Tag

Amygdala

All articles tagged with #amygdala

science3 days ago•7 min saved

Amygdala Shifts Between Learning Strategies to Enable Flexible Choices

New Dartmouth-led research reframes the amygdala as a dynamic arbiter that toggles between action-based and stimulus-based learning under uncertainty, promoting flexible decision-making. When the amygdala is damaged, arbitration becomes random and behavior locks into rigid action-based patterns. The findings offer a potential path for treating phobias and anxiety by encouraging action-based exploration over stimulus-driven fear, and pave the way for further studies on how the amygdala coordinates with prefrontal circuits to guide learning.

via Neuroscience News|

#amygdala #arbitration #decision-making

science1 month ago•3 min saved

Reversing Anxiety in Mice by Repairing a Brain Circuit

Researchers discovered that rebalancing activity in a specific amygdala circuit in mice can reverse anxiety and social withdrawal, highlighting a potential target for mental health treatments.

via SciTechDaily|

#amygdala #anxiety #brain-circuits

science3 months ago•2 min saved

New Brain Rebalancing Technique Reverses Anxiety and Depression in Mice

Scientists at the Institute for Neurosciences have discovered that restoring balance to specific neurons in the amygdala can reverse anxiety and social withdrawal behaviors in mice, opening new possibilities for targeted treatments of affective disorders.

via ScienceDaily|

#amygdala #anxiety #brain

health4 months ago•8 min saved

Neuroscientists Uncover New Insights into the Amygdala and PTSD

A study reveals that specific subregions of the amygdala, particularly the basolateral part, show altered connectivity patterns in individuals with PTSD, affecting emotional regulation, sensory processing, and self-awareness, which deepens understanding of the disorder's neural basis.

via PsyPost|

#amygdala #brain-connectivity #health

science5 months ago•8 min saved

The rare condition that eliminates fear sensation

Some rare individuals, like Jordy Cernik and SM, lack the ability to feel fear due to damage or mutation affecting the amygdala, a brain region involved in processing fear, revealing that fear responses are complex and can be specific to external or internal threats, with implications for understanding survival and modern stress.

via BBC|

#amygdala #brain #emotion

science5 months ago•2 min saved

Witnessing Violence Sparks Brain's Aggressive Response

A study shows that observing violence, especially by familiar peers, increases aggression in male mice through amygdala neurons, which can be manipulated to alter aggressive behavior, highlighting social and neural factors in the spread of violence.

via Neuroscience News|

#aggression #amygdala #familiarity

science5 months ago•4 min saved

Humans prioritize avoiding losses over seeking gains in brain activity

Research from the Weizmann Institute reveals that humans explore more aggressively to avoid losses than to seek gains, driven by increased neural noise and firing in the amygdala, which heightens uncertainty and promotes trial-and-error behavior under potential loss conditions.

via Medical Xpress|

#amygdala #exploration-behavior #loss-aversion

science5 months ago•84 min saved

Amygdala-Liver Signaling Regulates Stress-Induced Blood Sugar Changes

The study uncovers a novel amygdala–liver pathway that rapidly regulates blood glucose during stress independently of traditional hormonal systems, involving specific neurons in the medial amygdala projecting to the hypothalamus and liver, which are activated by stress and control hepatic glucose production. Repeated stress disrupts this circuit, linking chronic stress to metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes.

via Nature|

#amygdala #glycaemic-response #metabolic-regulation

neuroscience6 months ago•25 min saved

Amygdala activity influences exploration during aversive learning

The study investigates how rate and noise in the human amygdala influence increased exploration during aversive learning, highlighting neural mechanisms underlying decision-making under threat and uncertainty.

via Nature|

#amygdala #aversive-learning #exploration

science7 months ago•6 min saved

Brain's Role in Recalling Emotions

A study reveals how the amygdala and hippocampus coordinate to encode and retrieve emotional memories, with specific gamma activity patterns in the amygdala shaping hippocampal responses that are later reactivated during recall, providing insights into emotional memory vividness and potential treatments for PTSD.

via Neuroscience News|

#amygdala #emotional-memory #gamma-activity

psychology7 months ago•5 min saved

Four Key Psychological Signs of Ideological Extremism

The article explores four psychological markers—cognitive rigidity, emotional volatility, amygdala size, and prefrontal cortex structure—that correlate with ideological extremism, suggesting that understanding and addressing these factors could help mitigate extremism.

via Big Think|

#amygdala #cognitive-rigidity #emotional-volatility

science8 months ago•6 min saved

Gene Alters Brain Circuits, Increasing Anxiety

Researchers discovered that loss of the autism-linked gene PTEN in specific inhibitory neurons of the amygdala disrupts local brain circuits, leading to increased fear and anxiety behaviors in animal models, without affecting social or repetitive behaviors, providing insights into the neural basis of certain ASD traits.

via Neuroscience News|

#amygdala #anxiety #autism

science8 months ago•5 min saved

Brain's Role in Forming Indirect Associations for Complex Decisions

A study using mice reveals that the brain forms indirect associations between stimuli through the amygdala and other regions, influencing decision-making and potentially informing treatments for disorders like PTSD and psychosis.

via Neuroscience News|

#amygdala #brain #decision-making

science8 months ago•5 min saved

Thyroid Hormones Found Crucial in Fear Memory Formation

A study reveals that thyroid hormones in the brain, particularly in the amygdala, play a crucial role in fear memory formation, with potential implications for treating trauma-related disorders like PTSD. Enhancing or blocking thyroid hormone activity affects fear memory strength, and these effects are linked to specific gene regulation, suggesting new avenues for therapeutic intervention.

via PsyPost|

#amygdala #brain-plasticity #fear-memory

science9 months ago•5 min saved

Neuroscientists Discover Variability in Memory Response to Amygdala Stimulation

A study found that electrical stimulation of the amygdala during learning can enhance long-term memory for neutral images, but the effects vary widely among individuals, influenced by baseline memory performance and brain activity, highlighting the need for personalized neuromodulation strategies.

via PsyPost|

#amygdala #brain-stimulation #individual-differences