Now, neuroscientists report that acute stress prevents mice from forming specific memories. Instead, the stressed mice formed generalized memories, which are encoded by larger numbers of neurons.

To test how the mice had stored the memories of these experiences, the researchers put the mice in a new environment and played the two tones — watching for how they responded. The unstressed ...

They showed that mice receiving corticosterone prior to training were also unable to form specific memories to the two sounds, and that administering metyrapone, a chemical that inhibits ...

Optogenetics involves using cells that have been specially tagged in way that means they respond to a special blue light. The researchers tagged brain cells in mice that are involved in the storage ...

Stress is a double-edged sword when it comes to memory: stressful or otherwise emotional events are usually more memorable, but stress can also make it harder for us to retrieve memories. Now, ...

Memories are constantly adapting in the brain over time, dynamically updating as people encounter new information and fresh ...

Acute stress has been shown to prevent mice from forming specific memories, instead leading to more generalized memories ...

Tohoku University's study reveals that manipulating astrocytes in mice's brains impacts memory retention. Acidifying ...

The study found that fear experiences activate a small group of inhibitory nerve cells in a specific brain region (the amygdala) in mice, preventing excessive reactions to fear memories.

The tagging system lit up all astrocytes that expressed the c-Fos gene in response to fear conditioning. Williamson’s team ...