Tag: Psychology Research

The coordination of neural activity across widespread brain networks is essential for human cognition. Researchers have long assumed that oscillations in the brain, commonly measured for research purposes, brain-computer interfacing, and clinical tests, were stationary signals that occurred independently at separate brain regions. Biomedical engineers at Columbia Engineering have discovered a new fundamental feature of

Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have identified a neural circuit in the amygdala, the brain’s seat of emotion processing, that gives rise to anxiety. Their insight has revealed the critical role of a molecule called dynorphin, which could serve as a target for treatment of anxiety-related disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Though

Millions of neurons in the gastrointestinal tract coordinate their activity to generate the muscle contractions that propel waste through the last leg of the digestive system, according to a study of isolated mouse colons published in JNeurosci. The newly identified neuronal firing pattern may represent an early feature preserved through the evolution of nervous systems.

Psychologists at the University of Sussex have found a link between depression and an acceleration of the rate at which the brain ages. Although scientists have previously reported that people with depression or anxiety have an increased risk of dementia in later life, this is the first study that provides comprehensive evidence for the effect

Using male individuals has long been a tradition in scientific mice studies. But new research enforces the importance of using a balanced population of male and female mice. In a paper published May 22 in the journal Cell Reports, scientists studying the locus coeruleus brain structure in mice unexpectedly found substantial differences in the molecular

Whether you learn to play a musical instrument or speak another language, you’re training your brain to be more efficient, suggests a Baycrest study. Researchers found that musicians and people who are bilingual utilized fewer brain resources when completing a working memory task, according to recently published findings in the journal, Annals of the New

Imagine millions of depressed Americans getting their brain activity measured and undergoing blood tests to determine which antidepressant would work best. Imagine some of them receiving “brain training” or magnetic stimulation to make their brains more amenable to those treatments. A national research trial initiated by UT Southwestern in 2012 is generating the first set

Preliminary research using mcDESPOT magnetic resonance imaging shows changes in the myelin content of white matter in the brain following mild traumatic brain injury. Myelin changes are apparent at the time of injury and 3 months afterward. For more details, see the article, “Prospective study of myelin water fraction changes after mild traumatic brain injury

Research published today (Tuesday 1 May) has revealed new clues which might help explain why young people with the most severe forms of antisocial behaviour struggle to control and regulate their emotions, and might be more susceptible to developing anxiety or depression as a result. The study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective

Researchers at the Center for Cognition and Sociality, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), have just published in Neuron about a genetic variant that controls and increases empathy-driven fear in mice. As empathy is evolutionarily conserved from rodents to humans, this finding might contribute to clarify individual variability in neuropsychiatric conditions characterized by empathic