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Learning and memory refers to the processes of acquiring, retaining and retrieving information in the central nervous system. It consists of forming stable long-term memories that include declarative (recall of events and facts) and nondeclarative (conditioning, skill learning) forms.
A brain imaging study shows that humans with more complex cortical folds in a premotor brain region have a higher capacity to learn a challenging new motor skill during six weeks of practice.
The neural codes underlying working memory are not fully understood. Here the authors recorded neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortex of male macaque monkeys, during a working memory task, and identify activation sequences that encode target locations in the task.
Whether and how sharp-wave ripples (SWRs) accompany mental states that are less closely linked to events in the immediate environment are not fully understood. Here authors recorded SWRs from hippocampus of 10 epilepsy patients for up to 15 days with experience sampling. SWR rates showed circadian fluctuation and were associated with self-generated thoughts such as mind wandering.
A mark test of self-recognition in mice reveals that self-responding ventral CA1 neurons underlie mirror-induced self-directed behaviour and are shaped by social experience with conspecifics.
In mice, localized mutant APP expression in the CA3 hippocampal region leads to progressive network dysfunction and hippocampus-dependent memory deficits.