PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Social groups and emotions

Study shows how social groups are represented in the brain

2015-07-29
(Press-News.org) Politicians, children, teachers, Europeans... what do they have in common? As discovered in a study led by Luca Piretti and his colleagues from SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) of Trieste, they are all social groups, a special semantic category for the human brain that is closely linked with emotions.

Until recently, most neuroscientists believed that the representation of knowledge in the brain was based on two distinct systems: one involved in representing animate objects (or, generally, anything organic), and the other for representing inanimate objects (artifacts). In recent years, however, a third category has been proposed: social groups. "For humans, knowledge of conspecifics is vital," explains Piretti. "It is not unusual to think that a part of our brain could be dedicated to this type of stimuli."

Piretti and colleagues worked with patients with brain lesions (caused by tumors), who responded to a series of tests to identify specific cognitive deficits. The precise location of the lesion in each patient was determined by brain imaging. Using the Voxel-Based Lesion-Symptom Mapping technique, the researchers were able to associate the cognitive deficits to specific cerebral areas.

"The hypothesis of a third category was proposed some time ago and studies support it," continues Piretti. "The real news that we observed was that the deficit in naming social groups is associated with lesions in the area that is normally involved in processing emotions, unlike the other categories." Emotions and social relations in the human are closely linked, for example the amygdala (one of the areas identified in Piretti and colleagues' study) is linked to social evaluation and perception, and is also linked to racial prejudice, while the insula (which is also involved in representing social groups) is associated with empathy.

INFORMATION:



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Alcohol laws have a preventive effect on young men

2015-07-29
When they reach for the glass, they often know no limits: Hazardous drinking is fairly common among young Swiss men. The good news: Based on a survey of around 5,700 young Swiss men with a mean age of 20, scientists from the University of Zurich reveal that legal regulations - such as the minimum legal drinking age and restrictions on the sale or advertising of alcoholic beverages - have a preventive effect on young consumers. Around half of the respondents are high-risk drinkers, which means they consume at least six or more alcoholic drinks in a single session every ...

Overcoming why a new treatment is resisted by lung cancer

2015-07-29
A promising agent for the treatment of cancer has so far had little effect on the most common lung tumours, but new research from The University of Manchester has suggested how this resistance might be overcome. In two papers released in the journal PNAS, the research team examined factors which mean that the most common type of lung cancer - itself the most common cause of cancer deaths - is resistant to a cytokine called TRAIL that causes cell death in many other types of tumour. The researchers found that in non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for around 85 ...

Study finds brain chemicals that keep wakefulness in check

2015-07-29
Mice that have a particular brain chemical switched off become hyperactive and sleep for just 65 per cent of their normal time. This discovery, published in the journal Neuron, could help researchers to develop new drugs that promote better sleep, or control hyperactivity in people with the medical condition mania. Scientists altered the neurochemistry of mice to help investigate why we need to sleep, what controls our wakefulness, and how a balance between these two states influences brain functions like concentration and memory and our general health. The chemicals ...

Study of birds' sense of smell reveals important clues for behavior and adaptation

2015-07-29
From slight sparrows to preening peacocks to soaring falcons, birds have long been known to possess distinct abilities in their sense of smell, but little has been known about the evolution of olfaction. Now, a large comparative genomic study of the olfactory genes tied to a bird's sense of smell has revealed important differences that correlate with their ecological niches and specific behaviors. Authors Agostinho Antunes et al., in a new study published in the advanced online edition of Molecular Biology and Evolution, analyzed olfactory receptor genes (OR gene ...

York scientists unlock secrets of stars through aluminium

2015-07-29
Physicists at the University of York have revealed a new understanding of nucleosynthesis in stars, providing insight into the role massive stars play in the evolution of the Milky Way and the origins of the Solar System. Radioactive aluminium (aluminium-26, or Al26) is an element that emits gamma radiation through its decay enabling astronomers to image its location in our galaxy. Studying how Al26 is created in massive stars, scientists have distinguished between previously conflicting assumptions about its rate of production by nuclear fusion. Funded by the Science ...

Stressed out plants send animal-like signals

2015-07-29
University of Adelaide research has shown for the first time that, despite not having a nervous system, plants use signals normally associated with animals when they encounter stress. Published today in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology reported how plants respond to their environment with a similar combination of chemical and electrical responses to animals, but through machinery that is specific to plants. "We've known for a long-time that the animal neurotransmitter ...

Coffee consumption habits impact the risk of mild cognitive impairment

2015-07-28
Bari, Italy, July 28, 2015 -- A new study by researchers at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy, Geriatric Unit & Laboratory of Gerontology and Geriatrics, IRCCS "Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza", San Giovanni Rotondo, Foggia, Italy, and Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Roma, Italy, estimates the association between change or constant habits in coffee consumption and the incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), evaluating 1,445 individuals recruited from 5,632 subjects, aged 65-84 year old, from the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging (ILSA), a population-based ...

Controlling phase changes in solids

Controlling phase changes in solids
2015-07-28
Rewritable CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs owe their existence to phase-change materials, those materials that change their internal order when heated and whose structures can be switched back and forth between their crystalline and amorphous phases. Phase-change materials have even more exciting applications on the horizon, but our limited ability to precisely control their phase changes is a hurdle to the development of new technology. One of the most popular and useful phase-change materials is GST, which consists of germanium, antimony, and tellurium. This material is ...

Use of cell-free microRNA as potential cancer biomarkers made possible through Droplet Digital™ PCR

2015-07-28
Hercules, CA -- July 28, 2015 -- Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR™) has been shown to be a useful tool for the identification of microRNAs (miRNA) circulating in the blood that could serve as potential cancer biomarkers. A study in the journal Oncotarget further supports these findings and identifies a novel miRNA that shows great potential for breast cancer diagnosis. These findings confirm the potential clinical utility of ddPCR technology to precisely and reliably quantify cell-free miRNAs. The study also emphasizes that sample type as well as its preparation are critical ...

More secondary schools serve healthier lunches

2015-07-28
ANN ARBOR--Secondary students found healthier foods on more lunch menus in 2013 than in 2011, resulting in fewer nutrition disparities for small schools or those with racially diverse student bodies. The findings by University of Michigan researchers show significant improvements made in the National School Lunch Program at public middle and high schools in 2013 after many years of meal disparities based on school size or demographics. "While these improvements are encouraging, continued progress is needed," said Yvonne Terry-McElrath, a researcher at the U-M Institute ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Modesty and boastfulness – perception depends on usual performance

Do sweeteners increase your appetite? New evidence from randomised controlled trial says no 

Women with obesity do not need to gain weight during pregnancy, new study suggests

Individuals with multiple sclerosis face substantially greater risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19, despite high rates of vaccination

Study shows obesity in childhood associated with a more than doubling of risk of developing multiple sclerosis in early adulthood

Rice Emerging Scholars Program receives $2.5M NSF grant to boost STEM education

Virtual rehabilitation provides benefits for stroke recovery

Generative AI develops potential new drugs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Biofuels could help island nations survive a global catastrophe, study suggests

NJIT research team discovering how fluids behave in nanopores with NSF grant

New study shows association of historical housing discrimination and shortfalls in colon cancer treatment

Social media use may help to empower plastic surgery patients

Q&A: How to train AI when you don't have enough data

Wayne State University researchers uncover potential treatment targets for Zika virus-related eye abnormalities

Discovering Van Gogh in the wild: scientists unveil a new gecko species

Small birds spice up the already diverse diet of spotted hyenas in Namibia

Imaging detects transient “hypoxic pockets” in the mouse brain

Dissolved organic matter could be used to track and improve the health of freshwaters

Indoor air quality standards in public buildings would boost health and economy, say international experts

Positive associations between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

New imaging method illuminates oxygen's journey in the brain

Researchers discover key gene for toxic alkaloid in barley

New approach to monitoring freshwater quality can identify sources of pollution, and predict their effects

Bidirectional link between premenstrual disorders and perinatal depression

Cell division quality control ‘stopwatch’ uncovered

Vaccine protects cattle from bovine tuberculosis, may eliminate disease

Andrew Siemion to receive the SETI Institute’s 2024 Drake Award

New study shows how the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus enters our cells

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy proves effective for locally advanced penile squamous cell carcinoma

Study flips treatment paradigm in bilateral Wilms tumor, shows resistance to chemotherapy may point toward favorable outcomes

[Press-News.org] Social groups and emotions
Study shows how social groups are represented in the brain