Why do some people struggle to adapt to new information and stay locked into outdated beliefs?

Scientists at MIT may have found a key reason. A newly identified gene mutation appears to disrupt a brain circuit that helps us update our understanding of the world. When this system fails, the brain may cling to old ideas even when reality changes.

In experiments with mice, researchers showed that this mutation interferes with the brain’s ability to adjust decisions based on new input, a problem that closely mirrors cognitive symptoms seen in schizophrenia.

The mutation occurs in a gene called grin2a, previously linked to schizophrenia in large genetic studies. The findings suggest that targeting this circuit could eventually help improve cognitive function in some patients.

“If this circuit doesn’t work well, you cannot quickly integrate information,” says Guoping Feng, the James W. and Patricia T. Poitras Professor in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, a member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and the associate director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. “We are quite confident this circuit is one of the mechanisms that contributes to the cognitive impairment that is a major part of the pathology of schizophrenia.”