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midbrain

This is a cross section of a mouse brain

·April 5, 2023·4 min read

Danger or Pleasure? How We Learn to Tell the Difference

Scientists have discovered that somatostatin-expressing neurons in the amygdala help distinguish between good and bad stimuli, responding differently to rewards versus punishments and even different types of rewards. Inhibiting these neurons in mice resulted in an inability to learn to associate sounds with rewards or punishments, providing potential insight into addiction and opportunities for new treatments.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·October 24, 2022·4 min read

Stress Link in the Brain Confirmed

Study confirms a neural circuit that links the caudal medial prefrontal cortex to the midbrain dorsolateral periaqueductal gray which governs stress response.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Visual Neuroscience

·September 12, 2022·7 min read

How Visual Information Travels From the Retina to the Midbrain

Neurons in the midbrain receive strong, specific synaptic input from retinal ganglion cells, but only from a small number of the sensory neurons.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·April 3, 2022·4 min read

Midbrain Projection to the Basolateral Amygdala Encodes Anxiety-Like Behaviors

A ventral tegmental area dopamine neuron circuit that projects to the basolateral amygdala selectively controls anxiety-like behaviors, but not depression-like behaviors.

This is a cartoon of a mouse in a car, stopped at a red light

Featured Neuroscience

·March 14, 2022·5 min read

Ready, Set…Go! Brain Circuit That Triggers the Execution of Planned Movement Discovered

Researchers have identified a neural circuit that helps suppress the execution of planned actions in response to specific cues.

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·March 20, 2021·3 min read

Shifting Rewards Are Encoded Using Special Neuronal Patterns

Dopamine neurons in the midbrain become active in a previously undetected way when an animal considers a reward that is changing in value.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Pain

·March 18, 2021·4 min read

Parsing Dopamine’s Different Pain Sensitivity Role in Males and Females

Focusing attention on a neural pathway starting at the periaqueductal grey region of the midbrain, researchers made a novel discovery about how dopamine generates different pain responses in male and female mice. Findings indicate dopamine may reduce pain sensitivity in males, whereas, in females, dopamine helps focus attention elsewhere in the presence of pain.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 23, 2020·4 min read

A rat had basically no brain, but it could still see, hear, smell, and feel

Rat R222 was born with hydrocephalus. Neuroimaging revealed most of its brain had compressed and collapsed as it filled with fluid. However, despite its condition, the animal was still able to see, hear, smell, and feel like other animals. The study sheds new light on neuroplasticity, and the findings could have implications for the development of new machine learning technologies.

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·August 7, 2019·6 min read

Routine hits playing football cause damage to the brain

Sustained hits following one season of playing football are enough to cause structural alterations to the brain. When players sustain a concussion, structural brain integrity decreases, and levels of tau increase. Researchers say, while concussions are a prime concern for those who play football, sustained hits also pose a threat to neurological health.

Featured Neuroscience

·July 22, 2019·2 min read

Hypothalamus pathway drives defense behaviors

A newly discovered pathway that links the hypothalamus and midbrain drives innate defense behaviors. The findings could have implications for developing therapies for anxiety disorders.

This shows a mouse and a diagram of a mouse brain

Featured Neuroscience

·July 4, 2019·5 min read

Unraveling the brain’s reward circuits

Study reveals how ArGP and dopamine neurons are linked, and how food and drugs affect them differently. The findings offer clues for the development of new treatments for obesity and substance use disorders.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·June 12, 2019·3 min read

Learning fine motor coordination changes the brain

Study identifies a population of neurons in an area of the midbrain, called the red nucleus, that alter when fine motor skills are learned. The more an action is practiced, the stronger the connections between these neurons become.

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midbrain

Danger or Pleasure? How We Learn to Tell the Difference

Stress Link in the Brain Confirmed

How Visual Information Travels From the Retina to the Midbrain

Midbrain Projection to the Basolateral Amygdala Encodes Anxiety-Like Behaviors

Ready, Set…Go! Brain Circuit That Triggers the Execution of Planned Movement Discovered

Shifting Rewards Are Encoded Using Special Neuronal Patterns

Parsing Dopamine’s Different Pain Sensitivity Role in Males and Females

A rat had basically no brain, but it could still see, hear, smell, and feel

Routine hits playing football cause damage to the brain

Hypothalamus pathway drives defense behaviors

Unraveling the brain’s reward circuits

Learning fine motor coordination changes the brain

Smarter Minds Predict Better: IQ Linked to Sharper Life Forecasting

Brain Structure Differences Linked to Antisocial Traits in Psychopathy

Short Naps Linked to “Aha” Moments and Creative Insight

Robotic Heart Transplant Marks Surgical Breakthrough

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