Learning and memory articles from across Nature Portfolio

By using multimodal MRI in aging humans, we found that noradrenergic brain regions are associated with episodic memory impairment, whereas dopaminergic areas are implicated in working memory impairment. Unravelling the role of changes in these neurotransmitter systems in age-related memory loss contributes to our understanding of the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Synaptic or neuronal activity can trigger transcriptional changes in the nucleus that are important for learning and memory. Tsien, Ma and co-workers here provide a comprehensive review of the complex signalling pathways involved in this excitation–transcription coupling.

Transcriptional events are critical for hippocampus-dependent long-term memory storage. Here, the authors utilize spatial transcriptomics to elucidate localized gene expression patterns across hippocampal subregions during memory consolidation.

Memories are transformed over time. Here, the authors show that this transformation is semantic in nature and linked to transformed event representations in neocortex and increased pattern reinstatement in the posterior hippocampus, while they find no credible evidence for a perceptual transformation.

Social memory integrates past experiences into social interactions by distinguishing familiar from novel conspecifics. In this study, the authors delineated a role of the cerebellum in organizing the neural matrix required for social memory.

A study reports that in the mouse hippocampus, the induction of long-term potentiation is dependent on the structural functions of CaMKII and not its enzymatic activity.

When bilinguals perform a memory task in their second rather than their first language they are less likely to confuse lures for real memories or to agree with false information shared by another eye-witness, reports a study in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

By using multimodal MRI in aging humans, we found that noradrenergic brain regions are associated with episodic memory impairment, whereas dopaminergic areas are implicated in working memory impairment. Unravelling the role of changes in these neurotransmitter systems in age-related memory loss contributes to our understanding of the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Are working memory representations that are no longer relevant actively deleted? A new study in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics suggests that this isn’t the case: irrelevant memoranda linger on, especially when people create an imaginary combination of items they encounter.

Using a vast dataset of object ratings, a new study in Science Advances sheds light on the question what makes objects memorable. The answer to what role typicality plays turns out to be complex.

We treated aged monkeys with a dose of the longevity factor klotho, which is known to increase synaptic and cognitive functions in mice. We found that a relatively low dose of klotho enhanced cognition in aged monkeys. These findings are important because they suggest that klotho replenishment could prove to be therapeutic in aging humans.