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Category: neuroscience – Page 151

Study uncovers developmentally distinct neural architectures controlling avoidant behaviors

Over the course of their lives, humans and other animals typically learn to avoid situations and stimuli that are dangerous or are perceived as threatening. Past neuroscience studies have gathered evidence suggesting that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a brain region that plays a key role in learning and decision-making, also contributes to these learned threat responses.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) recently carried out a study aimed at better understanding how the gradual strengthening of neural connections during the brain’s development influences changes in the threat responses of mice.

Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, revealed that there are critical transitions during that alter how the mPFC interacts with the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and basolateral amygdala (BLA), two brain regions involved in threat-based and emotional learning.

I tweet, therefore I am: a systematic review on social media use and disorders of the social brain

With rapid technological advances, social media has become an everyday form of human social interactions. For the first time in evolutionary history, people can now interact in virtual spaces where temporal, spatial, and embodied cues are decoupled from one another. What implications do these recent changes have for socio-cognitive phenotypes and mental disorders? We have conducted a systematic review on the relationships between social media use and mental disorders involving the social brain. The main findings indicate evidence of increased social media usage in individuals with psychotic spectrum phenotypes and especially among individuals with disorders characterized by alterations in the basic self, most notably narcissism, body dysmorphism, and eating disorders.

Two brain areas compete for control of memories, optogenetics study shows

Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, have studied the impact of two brain areas on the nature of memory content. The team from the Department of Neurophysiology showed in rats how the so-called locus coeruleus and the ventral tegmental area permanently alter brain activity in the hippocampus region, which is crucial for the formation of memory.

The two areas compete with each other for influence to determine, for example, in what way emotionally charged and meaningful experiences are stored. Dr. Hardy Hagena and Professor Denise Manahan-Vaughan conducted the study using optogenetics. In the process, they genetically modified rats so that certain nerve cells could be activated or deactivated with light.

They published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Photoacoustic imaging reveals new insights into how the brain learns new information

Wayne State University researchers are using photoacoustic imaging to observe brain activity and, in the process, discovering more about how it responds to different types of learning and experiences.

The team’s findings were recently published in the journal Photoacoustics.

The study, “Use of pattern recognition in to identify neuronal ensembles in the prefrontal cortex of rats undergoing conditioned fear learning,” stemmed from a project by Wayne State University School of Medicine alumnus, James Matchynski, M.D., Ph.D., and was led by School of Medicine faculty members Shane Perrine, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, and Alana Conti, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and and director of the Translational Neuroscience Program. The team collaborated with colleagues in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Model uses quantum mechanics to show how the brain makes decisions more quickly than computers in risky situations

In research inspired by the principles of quantum mechanics, researchers from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the University of Oxford reveal new findings to understand why the human brain is able to make decisions quicker than the world’s most powerful computer in the face of a critical risk situation. The human brain has this capacity despite the fact that neurons are much slower at transmitting information than microchips, which raises numerous unknown factors in the field of neuroscience.

The research is published in the journal Physical Review E.

It should be borne in mind that in many other circumstances, the human brain is not quicker than technological devices. For example, a computer or calculator can resolve mathematical operations far faster than a person. So, why is it that in critical situations—for example, when having to make an urgent decision at the wheel of a car—the human brain can surpass machines?

Social Media Linked to Increased Risk of Delusion-Based Disorders

Summary: New research indicates a strong link between high social media use and psychiatric disorders involving delusions, such as narcissism and body dysmorphia. Conditions like narcissistic personality disorder, anorexia, and body dysmorphic disorder thrive on social platforms, allowing users to build and maintain distorted self-perceptions without real-world checks.

The study highlights how virtual environments enable users to escape social scrutiny, intensifying delusional self-images and potentially exacerbating existing mental health issues. Researchers emphasize that social media isn’t inherently harmful, but immersive virtual environments coupled with real-life isolation can significantly amplify unhealthy mental states.

Poor Sleep Linked to Brain’s Waste-Removal Breakdown

Summary: A new study reveals that poor sleep in older adults disrupts the brain’s glymphatic system, responsible for clearing harmful waste and toxins. Researchers found that compromised sleep quality leads to dysfunction in this crucial system, potentially increasing risks for memory decline and cognitive impairments.

Using advanced brain imaging in 72 older adults, the research highlighted that poor sleep negatively impacts connections within brain networks linked to memory performance. These insights emphasize the importance of maintaining good sleep hygiene to support brain health and healthy aging.

Regaining mobility quickly after a stroke

Twenty-four stroke patients have already used the complete system, consisting of an exoskeleton for the arm and shoulder in combination with FES as part of the ReHyb research project. Half of them were patients at the Schön Klinik Bad Aibling Harthausen, which is leading the study. The researchers also used a computer game that automatically adapts to the individual player’s capabilities. It trains them to grip and move their arms shortly after a stroke by reacting to colored balls flying toward them at varying speeds on a screen. The task is to catch the balls and match them with color-coded boxes.

At the center of TUM Professor Sandra Hirche’s setup is a digital twin that records the individual requirements of each patient and places them in a control loop. Among other things, the researchers have to determine how well each patient can move their arm and hand. In the event of a stroke, for example, paralysis can be caused by damage to the motor area in the brain responsible for movement. However, it is impossible to predict how severely the signals transmitted from the brain to the muscles in the forearm will be impaired after the stroke. “Individual muscle strands in the forearm can be stimulated to the right extent for hands and fingers to move,” says Prof. Hirche, who holds the Chair of Information-Oriented Control at TUM. In addition to information on muscle activity in the forearm, the researchers need to know how strongly the muscles should be stimulated in conjunction with the exoskeleton assistance.

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