Past neuroscience studies have consistently showed that sleep plays an important role in memory consolidation. For instance, some neuroimaging research showed that the brain regions that are activated while humans are encoding waking experiences can later be reactivated during sleep, particularly during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

Interestingly, the same brain regions are also associated with increased local slow-wave activity (SWA). Interestingly, the activation of these brain regions and SWA are known to be associated with two mechanisms related to memory optimization, namely neural replay and synaptic homeostasis. These mechanisms are typically associated with improvements in behavior over time.

Researchers at University of Geneva in Switzerland have recently carried out a study aimed at investigating the ways in which the brain selects memories that will be reprocessed during sleep. Their findings, presented in a paper published in Nature Communications, suggest that the brain tends to prioritize the consolidation of memories or life experiences with high motivational relevance, namely those associated with rewards.

Summary: Lower cholesterol levels may put people with schizophrenia at higher risk for violent behaviors, including self-harm and suicide. Researchers say lower cholesterol levels make brain cells less sensitive to serotonin, increasing symptoms of depression, impulsivity, and aggression.

Source: Brunel University.

Linked to lower risk of heart attacks and strokes, low cholesterol may also be a sign people with schizophrenia are at high risk of self-harm, suicide and violence.

The mechanism by which sleep disruption impedes neurodevelopment, however, is still not well understood. It may be that increased wakefulness due to sleep disruption increases glutamate circulation in the brain, affecting glutamatergic structures. Alternatively, decreased REM sleep may reduce “pruning”, an essential developmental process in which superfluous synapses are removed to improve signaling and organization.

The period of neurodevelopment extending from birth to roughly two years of age is one of frenetic, constant change. Neurons and synapses form, are organized, and are pruned. It is well known that sleep plays a fundamental role in these processes, and disruptions to sleep at this stage can be devastating to neurodevelopment and may be the cause of disorders like autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Understanding the relation between sleep and neurodevelopment in early life is thus essential to understanding (and perhaps preventing) developmental disorders. Building on previous work with prairie voles—a highly social animal with neurodevelopmental similarities to humans—researchers from Portland and California recently published a paper in Current Research in Neurobiology examining the effects of early life sleep disruptions (ELSD) on the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

The prefrontal cortex plays an important role in higher-order social learning, executive function, and cognitive flexibility. It’s also one of the last brain structures to mature, and is thus particularly sensitive to disruptions in development.

Because we can’t possibly absorb every single stimulus, our brain lets some of these signals filter through to our consciousness while others don’t.

But where specifically in the brain does that filtering take place? If somewhere in the brain exists the gateway to consciousness, which part of the brain functions as the gatekeeper?

Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School set out to answer this question. Their study, published Tuesday in Cell Reports, suggests they’ve found the answer.

Neuroinflammation may unleash tau in ways that lead to cognitive impairment.

What is your mind? It’s a strange question, perhaps, but if pressed, you might describe it as the part of yourself that makes you who you are—your consciousness, dreams, emotions, and memories. Scientists believed for a long time that such aspects of the mind had specific brain locations, like a circuit for fear, a region for memory, and so on.

But in recent years we’ve learned that the human brain is actually a master of deception, and your experiences and actions do not reveal its inner workings. Your mind is in fact an ongoing construction of your brain, your body, and the surrounding world.