The amygdala is a tiny hub of emotions where in 2016 a team led by MIT neuroscientist Kay Tye found specific populations of neurons that assign good or bad feelings, or "valence," to experience. Learning to associate pleasure ...
Jan 23, 2018
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Providing the body with food is essential for survival. But even when full, we can still take pleasure in eating. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried and the Friedrich Miescher Institute ...
Aug 22, 2017
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Research published by scientists at the University of California, Riverside on "fear memory" could lead to the development of therapies that reduce the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
May 15, 2017
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Narcolepsy is a disorder caused by losing orexin neurons, marked by excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy, and sudden weakening of muscle control. Previously, we found two kinds of neurons preventing narcolepsy by receiving ...
May 15, 2017
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Have you ever thought someone was angry at you, but it turned out you were just misreading their facial expression? Caltech researchers have now discovered that one specific region of the brain, called the amygdala, is involved ...
Apr 25, 2017
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When animals hunt or forage for food, they must constantly weigh whether the chance of a meal is worth the risk of being spotted by a predator. The same conflict between cost and benefit is at the heart of many of the decisions ...
Apr 24, 2017
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Erasing unwanted memories is still the stuff of science fiction, but Weizmann Institute scientists have now managed to erase one type of memory in mice. In a study reported in Nature Neuroscience, they succeeded in shutting ...
Apr 10, 2017
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Stress eating is something many people are familiar with, but how the brain links positive reinforcement like food to emotional states like fear or anxiety is not well-understood. The wiring in the mouse brain, however, is ...
Mar 22, 2017
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Scientists have long believed that the central amygdala, a structure located deep within the brain, is linked with fear and responses to unpleasant events.
Mar 22, 2017
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The 20th century has seen an explosion of scientific efforts made to reveal the biological substrates of cognitive functions. Emotions and cognitive processes interact to build up complex behavioural responses and to drive ...
Jan 23, 2017
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