Amygdala News and Research

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Researchers analyze how brains of doers differ from those of procrastinators

Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have analyzed why certain people tend to put tasks off rather than tackling them directly.

22 Aug 2018

Maternal stress increases anxious and depressive-like behaviors in female offspring

High maternal levels of the stress hormone cortisol during pregnancy increase anxious and depressive-like behaviors in female offspring at the age of 2, reports a new study in Biological Psychiatry.

16 Aug 2018

Scientists identify key neurobiological mechanisms that control aggression

A number of psychiatric disorders present with aggression and violence, which, needless to say, are destructive to both individuals and societies worldwide: death, disease, disability, and numerous socioeconomic problems can often be traced back to aggressive behavior.

9 Aug 2018

Research provides better understanding of mechanisms underlying memory storage

Memories are formed through long-term changes in synaptic efficacy, a process known as synaptic plasticity, and are stored in the brain in specific neuronal ensembles called engram cells, which are activated during corresponding events.

16 Jul 2018

Targeting multiple proteins may be key to treat neurodegenerative disorders

Nearly all major neurodegenerative diseases - from Alzheimer's to Parkinson's - are defined and diagnosed by the presence of one of four proteins that have gone rogue: tau, amyloid-beta, alpha-synuclein, or TDP-43.

6 Jul 2018

Psychedelics and their role in treatment of mental health disorders

Psychedelics such as LSD, magic mushrooms, mescaline etc. have garnered renewed interest in the scientific world because of the possible role they could play in mental health problems. Ketamine remains the only hallucinogen at present that is used clinically as an anesthetic agent. The others are all classified under banned drugs.

2 Jul 2018

Study links molecular changes in the brain to key behaviors in addiction

Changes in a brain signaling system contribute to the development of alcohol addiction-like behaviors in rats, according to a new study led by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden.

25 Jun 2018

Adolescents who consume high-saturated fat diet may have harder time coping with stress as adults

A new study published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity shows that adolescent rats who consume a diet high in saturated fats have a harder time coping with stress as adults.

13 Jun 2018

Scientists identify neural circuit that gives rise to anxiety

Neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have identified a neural circuit in the amygdala, the brain's seat of emotion processing, that gives rise to anxiety.

29 May 2018

Compassion meditation training may increase brain’s resilience to suffering of other people

It can be distressing to witness the pain of family, friends or even strangers going through a hard time. But what if, just like strengthening a muscle or learning a new hobby, we could train ourselves to be more compassionate and calm in the face of others' suffering?

23 May 2018

Researchers to explore how to prevent stress-related chronic pain conditions

More than 50 million people in the United States suffer from pain in the absence of injury. This includes patients with migraines, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and many other disorders.

15 May 2018

Study uncovers new circuit that fine tunes brain's decision to hide or confront threats

In a study of mice, National Institutes of Health-funded researchers describe a new circuit involved in fine-tuning the brain's decision either to hide or confront threats.

11 May 2018

Scientific understanding of PSTD points to new treatment and prevention strategies

Recent advances in scientific understanding of how posttraumatic stress disorder develops and persists may lead to more effective treatment and even prevention of this debilitating disorder, according to the May/June special issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry, published by Wolters Kluwer.

10 May 2018

New study reveals potential for better diagnosis and treatment of TBI patients

Patients who've suffered from traumatic brain injuries have changes in tiny blood vessels in their brains that researchers believe are linked to a range of cognitive symptoms, according to new findings presented at the 2018 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

30 Apr 2018

PET imaging agent may help predict effectiveness of depression treatment

A positron emission tomography imaging agent could show, ahead of time, whether a specific treatment is likely to be effective for major depressive disorder--a debilitating condition that affects more than 14 million Americans.

6 Apr 2018

Largest-ever study to examine anatomical alterations in the brains of epilepsy patients

An international research consortium used neuroimaging techniques to analyze the brains of more than 3,800 volunteers in different countries. The largest study of its kind ever conducted set out to investigate anatomical similarities and differences in the brains of individuals with different types of epilepsy and to seek markers that could help with prognosis and treatment.

4 Apr 2018

Mother's stress during pregnancy changes brain connectivity in-utero

The time babies spend in the womb is far from idle. The brain is changing more rapidly during this time than at any other time in development. It is an active time for the fetus to grow and explore, and of course connect to its mother.

26 Mar 2018

Maternal obesity and androgen excess induce sex-specific anxiety in offspring, study suggests

Maternal obesity and androgen excess induce sex-specific anxiety in the offspring, according to a study on mice by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in The FASEB Journal.

22 Mar 2018

Study highlights divergent molecular mechanisms contributing to depression in men and women

Men and women with major depressive disorder have opposite changes in the expression of the same genes, according to a new postmortem brain study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.

14 Mar 2018

Suppressing emotions appears to reduce negative memories

By peering at the brains of study subjects prompted to suppress negative emotions, scientists have gained new insights into how emotional regulation influences negative feelings and memories. The researchers hope the findings will lead to new methods to combat depression.

13 Mar 2018