The workings of the human mind have fascinated scientists for the longest time. The very complexities of the brain mean that there is never-ending research conducted about it by experts around the world. The most recent key finding was found by Russian and US scientists, who reviewed the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. The study, which was published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Review, shows that exploring the predictive properties of neuronal metabolism can help contribute to the understanding of how humans learn and remember everything around them.

The emerging trend in neuroscience is to consider the work of neurons as anticipatory and future-oriented, although this approach is not yet mainstream and features in just a few publications. In a paper entitled 'Neuronal metabolism in learning and memory: The anticipatory activity perspective,' Yuri I. Alexandrov, HSE professor and head of the V.B. Shvyrkov Laboratory of Psychophysiology at the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of Psychology, and Mikhail V. Pletnikov, professor of the Department of Physiology at the State University of New York, University at Buffalo, argue that neurons behave proactively because they strive to survive--just as all living organisms. Neurons use microenvironmental metabolites as 'food', and neuronal impulse activity is aimed at obtaining these metabolites. Rather than responding to an incoming signal, neurons proactively trigger an influx of needed substances to the cell, such as neurotransmitters.