amygdala

People don’t remember you as well when you’re not happy, so put on a happy face (video and lyrics, too)

Friday, March 21st, 2008

I lurve experiments where oxytocin is squirted up people’s noses. Oxytocin-up-the-nose affects your ability to recognize people you’ve seen before — and, according to two new reports, this effect is most pronounced if you see them displaying the same emotion that you first saw them displaying. Happy memories are the strongest. So, don’t be [...]

Dude, chill - we’re not at war any more. Pass the chips.

Friday, March 7th, 2008

Quick post: Why are people who are stoned on pot pretty mellow? (To pull a phrase out of the ’70’s). Answer: The active ingredient in cannabis ( 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) reduces amygdala activity in response to social threats. Pot reduces anxiety — and maybe the negative attributional bias that goes along with it.
Can [...]

The Bob Dylan Committee Could Have Been A Delusion Caused By Improper Brain Connectivity

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

Exhibit A: A committee of badly disguised Bob Dylan imposters?
As a child, with “Maggies’ Farm” on the record player, I asked an elder sibling why Bob Dylan looked so different on each of his (vinyl) album jackets. She calmly lied through her teeth, and explained that Bob Dylan was a committee, not a [...]

Anger management: Dopamine Receptor Allele and Nuclear Receptor Genes Are Associated with Anger and Aggression

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

Everyone knows someone whose “default” emotion is anger. They are like a one-trick pony, they are sad, so they express anger. They are scared, so they act angry. They are frustrated, so they are angry. When in children, it is painful to watch. When in adults, it is scary.

World’s Most Dysfunctional Inspirational Poster [...]

Neuropeptide Y (”NPY”) - cure for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Here it is, a substance that prevents brain neuron remodeling in response to stress: Neuropeptide Y, “NPY”. A new report, sponsored in part by Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Prozac, demonstrates that Neuropeptide Y prevents neurons in the amygdala from remodeling in response to stress, in rodents.
The nomenclature “Neuropeptide Y” always [...]

Oxytocin makes people generous

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

And you thought it was because you are a humanitarian and philanthropist. Nope. Oxytocin.
Abstract after the jump

Sphere: Related Content

You remember things you’re scared of

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007

BOO!

(Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2007;19:1872-1887.)
© 2007 The MIT Press
How Negative Emotion Enhances the Visual Specificity of a Memory
Elizabeth A. Kensinger1,2, Rachel J. Garoff-Eaton2,3 and Daniel L. Schacter2,3 1 Boston College, 2 Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA, 3 Harvard University
Reprint requests should be [...]

Neurological Correlates: Greed

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

How greedy the society you live in has to do with how many plant sterols people eat. Ok, you all can go home now.

No, seriously folks. It’s in the chemicals.