In the past decade, researchers have used mouse models to unravel how cellular changes in the nucleus accumbens (NAc),
a brain structure involved in action selection associated with arousal and reward, may contribute to addiction - related behavior.
Using a technique called optogenetics, the researchers blocked a brain oscillation called theta waves in the hippocampus,
a brain structure involved in memory, during REM sleep.
So they turned to living, anesthetized mice, attached electrodes to their scalps, and directed 2000 and 2010 hertz signals so that they produced a low - frequency, 10 hertz stimulation at the hippocampus, a deep -
brain structure involved in learning and memory.
The researchers found that a key
brain structure involved in regulating emotions and decision - making is smaller in kids who have lived through three or more adverse experiences before the age of 8, compared with kids whose lives were more stable.
Not exact matches
Choosing the right music lesson for your childMusic Lessons TrendsAs researchers continue to reveal the impact of music instruction which has been found to enhance everything from
brain structure to math and spatial orientation skills parents are eager to get their kids
involved in music at an early age.RecommendationsEmbarking... more
Multiple
brain structures and processes are
involved in the process of attachment, the foundation of optimal mental and physical health.
She demonstrated that early experience leads to lasting changes in the molecular
structure of the
brain and discovered a gene
involved in the spread of
brain cancer cells into healthy
brain tissue.
Costa and Jin implanted tiny electrodes in each mouse's
brain to record the activity of neurons within the striatum, a
structure deep in the
brain known to be
involved in motor commands.
«We know that experience is at least as powerful a regulator and shaper of
brain structure and function as hormones, and boys and girls have very different experiences,» says Sisk, who was
involved in the study.
A study by researchers from McGill University in Canada
involving neuroimaging, which creates pictures of the
brain's
structure and neural activity, showed that smelling the body odor of someone closely related activates the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, a part of the
brain responsible for recognizing family.
In a study published in the June American Journal of Psychiatry, Saxena reported that hoarders have lower activity in the cingulate gyrus — a
structure that runs through the middle of the
brain, front to back — particularly in areas known to be
involved in decision making and focusing attention.
The olfactory system comprises six million to 10 million receptor cells (of which there are nearly 400 different types) and links to multiple
brain structures and neural pathways, including those
involved in memory, emotion and movement.
A coherent scene
structure was needed to achieve the highest correlation of activity between viewers in parts of the
brain involved in extracting meaning (The Journal of Neuroscience, vol 28, p 2539).
If our results are confirmed in future studies, it would be a unique demonstration of convergent evolution of intelligence,
involving the same neurotransmitter receptors despite the widely different
brain structures of birds and mammals.»
Sweatt believes that his findings in the hippocampus apply to other regions
involved in memory processing, including the cortex, the
brain's outermost layer, and the amygdala, two almond - shaped
structures in the midbrain.
«Our findings suggest that, for some individuals, engagement in cognitively stimulating activities, especially those
involving games such as puzzles and cards, might be a useful approach for preserving
brain structures and cognitive functions that are vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease,» said Schultz.
A number of smallish studies have seen differences in the
brains of habitual weed smokers, including altered connectivity between the hemispheres, inefficient cognitive processing in adolescent users, and a smaller amygdala and hippocampus —
structures involved in emotional regulation and memory, respectively.
Specifically, the researchers found that they had a thickening of the cortex in a part of the
brain known as the temporal occipital region, which comprises a large network of
structures involved in reading.
The limbic system is the collective name for
structures in the human
brain involved in emotion, motivation, and emotional association with memory.
A study conducted by researchers from the University of Zurich, Zurich University Hospital and the University Hospital of Psychiatry Zurich now reveals that the successful treatment of an anxiety disorder alters key
brain structures that are
involved in processing and regulating emotions.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging — a technique that monitors
brain activity in real time — the Johns Hopkins group found reversing a decision requires ultrafast communication between two specific zones within the prefrontal cortex and another nearby
structure called the frontal eye field, an area
involved in controlling eye movements and visual awareness.
Avram Holmes, a psychologist at Yale University, and a team of researchers from Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, found that increased impulsivity and sensation - seeking in healthy young adults was linked to distinct differences in their
brain structures: the areas
involved in decision - making and self - control had a thinner cortex, the
brain's wrinkled outer layer or gray matter.
Whether Arc is
involved in regulating the plasticity of other neurological functions mediated by other
brain structures, like learning, memory, or repair, remains to be tested but will be examined in the future, says Shepherd.
However, this intriguing neuroimaging study of transsexuals before and after their female - to - male gender reassignment suggests that even adult men and women differ in
brain structure within regions
involved in language and speech.
The chemical labels newly divided cells, and in their
brain tissue, it showed up in a sprinkling of neurons in the hippocampus — a seahorse - shaped
structure involved in memory and learning.
We were intrigued by the occurrence of hydrocephalus in the
brains of these mice and began to investigate the
structures within the
brain that might be
involved — the choroid plexus and the ciliated ependyma,» said corresponding author Alessandra d'Azzo, Ph.D., who holds the Jewelers For Children Endowed Chair in Genetics and Gene Therapy at St. Jude.
«It turns out that calnexin is somehow
involved in controlling the function of the blood -
brain barrier,» said Marek Michalak, a distinguished professor of biochemistry at the U of A. «This
structure usually acts like a wall and restricts the passage of cells and substances from the blood into the
brain.
«One could imagine, say, if you introduced genes
involved with
brain growth during development, that you might actually see a bigger
brain or a differently
structured brain,» he explains.
The cells were located in a part of the hippocampus — a pair of seahorse - shaped
structures located deep within the
brain and
involved in memory and learning.
In a report in the Sept. 25 issue of Nature Communications, the scientists say mutations in one such autism - linked gene, dubbed NHE9, which is
involved in transporting substances in and out of
structures within the cell, causes communication problems among
brain cells that likely contribute to autism.
«The function of the
brain arises not just from interactions between individual neurons but also from the combined activity of groups of neurons arranged in specific
structures,» neurosurgeon Isaac Chen of the University of Pennsylvania who not
involved in the study, tells The Scientist by email.
The hippocampal formation is a
brain structure integrally
involved in episodic memory, spatial navigation, cognition and stress responsiveness.
A CT or MRI scan of your
brain — These are imaging tests that a doctor can use to look at
structures of your
brain involved in thinking in memory
One of our ongoing research projects
involves studying the relationship between
brain structure and aptitudes.
The same
brain structures implicated in the urge to take drugs are
involved in other biological urges, Paulus added, suggesting that a homeostatic approach could have a broad impact on treatments that seek to control addictions or psychiatric disorders, and will lay the groundwork for new areas of research.
These pregnancy - induced
brain changes
involve the pruning of the size and
structure of certain areas of the
brain that process social information, such as the feelings, intentions, thoughts or beliefs of others.
Attention - deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Parkinson's disease (PD)
involve pathological changes in
brain structures such as the basal ganglia, which are essential for the control of motor and cognitive behavior and impulsivity.
But, she also found increased interaction between the nucleus accumbens and higher, cortical
structures of the
brain involved in pattern recognition, musical memory, and emotional processing.
Their
brains were also four percent smaller, and they had slower metabolism in the overall
brain as well as in the hippocampus, the
structure involved in memory.
It
involves many
brain / mind
structures that aren't yet in full bloom, and can not be rushed into development without a problematic kick - back.
How do social and biological factors interact to affect children's behavior, and what are the
brain structures and functions
involved?
Several
structures located deep within the
brain, such as the hippocampus (responsible for the formation and storage of memories) and the thalamus (
involved in the regulation of sensory perception), comprise the limbic system, a complex network that controls our emotional responses, survival instincts, memory creation, and memory retrieval.
The next step was to carefully search through the
brain, in particular those
structures which, on the basis of the clinical signs, were most likely to be
involved in CDRM.
In humans, decisions relating to the present
involve regions of the
brain (viz. limbic and paralimbic cortical
structures) that are also consistently implicated in impulsive behavior and cravings such as heroin addiction, whereas decisions that pertain to the future
involve brain regions (viz. lateral prefrontal and parietal areas) known to support deliberative processing and numerical computation.
People who are very logical and
structured (left
brain thinkers) tend to perform worse at right
brain activities that
involve skills like spatial awareness, creativity, and visualisation.
However,
structures involved in affect regulation are among the last to mature in the developing
brain; therefore, many adolescents may not be adequately equipped to regulate their affect.