Discovery deepens understanding of brain`s sensory circuitry
(PHYSorg.com Medicine & Health)

Because they provide an exemplary physiological model of how the mammalian brain receives sensory information, neural structures called `mouse whisker barrels` have been the subject of study by neuroscientists around the world for nearly 50 years. A new study shows that despite all that prior scrutiny, significant discoveries remain to be made. Specifically, researchers at Brown University have found a previously unknown set of matching barrel structures two layers deeper into the cortex than the whisker barrels, providing a more complete picture of the circuitry involved in handling sensory information.