MIT Study May Explain How Adult Brains Create New Memories
Published in Memory.
Neuroscience discoveries of the biological brain are important not only because they may lead to novel therapeutics to treat brain disorders, but also because they may serve as models for artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning. A new study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that millions of silent synapses exist in adult brains—a discovery that may unlock how adults are able to continually learn and form new memories.
The neuroscientists who conducted this breakthrough discovery are lead author Dimitra Vardalaki, M.D., a Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds Ph.D. Fellow and MIT graduate student; senior author Mark T. Harnett, Ph.D., an Associate Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research; and co-author Kwanghun Chung, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.