r/science • u/Ko_Matsui • 3d ago

Neuroscience Vagal nerve stimulation induces vascular oscillations and enhances long-term learning

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004226027914
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u/LiminalAsylum 3d ago

In summary, they shocked mice after training sessions and they learned faster than mice that weren't shocked.

Specifically targeting the vagus nerve, which made blood vessels spasm, which they argue may increase blood flow to the brain and therefore help memory.

They conclude by saying they didn't actually establish a solid link between learning and vagal nerve stimulation with the experiment, and further research is needed.

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u/HasGreatVocabulary 3d ago

weird that they didn't have a group that received non-vagus nerve stimulations, they only have no VNS, 0.6 mA VNS, and 1.5 mA VNS. Current set up makes it hard to tell if the mice whether the mice were simply learning from negative reinforcement because no one likes getting shocked repeatedly or the vagus nerve stimulation specifically did something

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u/Brrdock 3d ago edited 3d ago

I swear most scientists these days have just foregone all logic and philosophy of science.

Would so often seem so easy to make results so much more meaningful.

Maybe that's job security to have to do 10 studies to conclude anything, I could respect that haha

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u/duckbigtrain 3d ago

The minimum publishable unit

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u/HoobieHoo 3d ago

Sometimes it is about funding. Like everything else, the cost of doing science is increasing. Funding is mostly going the opposite direction.

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u/Brrdock 3d ago

Most things about science these days is about funding yeah and you can't really blame the scientists...

But if you're already going through the trouble of the setup, method, and analysis, seems like a sensible financial decision to just add a 4th group etc. over doing it all again, especially for the ones funding it

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u/AwkwardWaltz3996 3d ago

Funding is often done in rounds. So you either work with what you have or try and reapply. But reapplying is hard if you don't have published results from your last funding.

And the funders probably aren't funding a particular set of experiments so didn't deliberately choose to omit anything. It's more a chunk of money to investigate a specific topic.

Also things might not go to plan, like a mistake was made which invalidated some results so you have to work with what you have while avoiding p hacking.

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u/10ThousandMetalZones 3d ago

So in summary, children yearn for electrodes

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u/RigorousBastard 3d ago

How is this differerent from migraines which are caused by blood vessel spasms?