Latest Basal ganglia Stories

'Phantom' images our brain keeps for visual comparisons stored in brain's neural networkBrain research over the past 30 years has shown that if a part of the brain controlling movement or sensation or language is lost because of a stroke or injury, other parts of the brain can take over the lost function "“ often as well as the region that was lost.New research at the University of California, Berkeley, shows that this holds true for memory and attention as well, though "“ at least for...

Some people may excel at riding a bike, tying a tie, or playing the piano, but those same people may find it difficult to explain or teach those skills to someone else.These motor skills are learned in one part of the brain, whereas classroom instruction and information read in a book are acquired in another area of the brain, explained F. Gregory Ashby, professor and chair of UC Santa Barbara's Department of Psychology. This second area of learning is the frontal cortex "“"“ the area...

An international collaboration led by academics at the University of Sheffield, has shed new light into Parkinson´s disease, which could help with the development of cures or treatments in the future.The collaboration, which was led by Professor Peter Redgrave from the University´s Department of Psychology, suggests that many of the problems suffered by patients with Parkinson´s disease - difficulties in initiating actions, slow laboured movements and tremors "“ can be understood...

Rui Costa, Principal Investigator of the Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (Portugal), and Xin Jin, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health (USA), describe in the latest issue of the journal Nature(*), that the activity of certain neurons in the brain can signal the initiation and termination of behavioural sequences we learn anew. Furthermore, they found that this brain activity is essential for...

Researchers of the University of Granada have demonstrated that patients who have damage to the right prefrontal cortex of the brain present a deficit in intentional anticipation (for example, when we put the vehicle in gear before the traffic light turns green). The findings of this study were published in the prestigious journal Brain. Researchers of the University of Granada have demonstrated that patients who have damage to the right prefrontal cortex of the brain "“the part involved in...

Patterns of activity in circuits evolve as our behaviors become more habitualDriving to and from work is a habit for most commuters "“ we do it without really thinking. But before our commutes became routine, we had to learn our way through trial-and-error exploration. A new study out of MIT has found that there are two brain circuits involved with this kind of learning and that the patterns of activity in these circuits evolve as our behaviors become more habitual.The researchers focused...

Chicago and Montreal researchers studying the lowly lamprey eel have identified an overlooked nervous system pathway running parallel to known brainstem locomotor command circuitry in vertebrates such as birds, fishes and mammals.The finding is reported in Nature Neuroscience, online May 16, and highlighted in the magazine's "news and views" section.Simon Alford, University of Illinois at Chicago professor of biological sciences and the article's corresponding author, said the role...

Integrated functional network could explain some mysteries of Parkinson's and dystoniaPITTSBURGH -- Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have found new evidence that the basal ganglia and the cerebellum, two important areas in the central nervous system, are linked together to form an integrated functional network. The findings are available online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."The basal ganglia and the cerebellum are two major subcortical...

A new study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet provides evidence that basic human learning systems use areas of the brain that also exist in the most primitive vertebrates, such as certain fish, reptiles and amphibians. The study involved an investigation into the limbic striatum, one of the evolutionarily oldest parts of the brain, and the ability to learn movements, consciously and unconsciously, through repetition. "Our results strongly substantiate the theories...

UCSF scientists have used a novel cell-based strategy to treat motor symptoms in rats with a disease designed to mimic Parkinson's disease.The strategy suggests a promising approach, the scientists say, for treating symptoms of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases and disorders, including epilepsy.The scientists transplanted embryonic neurons from fetal rats into an area of the adult rat brain known as the striatum, which integrates excitatory and inhibitory...