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Strong emotional reactions can trigger adrenaline release that causes goose bumps

When you find yourself in an eerie place or the beat drops just right during a favorite song, the chills start multiplying. You know the feeling. It is a shiver that seems to come from within and makes your hairs stand on end.

16 Dec 2016

New approach to analyzing brain patterns appears to help reduce people’s fear, build confidence

A new technique of analyzing brain patterns appears to help people overcome fear and build self-confidence.

15 Dec 2016

QUT neuroscientist shows how brainpower could be key to mange stress and lose weight

A QUT neuroscientist internationally acclaimed for her research on alcohol and sugar addiction claims brainpower rather than willpower is the key to living healthily.

8 Dec 2016

Rhythm of breathing influences emotional judgments and memory recall

Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered for the first time that the rhythm of breathing creates electrical activity in the human brain that enhances emotional judgments and memory recall.

6 Dec 2016

Study using Cubresa SPECT scanner finds potential non-invasive diagnosis for Alzheimer’s

Cubresa’s SPECT scanner was used to determine if a novel molecular label, TRV6001, in development for in vivo imaging of the BChE enzyme present in the brains of Alzheimer’s Disease patients follows the known distribution of the enzyme in animal models of the disease.

From Cubresa Inc. 28 Nov 2016

Messenger substance may help in future treatment of anxiety disorders

The targeted control of biochemical processes and neuronal signalling pathways using the messenger substance neuropeptide Y could help in the future treatment of anxiety disorders.

22 Nov 2016

TSRI scientists uncover clues to abnormal brain connections in autism

Autism is an agonizing puzzle, a complex mixture of genetic and environmental factors. One piece of this puzzle that has emerged in recent years is a biochemical cascade called the mTOR pathway that regulates growth in the developing brain.

15 Nov 2016

Neuroimaging markers may help predict psychotherapy response in patients with depression, anxiety

Brain imaging scans may one day provide useful information on the response to psychotherapy in patients with depression or anxiety, according to a review of current research in the November/December issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry, published by Wolters Kluwer.

10 Nov 2016

Bone gene in mammals may take additional role to promote cognition in humans

A gene that regulates bone growth and muscle metabolism in mammals may take on an additional role as a promoter of brain maturation, cognition and learning in human and nonhuman prim ates, according to a new study led by neurobiologists at Harvard Medical School.

9 Nov 2016

Novel approach to analyzing brain structures may help predict progression of Alzheimer's disease

Use of a novel approach to analyzing brain structure that focuses on the shape rather than the size of particular features may allow identification of individuals in early presymptomatic stages of Alzheimer's disease.

26 Oct 2016

Brain atrophy patterns linked to loss of specific cognitive abilities in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Mathematical modeling of the brain scans of patients with Alzheimer's disease and others at risk for the devastating neurodegenerative disorder has identified specific patterns of brain atrophy that appear to be related to the loss of particular cognitive abilities.

8 Oct 2016

People with PTSD appear to suffer from disrupted context processing, say researchers

For decades, neuroscientists and physicians have tried to get to the bottom of the age-old mystery of post-traumatic stress disorder, to explain why only some people are vulnerable and why they experience so many symptoms and so much disability.

7 Oct 2016

BIDMC scientists shed light on how hunger affects the brain’s response to visual food cues

Our brain pays more attention to food when we are hungry than when we are sated. Now a team of scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has shed light on how the needs of the body affect the way the brain processes visual food cues.

15 Sep 2016

Learning to downregulate amygdala activity could help gain control of emotional responses

Training the brain to treat itself is a promising therapy for traumatic stress. The training uses an auditory or visual signal that corresponds to the activity of a particular brain region, called neurofeedback, which can guide people to regulate their own brain activity.

12 Sep 2016

New mouse model helps identify potential drug target for hard-to-treat social aspects of ASD

A study of a new mouse model identifies a drug target that has the potential to increase social interaction in individuals with some forms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The team published their work in Biological Psychiatry.

9 Sep 2016

TSRI researchers find way to switch off urge for compulsive drinking in rat models

There may be a way to switch off the urge for compulsive drinking, according to a new study in animal models led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute.

6 Sep 2016

Research provides insight into link between chronic pain and anxiety

New research provides insight into a long-observed, but little-understood connection between chronic pain and anxiety and offers a potential target for treatment.

31 Aug 2016

Novel PET radiotracer reveals epigenetic activity in the human brain for the first time

A novel PET radiotracer developed at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital is able for the first time to reveal epigenetic activity - the process that determines whether or not genes are expressed - within the human brain.

11 Aug 2016

New study suggests increased levels of hypocretin in the brain may play role in cocaine addiction

A new study from scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, suggests that increased levels of a molecule in the brain, called hypocretin, may contribute to cocaine addiction.

10 Aug 2016

New technology allows researchers to temporarily shut down brain area to better understand function

Capitalizing on experimental genetic techniques, researchers at the California National Primate Research Center, or CNPRC, at the University of California, Davis, have demonstrated that temporarily turning off an area of the brain changes patterns of activity across much of the remaining brain.

22 Jul 2016