School of Psychology

Too much brain activity can be bad for memory and attention

Researchers in the School of Psychology have found that faulty inhibitory neurotransmission and abnormally increased activity in the hippocampus impairs our memory and attention.

Stephanie McGarrity, Marie Pezze and Tobias Bast from the School of Psychology, working with colleagues in Life Sciences, have found that faulty inhibitory neurotransmission and abnormally increased activity in the hippocampus impairs our memory and attention.
Their study - “Hippocampal neural disinhibition causes attentional and memory deficits” – published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, has implications for understanding cognitive deficits in a variety of brain disorders, including schizophrenia, age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s, and for the treatment of cognitive deficits.

More information about the study can be found here:  https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/pressreleases/2016/august/too-much-activity-in-one-of-the-brain's-key-memory-regions-is-bad-for-your-memory-and-attention.aspx

The full paper can be read here: http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/bhw247?ijkey=KzmyIfzH7wLA1w5&keytype=ref

Posted on Wednesday 31st August 2016

School of Psychology

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