LA JOLLA\u2014Those of us who can’t resist tourist tchotchkes are big fans of suitcases with an expandable compartment. Now, it turns out the brain’s capacity for storing new memories is expandable, too, with limitations.<\/p>\n
Salk Institute scientists and collaborators at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Otago, in New Zealand, found that connections in the brain not only expand as needed in response to learning or experiencing new things, but that others will shrink as a result. The work, which could shed light on conditions in which memory formation is impaired, such as depression or Alzheimer’s disease, appeared in Actas de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias <\/em><\/a>on February 20, 2018.<\/p>\n