--- title: Brain circuit needed to incorporate new information may... description: MIT neuroscientists identified a mutation in the grin2a gene — which encodes part of the NMDA receptor — that impairs a thalamocortical brain circuit... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/brain-circuit-needed-to-incorporate-new-information-may-be-linked-to-schizophrenia-jeo1zuxbt twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Brain circuit needed to incorporate new information may be linked to schizophrenia | daily.dev og:description: MIT neuroscientists identified a mutation in the grin2a gene — which encodes part of the NMDA receptor — that impairs a thalamocortical brain circuit... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/brain-circuit-needed-to-incorporate-new-information-may-be-linked-to-schizophrenia-jeo1zuxbt og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/jeO1ZuXbt.png og:image:alt: Brain circuit needed to incorporate new information may be linked to schizophrenia og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Brain circuit needed to incorporate new information may be linked to schizophrenia **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary MIT neuroscientists identified a mutation in the grin2a gene — which encodes part of the NMDA receptor — that impairs a thalamocortical brain circuit responsible for updating beliefs based on new sensory input. Using mouse models, researchers showed that animals with this mutation struggle to adapt decisions in changing reward environments, mirroring cognitive impairments seen in schizophrenia patients. The mediodorsal thalamus was identified as the most affected region, and optogenetic activation of its neurons reversed the behavioral deficits. While only a small fraction of schizophrenia patients carry grin2a mutations, the circuit dysfunction may represent a shared mechanism across a broader subset of patients, pointing toward potential drug targets. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. 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