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, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

How coming home changes a soldier's brain

Soldiers returning from combat have heightened activity in the part of the brain that regulates fear but this usually normalises after around 18 months, a study has found.

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 ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Neuroimaging may aid in predicting PTSD following trauma

A recent study conducted by Emory University researchers finds that amygdala reactivity may help predict who will have PTSD in the year following a trauma. The amygdala is the area in the brain that processes emotion, aggression ...

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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