term storage [...]

Scientists have long believed that the central amygdala is linked with fear and responses to unpleasant events. However, a team of MIT neuroscientists has now discovered a circuit in the central [...]

Our emotional state is governed partly by a tiny brain structure known as the amygdala, which is responsible for processing positive emotions such as happiness, and negative ones such as fear and [...]

Mice have brain cells that are dedicated to storing memories of other mice, according to a new study from MIT neuroscientists. These cells, found in a region of the hippocampus known as the [...]

Neuroscientists retrieve missing memories in mice with early Alzheimer’s symptoms. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, patients are often unable to remember recent experiences. [...]

Neuroscientists identify a brain circuit that is critical for forming episodic memories. When you remember a particular experience, that memory has three critical elements — what, when, and [...]

Artificially reactivating positive memories could offer an alternative to traditional antidepressants. MIT neuroscientists have shown that they can cure the symptoms of depression in mice by [...]

The vagaries of human memory are notorious. A friend insists you were at your 15th class reunion when you know it was your 10th. You distinctly remember that another friend was at your wedding, [...]

MIT researchers identify, label and manipulate the neuronal network encoding a memory. Memory is one of the enduring mysteries of neuroscience. How does the brain form a memory, store it, and [...]

Outside of certain circles at MIT, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who is familiar with the biotech startup Galenea. The Cambridge, MA-based firm has been researching drugs for [...]

By examining how we learn and store memories, Australian and American scientists have uncovered a new mechanism of learning that might prove useful in helping people who have lost their capacity [...]

WAKO, JAPAN—Susumu Tonegawa, 70, has never shied away from challenges. He left Japan to earn a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of California, San Diego. After a postdoc at the Salk [...]

Susumu Tonegawa’s father and uncle were engineers and scientists, which was probably the initial influence in his deciding to pursue a career in science. By his senior year in college, fueled by [...]