An Integrated Molar/Molecular Model of the Brain

1972 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Einar Hendrickson

A model of the brain is presented at both molecular and molar levels. Communication between neurons is thought to be a kind of telegraph code, with the information being coded as the permutation of four possible interval values between successive action potentials in spike trains. A small species of RNA molecule is thought to be the memory molecule, and the four possible nucleotide bases of RNA correspond to the four possible interval values. The model is shown to account for generalization, speed of retrieval, mass action, long- and short-term memory, forgetting, operant and classical conditioning, intelligence, reaction time, the action of anaesthetic agents, and some aspects of personality. Some evidence from multidisciplinary sources is presented in support of the major features of the model.

SIMULATION ◽  
1964 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 46-51
Author(s):  
W. Ross Adey ◽  
N.V. Findler

It is attempted in this paper to give a mathematical description of the short-term memory. Instead of using the microscopic properties of individual neu rons, such as the number of interconnections, neuron density, threshold value, etc., the cerebral cortex is regarded as a "neuron gas" that is a vast conglomer ate of neurons with statistically distributed charac teristics. Stimuli from the environment cause the receptor neurons to emit virtual electromagnetic waves into the brain. A self-optimizing process of the brain tis sue is here described by which the useful, informa tion-carrying energy reaching the long-term memory tends to maximum. It is emphasized that in the following a brain model is described and the physical processes in volved may have no direct equivalent in reality.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Emin Orhan ◽  
Wei Ji Ma

AbstractSequential and persistent activity models are two prominent models of short-term memory in neural circuits. In persistent activity models, memories are represented in persistent or nearly persistent activity patterns across a population of neurons, whereas in sequential models, memories are represented dynamically by a sequential pattern of activity across the population. Experimental evidence for both types of model in the brain has been reported previously. However, it has been unclear under what conditions these two qualitatively different types of solutions emerge in neural circuits. Here, we address this question by training recurrent neural networks on several short-term memory tasks under a wide range of circuit and task manipulations. We show that sequential and nearly persistent solutions are both part of a spectrum that emerges naturally in trained networks under different conditions. Fixed delay durations, tasks with higher temporal complexity, strong network coupling, motion-related dynamic inputs and prior training in a different task favor more sequential solutions, whereas variable delay durations, tasks with low temporal complexity, weak network coupling and symmetric Hebbian short-term synaptic plasticity favor more persistent solutions. Our results help clarify some seemingly contradictory experimental results on the existence of sequential vs. persistent activity based memory mechanisms in the brain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Roxana O. Cojocariu ◽  
Ioana-Miruna Balmus ◽  
Radu Lefter ◽  
Luminita Hritcu ◽  
Daniela C. Ababei ◽  
...  

Camelina sativa is mainly used as an oilseed crop; its edible oil is being also used as a traditional home remedy for the treatment of ulcers, wounds, and eye inflammations, due to the antioxidant activities. In the present study, the chemically characterized alcoholic extracts of Camelina sativa var. Madalina defatted seeds (5 g/kg body weight p.o., suspended in CMC-Na 0.1%) were administered to stress-induced animal models of irritable bowel syndrome (based on combinations of contention stress and multifactorial stress and maternal stress) and evaluated for the behavioural (short-term memory by the Y maze test, the anxious behaviour using the elevated plus maze test, and the antidepressant effect using the forced swimming test) and brain and bowel tissue oxidative status (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase enzymes activities and malondialdehyde and total soluble protein levels) improving effects. According to the chemical characterization, the extracts were rich in sinapine, glucosinolates, and flavonol glycosides. Moreover, this study showed the beneficial effects of Camelina sativa seed methanolic and ethanolic extracts on the behaviour and brain and bowel tissues oxidative stress status of stress exposure-based IBS mouse models. Despite the slight differences in the chemical composition of the methanolic and ethanolic extracts, the results suggested that the Camelina sativa extracts could reverse the short-term memory impairments caused by stress exposure and also could decrease the intensity and frequency of the anxiety and depressive-like behaviours observed in the stress-exposed animal models of IBS. Furthermore, the Camelina sativa extracts showed a significant effect on the oxidative stress markers in the brain and bowel tissues of the studied animal model by decreasing the superoxide dismutase activity and increasing the glutathione peroxidase activity. However, the results suggested that the extracts could also increase lipid peroxidation in bowel tissues. In this way, this study provides additional evidence that the administration of Camelina sativa seed alcoholic extracts could improve cognitive performances and mood and exhibit the antioxidant capacity in both the brain and bowel tissues.


1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bodner ◽  
Yong-Di Zhou ◽  
Gordon Shaw ◽  
Joaquín Fuster

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anant Mittal ◽  
Priya Aggarwal ◽  
Luiz Pessoa ◽  
Anubha Gupta

Decoding brain states of the underlying cognitive processes via learning discriminative feature representations has recently gained a lot of interest in brain imaging studies. Particularly, there has been an impetus to encode the dynamics of brain functioning by analyzing temporal information avail- able in the fMRI data. Long short term memory (LSTM), a class of machine learning model possessing a "memory" component, is increasingly being observed to perform well in various applications with dynamic temporal behavior, including brain state decoding. Because of the dynamics and inherent latency in fMRI BOLD responses, future temporal context is crucial. However, it is neither encoded nor captured by the conventional LSTM model. This paper performs robust brain state decoding via information encapsulation from both the past and future instances of fMRI data via bidirectional LSTM. This allows for explicitly modeling the dynamics of BOLD response without any delay adjustment. The two hidden activations of forward and reverse directions in bi-LSTM are collated to build the "memory" of the model and are used to robustly predict the brain states at every time instance. Working memory data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) is utilized for validation and was observed to perform 18 percent better than it's unidirectional counterpart in terms of accuracy in predicting the brain states.


2021 ◽  
pp. 50-62
Author(s):  
V. O. Belash ◽  
D. V. Bayer ◽  
V. V. Kostousov

Introduction. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral disorder that occurs in 5-8 % of school-age children and persists into adulthood in 60 % of cases. At the present stage of neurology development, a number of significant drawbacks have been noted in the pharmacological correction of ADHD: the need for a long course of medication, the problem of polypragmasia, side effects and allergic reactions. Thus, there is a real need to develop non-drug ways to correct ADHD. Previous studies have demonstrated a sufficiently high clinical efficacy of transcranial micropolarization of the brain in the treatment of this patients group. Some studies have shown the effectiveness of the osteopathic correction use, which can increase the effectiveness of selective and sustained attention in children with ADHD. At the same time, the question of the possibility of combining various non-drug methods of treatment is quite acute.The aim of the study is to research the feasibility of osteopathic correction using in combination with transcranial micropolarization of the brain in the complex treatment of children with ADHD.Materials and methods. A controlled randomized trial was conducted in the period from January 2018 to February 2020 in Ekaterinburg and St. Petersburg. 68 patients with the established diagnosis attention deficit hyperactivity disorder aged 6 to 10 years, including 42 boys and 26 girls, were under observation. All patients, depending on the used treatment method, were divided by simple randomization into two comparable groups: the main group — 34 people, 22 boys and 12 girls, average age 7,4±1,2 years; the control group consisted of 34 people, 20 boys and 14 girls, with an average age 7,8±1,1 years. Patients received drug therapy with hopanthenic acid in age-related dosages (30 mg/kg body weight), course duration of 2 months, and transcerebral micropolarization of the brain. Each patient received one course of micropolarization, consisting of 15 sessions, the duration of each session was 30 minutes. Patients of the main group received osteopathic correction in addition to the therapy described above. In total, 4 sessions of 60 minutes each were held. The interval between the first sessions was 10 days, between subsequent sessions — from 10 to 14 days. There were evaluated the osteopathic status, the severity of ADHD manifestations and the short-term memory indicators, and the type and properties of the nervous system were determined for all patients, regardless of the group, before the start of treatment, as well as after the completion of the course of complex therapy.Results. After the therapy, there was a statistically significant decrease (p<0,05) in scores quantity on the ADHD assessment scale (ICD-10 criteria) both in the main and in the control groups, which reflects a decrease in the severity of clinical manifestations of this syndrome and demonstrates the effectiveness of the used therapy methods. In patients of the main group who received osteopathic correction, compared with the control group, there was also a significant (p<0,05) decrease in the number of regional dominant somatic dysfunctions, an increase in short-term memory indicators and a change in the type and properties of the nervous system (from weak to stable).Conclusion. The therapy carried out both with the use of osteopathic correction and without it, equally leads to a decrease in the degree of manifestations of ADHD. This indicates the clinical effectiveness of both studied integrated approaches to the treatment of children with ADHD. At the same time, osteopathic correction in the treatment of patients with ADHD significantly increases the indicators characterizing short-term memory and changes the type of response of the nervous system. These changes can be regarded as a potential opportunity to increase the learning ability of children and improve their socialization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngoc Hieu Bui Thi ◽  
Ngoc Anh Nguyen Thi ◽  
Gilbert Audira ◽  
Petrus Siregar ◽  
Sung-Tzu Liang ◽  
...  

Lead and lead-derived compounds have been extensively utilized in industry, and their chronic toxicity towards aquatic animals has not been thoroughly addressed at a behavioral level. In this study, we assessed the risk of exposure to lead at a waterborne environmental concentration in adult zebrafish by behavioral and biochemical analyses. Nine tests, including three-dimension (3D) locomotion, novel tank exploration, mirror biting, predator avoidance, social interaction, shoaling, circadian rhythm locomotor activity, color preference, and a short-term memory test, were performed to assess the behavior of adult zebrafish after the exposure to 50 ppb PbCl2 for one month. The brain tissues were dissected and subjected to biochemical assays to measure the relative expression of stress biomarkers and neurotransmitters to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for behavioral alterations. The results of the behavioral tests showed that chronic exposure to lead could elevate the stress and anxiety levels characterized by elevated freezing and reduced exploratory behaviors. The chronic exposure to PbCl2 at a low concentration also induced a sharp reduction of aggressiveness and short-term memory. However, no significant change was found in predator avoidance, social interaction, shoaling, or color preference. The biochemical assays showed elevated cortisol and reduced serotonin and melatonin levels in the brain, thus, altering the behavior of the PbCl2-exposed zebrafish. In general, this study determined the potential ecotoxicity of long-term lead exposure in adult zebrafish through multiple behavioral assessments. The significant findings were that even at a low concentration, long-term exposure to lead could impair the memory and cause a decrease in the aggressiveness and exploratory activities of zebrafish, which may reduce their survival fitness.


Cortex ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 89-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Guidali ◽  
Alberto Pisoni ◽  
Nadia Bolognini ◽  
Costanza Papagno

2001 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. N. Vaillancourt ◽  
M. A. Persinger

The concept of the neuromatrix assumes that all behaviours are associated with complex spatiotemporal electromagnetic fields within the brain. The same complex magnetic field can be supported potentially by different mosaics of neuronal associations and result in the same behaviours. In the present study the accuracy of long-term and short-term spatial memory for rats that had been treated with 100 mg/kg of ketamine immediately after the induction of seizures by lithium and pilocarpine did not differ from normal rats despite the conspicuous multifocal neuronal loss. A 30-min. delay of treatment with ketamine resulted in significant memory impairment. Whereas deficits in short-term memory were significantly correlated with cell loss within the CA field of the hippocampus, deficits in long-term memory were related to cell loss within specific thalamic-amygdaloid structures. Implications for the concept of the neuromatrix, if valid, are discussed.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1105-1112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinoud Maex ◽  
Volker Steuber

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