Learning from Surprises (IMAGE)

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Learning from Surprises

Caption

Research by Kepecs and colleagues indicates that cholinergic neurons broadcast messages to the rest of the brain when mice encounter unexpected things -- things they welcome (depicted here as food, right side) and things they fear (here, a predator, left side). "The fact something is unexpected, and knowing the degree to which it is, is an obvious advantage to the individual," Kepecs says, suggesting why such real-time alerts may have evolved.

Credit

Kepecs Lab, CSHL

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