Scientists discover switching system used in information processing and memory

A team of scientists have discovered a system in the brain used for processing information and storing memories, similar to how switches control the destination of a train. The results offer new insight into how the brain works.

“Researchers have sought to identify neural circuits that have specialized functions, but there are simply too many tasks the brain performs for each circuit to have its own purpose,” says André Fenton, professor of neural sciences at the New York University and senior author. of the study, which appears in the journal Cell reports. “Our results reveal how the same circuit performs more than one function. The brain diverts ‘trains’ of neural activity from encoding our experiences to recall them, showing that the same circuits have a role in both. information processing and in memory. “

This newly discovered dynamic shows how the brain works more efficiently than previously thought.

“When the same circuit serves more than one function, synergistic, creative and economical interactions become possible,” adds Fenton.

To explore the role of brain circuits, the researchers looked at the hippocampus, a brain structure long known to play an important role in memory, in mice. They studied how the mouse hippocampus goes from encoding the current location to remembering a distant location. Here, the mice were navigating a surface and receiving a slight shock if they touched certain areas, causing information to be encoded. When the mice then returned to this surface, they avoided the area where they had previously received the shock, evidence that memory influenced their movement.

Analysis of neuronal activity revealed switching in the hippocampus. Specifically, scientists have discovered that a certain type of pattern of activity in the population of neurons known as a tooth tip, which originates from the medial entorhinal cortex (DS_M), served to coordinate changes in brain function.

“Railroad switches control the destination of each train, while toothed tips move hippocampal information processing from encoding to memory,” observes Fenton. “Like a switch diverting a train, this spike event diverts thoughts from the present to the past.”