Psychology & Psychiatry

Happiness and the evolution of brain size

During human evolution, the size of the brain increased, especially in a particular part called the neocortex. The neocortex enables us to speak, dream and think. In search of the causes underlying neocortex expansion, researchers ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Antidepressants may reduce anxiety more than depressive symptoms

One of the most common antidepressants, sertraline, leads to an early reduction in anxiety symptoms, commonly found in depression, several weeks before any improvement in depressive symptoms, a UCL-led clinical trial has ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

New study throws into question long-held belief about depression

New evidence puts into doubt the long-standing belief that a deficiency in serotonin—a chemical messenger in the brain—plays a central role in depression. In the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, scientists report that ...

Neuroscience

A new map of the brain's serotonin system

As Liqun Luo was writing his introductory textbook on neuroscience in 2012, he found himself in a quandary. He needed to include a section about a vital system in the brain controlled by the chemical messenger serotonin, ...

Neuroscience

Settling the debate on serotonin's role in sleep

Serotonin is a multipurpose molecule found throughout the brain, playing a role in memory, cognition, and feelings of happiness and other emotions. In particular, researchers have long debated serotonin's role in sleep: Does ...

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