Neuroscience Breakthrough , Could Lead to New Treatments for , Spinal Cord Injuries.br 'Newsweek' reports that neuroscientists have br discovered that the human spinal cord is capable of br making its own memories independent of the brain.br The discovery, which challenges previous br ideas about neural circuits outside of the brain, br could represent a breakthrough for people br recovering from spinal cord injuries. .br Learning and memory isbr often attributed as functions br of the brain exclusively, Aya Takeoka, principal investigator at Japan's br RIKEN Center for Brain Science, via 'Newsweek'.br Although scientists knew for br more than a century that the br spinal cord could learn and adapt br movements in the absence of brain br input, we did not know how br the spinal cord learns and br memorize what is has learned, Aya Takeoka, principal investigator at Japan's br RIKEN Center for Brain Science, via 'Newsweek'.br Gaining insights into the underlying br mechanism is essential if we want br to understand the foundations br of movement automaticity in br healthy people and use this br knowledge to improve recovery br after spinal cord injury, Aya Takeoka, principal investigator at Japan's br RIKEN Center for Brain Science, via 'Newsweek'.br The team of neuroscientists looked to demonstrate br how spinal cord cells can adapt to sensory inputs br without receiving any signals from the brain.br The two groups of nerve cells have br distinct functions; learning cells are br not needed for recalling what the br spinal cord had learned, and memory br cells were not needed for learning, Aya Takeoka, principal investigator at Japan's br RIKEN Center for Brain Science, via 'Newsweek'.br The team hopes their results could help br develop new rehabilitative training methods br for patients with spinal cord damage.br Not only do these results challenge br the prevailing notion that motor learning br and memory are solely confined to brain br circuits, but we showed that we could br manipulate spinal cord motor recall, br which has implications for therapies br designed to improve recovery br after spinal cord damage, Aya Takeoka, principal investigator at Japan's br RIKEN Center for Brain Science, via 'Newsweek'.br The team's findings br were published in the br journal 'Science.