Neuroscience

Mapping the path from smell to perception

Our sense of smell has a powerful effect on our behavior and emotions. Aromas can evoke vivid memories of the past or warn us of a smoldering fire. Yet to neuroscientists, smell remains the most mysterious of our five senses.

Neuroscience

Why are sounds not perceived under anesthesia?

The purpose of anesthesia is to put the brain into an unconscious state in which stimuli such as sounds are not perceived. In this state, the neurons in the auditory cortex are still stimulated by sounds, but the latter are ...

Neuroscience

Somatostatin neurons cooperate in the cerebral cortex

The brain's cerebral cortex is made up of distinct regions involved in myriad processes, from sensory perception to cognitive functions like memory, attention, and decision-making. University of Pittsburgh neuroscience researchers ...

Neuroscience

Neurons specialized in encoding sound emerge before birth

Distinct neuron types in the auditory organ are necessary for encoding different features of sound and relaying them to the brain. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet provide evidence of an early, neuronal activity-independent, ...

Neuroscience

When the brain switches from hearing to listening

What happens in the brain when simply hearing becomes listening? To answer this question, researchers at the University of Basel have traced the neuronal fingerprint of the two types of sound processing in the mouse brain.

Neuroscience

Abnormal neuron activity manifests as parental neglect

The brain undergoes dramatic change during the first years of life. Its circuits readily rewire as an infant and then child encounters new sights and sounds, taking in the world and learning to understand it. As the child ...

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