FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology·October 29, 2021·4 min readBrain Circuitry for Both Positive and Negative Valence Affected by TraumaThe severity of PTSD symptoms was associated with fewer risky choices and increased activation of the amygdala. Decreased activity in the ventral striatum, an area of the brain associated with processing positive valence such as reward, predicted more severe PTSD symptoms 14 months post trauma.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceVisual Neuroscience·October 21, 2021·7 min readPeople’s Eyes Reveal That Clichés Are UnderratedEye-tracking reveals the brain pays more attention to conventional metaphors than it does to similar alternatives.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·October 18, 2021·3 min readMammalian Motivation Circuits: Maybe They’re Born With ItResearchers have identified a pre-programmed neural circuit in the basolateral amygdala of mice that processes both positive and negative stimuli.Read More
FeaturedNeurosciencePsychology·October 4, 2021·3 min readDepression History Written in the Reactions of the BrainThe more a person experiences severe depression through their lifespan, the less they react emotionally to negative faces during current depressive episodes.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·October 1, 2021·4 min readFight or Flight, Unless Internal Clocks Are DisruptedDaily release of glucocorticoids depends on coordination between the clock gene and activity rhythms of neurons within two parts of the hypothalamus.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·September 27, 2021·5 min readWithdrawal From Psychostimulants Restructures Functional Architecture of BrainWithdrawal from psychostimulants including methamphetamines, cocaine, and nicotine, produced restructuring of brain regions and major increases in functional connectivity, a new mouse study reveals.Read More
FeaturedNeurologyNeuroscience·September 8, 2021·2 min readNew Information on the Early Stages of Dementia With Lewy BodiesNew findings reinforce the idea that dementia with Lewy bodies can be pathologically classified as two different and distinct disease types.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·September 2, 2021·3 min readA Connection Between Brain’s Opioid System and Eating BehaviorThe function of the opioid system is connected to eating triggered by external stimuli. The findings could lead to the development of new therapies that target the opioid system to reduce obesity.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·August 30, 2021·5 min readHow a Racing Heart May Alter Decision-Making Brain CircuitsHeightened states of arousal altered neural circuits in a brain area associated with decision making, resulting in some neurons changing from decision making to internal state monitors.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·August 9, 2021·7 min readFight-or-Flight Response Is Altered in Healthy Young People Who Had COVID-19Regardless of symptom severity, otherwise healthy young people diagnosed with COVID-19 develop abnormalities with the system that governs the fight-or-flight response in the sympathetic nervous system.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology·July 29, 2021·5 min readAmygdala Found to Have Role in Important Pre-Attentive Mechanism in the BrainStudy reveals how the amygdala plays a role in prepulse inhibition by activating inhibitory neurons in the brain stem of mice. The findings could have positive implications in the development of treatments for schizophrenia, OCD, and other disorders marked with impaired somatosensory gating.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·July 16, 2021·5 min readHow Micro-Circuits in the Brain Regulate FearThe central amygdala isn't only the hub for fear response in the brain, it also contains microcircuits that regulate the suppression of fear response.Read More
