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Focus on the blue locus for learning

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From Nature Human Behaviour

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Memory slowly falters as we age. A new study by Dahl and colleagues tests the involvement of a tiny region hidden in the brainstem, the locus coeruleus, which enables cellular processes of learning. Better initial learning in older individuals was related to greater integrity of this region, particularly for the part that is connected to other memory regions in the brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Heidi I. L. Jacobs

  2. Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Alzheimer Centre Limburg, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Heidi I. L. Jacobs

  3. Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Heidi I. L. Jacobs

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  1. Heidi I. L. Jacobs
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Correspondence to Heidi I. L. Jacobs.

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Jacobs, H.I.L. Focus on the blue locus for learning. Nat Hum Behav 3, 1143–1144 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0731-2

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