Summary: The dopamine system helps the brain anticipate when and for how long unpleasant events will occur, but it does so without encoding prediction errors for those aversive events. Source: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience A new study at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience clarifies how dopamine responds to unpleasant, aversive events. Dopamine is widely known … Read more

Summary: A recent neuroscience study finds that listening to emotional music while recalling neutral events can change the emotional tone of those memories. Participants who heard positive or negative music during recollection later remembered the same neutral stories with emotional details that matched the music’s mood. These memory changes were not short-lived: follow-up testing showed … Read more

Summary: Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a reliable method to record human brain activity at the cellular level, revealing how individual neurons respond to numbers. Using microelectrode arrays during awake brain surgery, the team showed that single neurons can be tuned to specific quantities: a neuron becomes most active when … Read more

Summary: Researchers report that a woman’s attraction to a man can increase when his photo receives higher ratings from others. The same social influence was observed for abstract art. Source: University at St. Andrews. Researchers from the Universities of St Andrews, Durham, Exeter and Arizona State report that people’s preferences are shaped by others’ choices: … Read more

Response to Anxiety Linked to Movement Control Areas in the Brain Summary: Researchers report that anxiety responses in adolescents involve not only emotion-related regions but also motor control areas of the brain. Source: ECNP. A small longitudinal study presented at the ECNP Congress in Vienna suggests that social anxiety in teenagers is associated with activity … Read more

Summary: When anxiety develops, many specific brain regions become more active and the normal coordination between those regions breaks down. Source: University of New Mexico Overview: The global stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty and social unrest have heightened fear and distress for millions. Understanding how acute fear can evolve into long-lasting anxiety in … Read more

Summary: Mice with dysregulated cytokine IL-23 that consumed diets containing the artificial colorants FD&C Red 40 and Yellow 6 developed colitis, according to a new study. Source: Mount Sinai Hospital Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report that artificial food colorants can trigger intestinal inflammation when the immune system is already … Read more

A miniature, fully implantable device that merges optogenetics—using light to control neural activity—with a novel method for wirelessly powering implanted electronics is the first entirely internal system for delivering optogenetic stimulation in mice. This wireless optogenetics platform greatly expands the types of behavioral experiments possible, enabling studies of animals moving within enclosed environments, burrowing, or … Read more

Summary: EEG recordings can reveal how people evaluate risk. Researchers found that higher frontal midline theta power corresponds with stronger cognitive control during decisions, and predicts a greater tendency to select low-risk options. Source: Friedrich Schiller University Jena Anxious individuals tend to take fewer risks. A team of psychologists from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, collaborating … Read more

Summary: New research frames arrogance as a spectrum. Psychologists identify three distinct types of arrogance and outline their implications for interpersonal behavior and future research. Source: University of Missouri Columbia On a first date, people often try to make a favorable impression. But when someone consistently boasts or dismisses others, that behavior typically reflects some … Read more