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thalamus

·September 27, 2021·5 min read

Withdrawal From Psychostimulants Restructures Functional Architecture of Brain

Withdrawal from psychostimulants including methamphetamines, cocaine, and nicotine, produced restructuring of brain regions and major increases in functional connectivity, a new mouse study reveals.

This shows a little boy looking through a fence

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 9, 2021·5 min read

Poverty Associated With Smaller, Slower Growing Subcortical Regions in Children

A study spanning 17 years has found children born and raised in poverty had smaller subcortical brain regions, including the hippocampus, caudate, putamen, and thalamus. These brain areas also showed less growth over time.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Psychology

·July 30, 2021·4 min read

New Findings on Thalamus Could Drive Treatments for Schizophrenia and Other Disorders

Findings reveal how individual neurons in the thalamus can merge signals coming from different regions of the cortex. The findings could lead to new treatment options for schizophrenia, epilepsy, and other brain disorders where thalamus dysfunction is related to clinical symptoms.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·July 5, 2021·6 min read

Common Mechanism Underlies Some Behavioral Traits Seen in Autism and Schizophrenia

Certain genes that are mutated or missing in those with schizophrenia and autism cause similar dysfunction in neural networks within the thalamus.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 27, 2021·5 min read

Anesthesia Doesn’t Simply Turn Off the Brain, It Changes Its Rhythms

Propofol, the commonly used anesthetic, alters and controls the dynamics of the brain's rhythms. The findings can help doctors better monitor patients under anesthesia with the aid of EEG.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 28, 2020·3 min read

The Brain Network Driving Changes in Consciousness

A brain network consisting of the thalamus, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, and angular gyri was implicated in the loss, and return, of consciousness under both anesthetic and natural sleep.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·October 15, 2020·3 min read

Automatic Decision-Making Prevents Us Harming Others

People make automatic and efficient decisions when learning to avoid others. When learning to avoid harming themselves, people make become more deliberative. The study also found people were more willing to repeat decisions that were previously harmful to themselves if they believed better results would occur in the future.

Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience

·September 29, 2020·5 min read

A Revised Map of Where Working Memory Resides in the Brain

Working memory isn't confined to one area of the brain. It requires synchronous activity of at least two brain areas.

This shows the location of the ventromedia thalamus in a mouse brain

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·September 18, 2020·5 min read

Mapping the Decision-Making Pathways in the Brain

Results from a new study implicate the ventromedial thalamus in cost-benefit decision making.

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Electrophysiology Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·September 16, 2020·6 min read

Brain Circuitry Underlying Dissociative Experiences Identified

Researchers have identified a key neural circuit that plays a role in dissociation, a phenomenon in which people can feel disconnected from their bodies and reality.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 31, 2020·4 min read

Researchers Discover a Specific Brain Circuit Damaged by Social Isolation During Childhood

Social isolation experienced during childhood has an impact on adult brain function and behavior. Following two weeks of social isolation immediately following weaning in male mice, researchers noticed a failure in activation of medial prefrontal cortex neurons projecting to the posterior paraventricular thalamus during social exposure in adulthood. Findings suggest medial prefrontal cortex neurons required for sociability are profoundly affected by social isolation at a young age.

This shows the neurons mapped in the TRN

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·July 22, 2020·6 min read

Mapping the Brain’s Sensory Gatekeeper

Mapping the thalamic reticular nucleus, researchers have identified two distinct subnetworks of neurons with different functions. Findings offer insight into more specific targets for therapeutics to alleviate some sensory, sleep, and attention symptoms associated with ASD and other disorders characterized by sensory hypersensitivity.