Bigger brain may not make you smarter

There is an " ideal" brain circuit size suited to carry out particular tasks, a study found.

Researchers found increasing the size of neural circuits in the brain can boost learning performance.

However, this increased connectivity also has the potential to impede learning, they said.

The study looked at how neural circuits can use additional connectivity to achieve faster and more precise learning.

It showed that adding apparently " redundant" neuron cells that make the brain work and synaptic connections, that enable information to flow from one neuron to another, to a network is a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, an increase in connectivity can make a task easier to learn.

On the other hand, due to inherent noisiness in signal-carrying connections, increased connectivity will eventually hinder both learning and task performance once a circuit exceeds a certain size.

The findings suggest a new potential reason why excessive numbers of noisy connections can lead to learning disorders that are associated with brain hyper-connectivity, including some developmental forms of autism.

Our research shows that adding spare or redundant connection to brain circuits can, in fact, boost learning performance, said the researcher.

These additional connections which don't appear strictly necessary for brain function can make a new task easier to learn, he said.

However, we found that of each new pathway adds ' noise' to the signal it transmits, the overall gain in learning performance will eventually be lost as a circuit increases in size.

We can predict, therefore, that there is a so-called 'sweet spot', an ideal brain circuit size that suits a particular task, he said.

While evidence points to the fact that larger brains tend to be found in species with higher cognitive function and learning ability, brain circuit size may ultimately be constrained by the need to learn efficiently with unreliable synapses, researchers said.

Adding neurons and connections to a brain can help learn up to a point.

After that, an increase in size could actually impair learning , they said.

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There is an "ideal" brain circuit size suited to carrying out particular tasks, a study has found.

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/bigger-brain-may-not-make-you-smarter-study-733973.html

There is an "ideal" brain circuit size suited to carrying out particular tasks, a study has found. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK found increasing the size of neural circuits in the brain can boost learning performance. ...

Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/bigger-brain-may-not-make-you-smarter-study-733973.html

Witnessing fear in loved ones can cause PSTD

A study reveals that if a person hears about a serious incident -- such as a gunfire exchange - from his/her loved ones or even strangers, it may change how information flows in the brain and can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.

Scientists in the study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology, observed that fear in others may change how information flows in the brain.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, also called PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop in some people after they experience a shocking, scary, or dangerous event, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. "Negative emotional experience leaves a trace in the brain, which makes us more vulnerable," said lead study author Alexei Morozov from Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in the US. "Traumatic experiences, even those without physical pain, are a risk factor for mental disorders," Morozov added. 

The team observed that most people, who live through dangerous events, do not develop the disorder, but about seven or eight out of every 100 people will experience post-traumatic stress disorder at some point in their lives. "PTSD doesn't stop at direct victims of illness, injury, or a terrorist attack; it can also affect their loved ones, caregivers, even bystanders -- the people who witness or learn about others' suffering," Morozov stated.

Based on these findings, the researchers investigated whether the part of the brain responsible for empathising and understanding the mental state of others, called the prefrontal cortex, physically changes after witnessing fear in another.

Lei Liu, a post-doctoral researcher in the lab, measured transmission through inhibitory synapses that regulate strength of the signals arriving in the prefrontal cortex from other parts of the brain in mice who had witnessed a stressful event in another mouse. 

"Liu's measures suggest that observational fear physically redistributes the flow of information," Morozov said, "And this redistribution is achieved by stress, not just observed, but communicated through social cues, such as body language, sound, and smell."

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