Amygdala News and Research

RSS

Brain profiling tool to detect at-risk combat soldiers

According to a recent Washington Post study, approximately 20% of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are psychologically damaged. Among them are a substantial number with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the high rate of suicide among PTSD sufferers has become unacceptable to Army commanders and the soldiers' families.

3 Sep 2009

Caltech neuroscientists emphasize on the neural mechanisms involved in social behaviour

In a finding that sheds new light on the neural mechanisms involved in social behavior, neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have pinpointed the brain structure responsible for our sense of personal space.

30 Aug 2009

Alcoholics display abnormal brain activity when processing facial expressions

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found that individuals who have a long history of alcoholism, but who have been abstinent for at least a month up to many years, showed abnormal brain activity when looking at facial expressions of others.

12 Aug 2009

Traditional Chinese acupuncture affects the brain's long-term ability to regulate pain

Acupuncture has been used in East-Asian medicine for thousands of years to treat pain, possibly by activating the body's natural painkillers. But how it works at the cellular level is largely unknown.

10 Aug 2009

Biological explanation for psychopathy

Professor Declan Murphy and colleagues Dr Michael Craig and Dr Marco Catani from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London have found differences in the brain which may provide a biological explanation for psychopathy. The results of their study are outlined in the paper 'Altered connections on the road to psychopathy', published in Molecular Psychiatry.

4 Aug 2009

Neuroscientists locate where fear is stored in the brain

Fear is a powerful emotion and neuroscientists have for the first time located the neurons responsible for fear conditioning in the mammalian brain. Fear conditioning is a form of Pavlovian, or associative, learning and is considered to be a model system for understanding human phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders.

6 Jul 2009

Toddlers with autism more likely to have an enlarged amygdala

Toddlers with autism appear more likely to have an enlarged amygdala, a brain area associated with numerous functions, including the processing of faces and emotion, according to a report in the May issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

4 May 2009

New target for the treatment of depression

An acid-sensitive protein in the brain may represent a new target for the treatment of depression, according to animal research in the April 29 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

30 Apr 2009

Eating fat-rich foods trigger long-term memory formation

Having strong memories of that rich, delicious dessert you ate last night?

30 Apr 2009

Brain scan-assisted diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder a step closer to reality

Florence, Italy: Preliminary research examining the difference in brain activity between soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and those without it moves scientists a step closer to the possibility of being able one day to use brain scans to help diagnose the condition.

6 Apr 2009

Mother's criticism causes distinctive neural activity among formerly depressed

Formerly depressed women show patterns of brain activity when they are criticized by their mothers that are distinctly different from the patterns shown by never depressed controls, according to a new study from Harvard University.

1 Apr 2009

Gulf War veterans display abnormal brain response to specific chemicals

A new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers is the first to pinpoint damage inside the brains of veterans suffering from Gulf War syndrome - a finding that links the illness to chemical exposures and may lead to diagnostic tests and treatments.

22 Mar 2009

Heightened level of amygdala activity may cause social deficits in autism

Something strange is going on in the amygdala - an almond-shaped structure deep in the human brain - among people with autism.

20 Mar 2009

New perspective on what part of the brain controls fear

Mice lose their fear of territorial rivals when a tiny piece of their brain is neutralized, a new study reports.

10 Mar 2009

Scientists identify the neural circuitry of first impressions

Neuroscientists at New York University and Harvard University have identified the neural systems involved in forming first impressions of others.

8 Mar 2009

New insights into addiction

A new comprehensive review by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), McGill University and the University of Cambridge, England provides vital insights into the neurological basis of addiction by investigating Parkinson's disease patients, who in some instances develop various addictions when undergoing medical treatment.

25 Feb 2009