Neuroscience

Neuroscientists identify role of basolateral amygdala neurons

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is a region of the brain that has been almost exclusively studied in the context of fear and emotion. Only recently have researchers begun to question whether the BLA may play a larger, overarching ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Stressed, anxious? Ask the brain

Our actions are driven by "internal states" such as anxiety, stress or thirst—which will strongly affect and motivate our behaviors. Not much is known about how such states are represented by complex brain-wide circuits, ...

Neuroscience

Brain region mediates pleasure of eating

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 ...

Neuroscience

Scientists hunt for neurons responsible for alcohol withdrawal

When a heavy alcohol drinker tries to take a night off, their body protests with shaky hands, heart palpitations, anxiety and headaches. These acute symptoms of alcohol withdrawal—but even more so the enduring emotional ...

Neuroscience

Mood neurons mature during adolescence

Researchers have discovered a mysterious group of neurons in the amygdala—a key center for emotional processing in the brain—that stay in an immature, prenatal developmental state throughout childhood. Most of these cells ...

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