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Long recovery from mass extinction seen
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Scientists in Massachusetts say they've found the brains of rats immediately replay new experiences in reverse.
The researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say their discovery might help explain why we learn tasks better if there are breaks in between repetitions, why hyperactivity might cause learning problems and why simply being awake, but resting, can help learning.
Researchers already know cells in the hippocampus of rats rerun patterns of neural activity when they are asleep. Now MIT's David Foster and Matthew Wilson have examined what happens in those cells when the animals are awake, as rats run up and down a track, pausing at each end.
The researchers show hippocampal cells fire in a particular sequence as the rat runs and that this sequence of firing is repeated backwards when they pause. This may help etch a memory of the route into the brain, the authors say.
The research is published online this week by the journal Nature.
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