Activity of this brain network increases during positive feedback, and is accompanied by the release of dopamine, a brain chemical involved in transferring
information between brain areas.
Such a bridge can help scientists understanding of how healthy and disordered brains work from the cellular level all the way to the multiple
interactions between brain areas.
One possibility is that synesthesia might arise from some kind of anomalous
cross-wiring between brain areas that are normally segregated in nonsynesthetic individuals.
In cognitive disorders such Alzheimer's disease, Autism, and Schizophrenia, this communi -
cation between brain areas is often disrupted.
Not taking those
relationships between brain areas into account would be like trying to understand Manhattan's commerce by studying buildings but not traffic patterns.
The study also showed that targeting the activity of the mTOR pathway shortly after birth, a time when neurons are forming
connections between these brain areas, can block the emergence of abnormal amygdala activity and social behavioral deficits.
We realized that this could be an exciting finding that may account for how contextual information is processed and
conveyed between brain areas for the formation of fear memory for the context associated with an aversive event.»
Athletes in sports with higher levels of contact also showed signs of reduced
communication between brain areas and decreased activity, particularly within areas involved in vision and motor function, compared to those in non-contact sports, such as volleyball.
The exact spot seems to be
between the brain areas that control the shoulder and the trunk (red arrow)-- not between the areas responsible for moving the thumb and the top of the head (black arrow) as earlier motor homunculi had suggested, the team reports in the June 17 Journal of Neuroscience.
For this study, researchers used resting - state fMRI to examine the connectivity, or communication,
between brain areas.