Amygdala News and Research

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Dreams can help us react better to frightening situations

Do bad dreams serve a real purpose? To answer this question, researchers from the University of Geneva and University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland, - working in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin (USA) - analyzed the dreams of a number of people and identified which areas of the brain were activated when they experienced fear in their dreams.

25 Nov 2019

Fetuses may be able to see more than previously believed

By the second trimester, long before a baby's eyes can see images, they can detect light.

25 Nov 2019

Teenage binge drinking may lead to anxiety and alcohol abuse in later life

Exposure to high levels of alcohol in adolescence may shape adult behaviors, predisposing them to a higher risk of anxiety and alcohol abuse later in life, a new study found.

19 Nov 2019

Teenage drinking increases risk of anxiety and alcohol problems in adulthood

A recent study suggests that teenage drinking may predispose a person to anxiety and alcohol abuse in later life.

18 Nov 2019

Musical pleasure linked to right combination of uncertainty and surprise

Why is it that people find songs such as James Taylor's "Country Roads," UB40's "Red, Red Wine," or The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" so irresistibly enjoyable? In a study reported in the journal Current Biology on November 7, researchers analyze 80,000 chords in 745 classic U.S. Billboard pop songs--including those three--and find that musical pleasure comes from the right combination of uncertainty and surprise.

8 Nov 2019

UCLA team finds that the brain processes fear differently after traumatic brain injury

Post-traumatic stress disorder in U.S. military members frequently follows a concussion-like brain injury. Until now, it has been unclear why. A UCLA team of psychologists and neurologists reports that a traumatic brain injury causes changes in a brain region called the amygdala; and the brain processes fear differently after such an injury.

4 Nov 2019

Shared abnormalities found in brain's control circuit of patients with mood, anxiety disorders

New research published today in JAMA Psychiatry shows for the first time that patients with mood and anxiety disorders share the same abnormalities in regions of the brain involved in emotional and cognitive control.

30 Oct 2019

Diabetes drug abolishes characteristic signs of nicotine withdrawal in mice

A drug commonly used to treat Type II diabetes abolishes the characteristic signs of nicotine withdrawal in rats and mice, according to new research published in JNeurosci. The finding may offer an important new strategy in the battle to quit smoking.

From Society for Neuroscience 30 Oct 2019

Link found between genetic variations and size of the brainstem, other subcortical structures

Researchers have found a link between 48 common genetic variations and the size of the brainstem and other subcortical structures deep within the brain.

21 Oct 2019

Sex-differences in brain development linked with psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders

The amygdala and the hippocampus--structures in the brain that are involved in emotion, learning, and memory--have been found to play a role in a diverse range of disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.

3 Oct 2019

WVU researcher explores the brain in a new way to better understand cognition

Where is Waldo? Whether we're searching for Waldo or our keys in a room of clutter, we tap into a part of the frontal region of the brain when performing visual, goal-related tasks. Some of us do it well, whereas for others it's a bit challenging.

1 Oct 2019

Neuroscientists analyze why the brain is disturbed by harsh sounds

Why do the harsh sounds emitted by alarms or human shrieks grab our attention? What is going on in the brain when it detects these frequencies?

20 Sep 2019

Fight or flight response may originate in our bones

A new study suggests that the main coordinator of the body’s fight-or-flight response is a hormone called osteocalcin, which is secreted by bone.

13 Sep 2019

Researchers identify mechanism responsible for spatial issues in people with Down syndrome

Researchers reveal that an imbalance of gene Grik1 is behind the spatial issues that people with Down syndrome experience.

11 Sep 2019

Scientists discover brain areas for understanding metaphors in healthy and schizophrenic people

Scientists have used MRI scanners to discover the parts of the brain which understand metaphors, in both healthy volunteers and people with schizophrenia.

8 Sep 2019

Inflammation in the gut and brain may exacerbate symptoms linked with opioid withdrawal

Opioid dependence has become a national crisis with serious impact on economic and social welfare, and numerous casualties.

29 Aug 2019

Mindfulness can enhance academic performance and mental health in middle schoolers

Two new studies from MIT suggest that mindfulness -- the practice of focusing one's awareness on the present moment -- can enhance academic performance and mental health in middle schoolers.

26 Aug 2019

Research explains why many psychiatric drugs that work in the lab don’t work in people

Current drug development for neuropsychiatric disorders is in crisis, say experts. More than 90 percent of all drugs that are developed for illnesses like schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), or the brain tumor glioblastoma complete successful trials in mice but then come to a grinding halt in human trials, wasting billions of dollars in drug research. This is partly because of obvious behavioral differences between the two species.

22 Aug 2019

MDMA, or ecstasy, shows promise as a PTSD treatment

The first time Lori Tipton tried MDMA, she was skeptical it would make a difference.

21 Aug 2019

Stress inhibits eating behavior

Many human beings can’t swallow a thing when faced with significant stress, among other strong emotional states. However, scientists don’t know much about how the brain brings about these emotion-related effects on eating behavior.

19 Aug 2019