Amygdala News and Research

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Mind over body: A psychiatrist tells how to tap into wisdom and grow with age

We've all seen it happen: An older friend or family member retires, is diagnosed with a serious illness or loses a spouse. Suddenly, this individual's world is altered, sometimes seemingly beyond recognition. He has reached a fork in the road; will he get stuck or find a way to regroup and move on?

8 Mar 2018

People with MDD feel more negative emotion when remembering painful experiences

People with major depressive disorder (MDD) feel more negative emotion when remembering painful experiences than people without the disorder, according to a new study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. The study reports that people with MDD were able to control the negative emotions about as well as people unaffected by MDD, but used somewhat different brain circuits to do so.

6 Mar 2018

Researcher makes breakthrough discovery in process of fear relapse

Steve Maren, the Claude H. Everett Jr. '47 Chair of Liberal Arts professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University, and his Emotion and Memory Systems Laboratory have made a breakthrough discovery in the process of fear relapse.

14 Feb 2018

Neuroscientists identify 'anxiety cells' in the brain's hippocampus

Do your palms sweat when you walk down a poorly lit street at night? That feeling may be traced to the firing of newly identified "anxiety" cells deep inside your brain, according to new research from neuroscientists at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

31 Jan 2018

Curcumin could provide meaningful cognitive benefits, study suggests

Lovers of Indian food, give yourselves a second helping: Daily consumption of a certain form of curcumin -- the substance that gives Indian curry its bright color -- improved memory and mood in people with mild, age-related memory loss, according to the results of a study conducted by UCLA researchers.

23 Jan 2018

Magic mushrooms substance Psilocybin on trial for treatment of depression

There are ongoing studies that look at the effect of hallucinogenic psychedelic substance Psilocybin or “magic mushrooms” in the treatment of depression.

9 Jan 2018

Optogenetics research sheds new light on social-spatial learning

Ilana Witten didn't set out to study spatial learning. She thought she was investigating how mice socialize--but she discovered that in mouse brains, the social and the spatial are inextricably linked.

8 Dec 2017

Advanced studies offer insight into neural mechanisms behind social behaviors

Humans, primates, and many other animals are innately social, spending much of their lifetimes in the presence of other individuals, but little is known about the neural mechanisms that generate social behaviors.

13 Nov 2017

Research examines effects and potential paths toward treatment of military-related brain disorders

Military service exposes soldiers to a unique set of physical challenges, including toxic chemicals and traumatic brain injury, which can have profound effects on their health and well-being.

13 Nov 2017

Tiny microscopes give researchers a peek into neural circuitry of social behavior

Tiny microscopes mounted on mice's heads have given researchers a peek into the neural circuitry of social behavior.

1 Nov 2017

Study shows effects of prenatal BPA exposure at low levels in developing rodent brain

New research from North Carolina State University reveals that prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) at levels below those currently considered safe for humans affects gene expression related to sexual differentiation and neurodevelopment in the developing rat brain.

31 Oct 2017

Magic mushrooms chemical Psilocybin for treatment of hard-to treat depression

A new study from UK has found efficacy of psilocybin – a chemical found in “magic mushrooms”, in severe depression. The study involved 19 patients with severe depression. The patients took the psilocybin and around half of them improved and reported maintained improvement after 5 weeks of therapy. The patients however also received psychological care along with the treatment.

16 Oct 2017

Magic mushrooms may effectively reset activity of brain circuits involved in depression

Patients taking psilocybin to treat depression show reduced symptoms weeks after treatment following a 'reset' of their brain activity.

13 Oct 2017

Long-lasting effects of traumatic childhood experiences may be due to impaired neural connections

Researchers from the McGill Group for Suicide Studies, based at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and McGill University’s Department of Psychiatry, have just published research in the American Journal of Psychiatry that suggests that the long-lasting effects of traumatic childhood experiences, like severe abuse, may be due to an impaired structure and functioning of cells in the anterior cingulate cortex.

25 Sep 2017

New tool can provide reliable, valid assessment of individual's wisdom level

Researchers at University of San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new tool called the San Diego Wisdom Scale to assess an individual's level of wisdom, based upon a conceptualization of wisdom as a trait with a neurobiological as well as psychosocial basis.

20 Sep 2017

Treatments for anxiety disorders likely to prove efficacious in ASD

A new study in Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging reports that anxiety occurring in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) shares similar brain mechanisms as anxiety alone.

30 Aug 2017

Imaging study identifies brain structural changes linked to physical, mental health in FND patients

An imaging study by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators has identified differences in key brain structures of individuals whose physical or mental health has been most seriously impaired by a common but poorly understood condition called functional neurological disorder (FND).

28 Aug 2017

Increased inflammatory markers during pregnancy can lead to changes in fetal brain development

Researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin in collaboration with colleagues from the University of California Irvine, Oregon Health and Science University and the University of North Carolina in the USA have shown that increased levels of inflammatory markers during pregnancy can lead to changes in fetal brain development which, in turn, may increase the child's risk of developing psychiatric disorders.

9 Aug 2017

Adding estrogen in the brain may improve health in obese menopausal women

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that adding estrogen in the brain may improve health in obese females after menopause.

18 Jul 2017

Mutations arising after conception may play vital role in autism

A study of nearly 6,000 families, combining three genetic sequencing technologies, finds that mutations that occur after conception play an important role in autism.

17 Jul 2017