Every time you need to make plans for the future, like what to do over spring break or which SXSW shows to catch, you're using the prefrontal cortex of your brain.
Former UT neuroscientist Nikolai Dembrow, along with Boris Zemelman and Daniel Johnston in the Department of Neuroscience, are examining how incoming signals to this part of the brain get processed. As they explain in a new paper in the Journal of Neuroscience, dendrites — amazing, tree-like structures on neurons that help with this processing — prefer to receive input in certain ways.
Understanding how the prefrontal cortex deciphers incoming signals could help researchers find promising targets for treatment when this area of the brain malfunctions, for example, in people with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction.
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