Computer model helps make sense of human memory

Brains are a mazy network of overlapping circuits—some pathways encourage activity while others suppress it. While earlier studies focused more on excitatory circuits, inhibitory circuits are now understood to play an equally important role in brain function. Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and the RIKEN Center for Brain Science have created an artificial network to simulate the brain, demonstrating that tinkering with inhibitory circuits leads to extended memory.