The phrase
"subcortical regions" refers to areas in the brain that are located below the outer layer called the cortex. These regions are responsible for controlling important functions like emotions, movement, and memory.
Full definition
By comparing how this spontaneous brain activity synchronizes across various brain regions the team identified an abnormally high synchrony between the sensory cortices involved in perception and
subcortical regions relaying information from the sensory organs to the cortex.
Primary processes, based in
deep subcortical regions, manifest evolutionary memories that are the basic emotional operating systems of the brain.
According to Irene Esteban - Cornejo, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Granada and main author of this paper, gray matter volume in the cortical and
subcortical regions influenced by physical fitness improves in turn the children's academic performance.
Indeed, less effective regulation by the PFC in the face of
hyperactive subcortical regions is part of what explains the notable links between stress, emotion regulation difficulties, risk for addiction, and comorbid disorders [e.g., 38, 40], and similar underlying neurobiological systems and circuits are implicated in risk for affective disorders, self - control, self - regulation, and risk for addiction [e.g., 38, 50 •, 62, 63].
However, it is unclear which synaptic projections from the mPFC to
subcortical regions are critical for maintaining the proper balance between retention and generalization of fear memory details.
When comparing groups of emotions, positive emotions activate the anterior prefrontal cortex, negative basic emotions tend to activate the somatomotor and
subcortical regions, and negative social emotions activate brain areas that process motor and social information.
In particular, aerobic capacity has been associated with greater gray matter volume in frontal regions (premotor cortex and supplementary motor cortex),
subcortical regions (hippocampus and caudate nucleus), temporal regions (inferior temporal gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus) and the calcarine cortex.
This model describes how drug craving leads to increased activation in
subcortical regions (specifically the ventral striatum and amygdala), and opportunities for regulation of the experience of craving and associated negative affect can come either from the PFC or from the direct effects of drug use.