Brain's response to threat silenced when we are reminded of being loved and cared for
2014-11-07
(Press-News.org) Being shown pictures of others being loved and cared for reduces the brain's response to threat, new research from the University of Exeter has found.
The study discovered that when individuals are briefly presented pictures of others receiving emotional support and affection, the brain's threat monitor, the amygdala, subsequently does not respond to images showing threatening facial expressions or words. This occurred even if the person was not paying attention to the content of the first pictures.
Forty-two healthy individuals participated in the study, in which researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brain response.
The study, published this week in the journal Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, suggests that being reminded of being loved and cared for dampens the threat response and may allow more effective functioning during, and activation of soothing resources after, stressful situations. This was particularly true for more anxious individuals.
Previously, research has shown that brain responses to pain are reduced by similar reminders of being loved and cared for, but this is the first time the same has been shown for brain responses to threat.
Dr Anke Karl of Psychology at the University of Exeter, senior researcher of the study, said: "A number of mental health conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are characterized by hypervigilance to threatening information, which is associated with excessive negative emotional responses, amygdala activation and a restricted ability to regulate these emotions and self-sooth. These new research findings may help to explain why, for example, successful recovery from psychological trauma is highly associated with levels of perceived social support individuals receive. We are now building on these findings to refine existing treatments for PTSD to boost feelings of being safe and supported in order to improve coping with traumatic memories."
Following these results, researchers at the University of Exeter are also running research studies measuring body (heart rate, sweat response) and brain (electrical brain waves measured by EEG) responses to understand related mechanisms in different populations such as highly self-critical individuals, individuals with depression and survivors of psychological trauma such as severe car accidents, assaults and natural disasters.
INFORMATION:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2014-11-07
Last year CERN announced the finding of a new elementary particle, the Higgs particle. But maybe it wasn't the Higgs particle, maybe it just looks like it. And maybe it is not alone.
Many calculations indicate that the particle discovered last year in the CERN particle accelerator was indeed the famous Higgs particle. Physicists agree that the CERN experiments did find a new particle that had never been seen before, but according to an international research team, there is no conclusive evidence that the particle was indeed the Higgs particle.
The research team has ...
2014-11-07
This news release is available in German. Microbiologists and molecular biologists at ETH Zurich and the University of Bonn have discovered a new agent in fungi that kills bacteria. The substance, known as copsin, has the same effect as traditional antibiotics, but belongs to a different class of biochemical substances. Copsin is a protein, whereas traditional antibiotics are often non-protein organic compounds.
The researchers led by Markus Aebi, Professor of Mycology, discovered the substance in the common inky cap mushroom Coprinopsis cinerea that grows on horse ...
2014-11-07
An international research project, which includes researchers from the U. of Granada, has proved the need for campaigns to persuade parents of the benefits involved in having their children walk to school. This also includes work on the perception about the security of the paths their children need to follo won the way to school. This research points out, besides, the need for public administrations to actively campaign to persuade children and their families to walk more often as part of their daily routines.
Many different surveys have demonstrated that walking to school ...
2014-11-07
Since suitable studies are lacking, it remains unclear in which sperm analysis parameters assisted reproduction using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) can be superior to in vitro fertilization (IVF). This is the conclusion of the final report published by the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) on 6 November 2014.
Benefit assessment depending on parameters
The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) commissioned IQWiG with the examination of two research questions: First, the researchers were to assess the benefit of ICSI in comparison with IVF ...
2014-11-07
Eribulin (trade name: Halaven) is approved for women with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer in whom the disease has progressed despite prior drug therapy. The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined in a dossier assessment whether the drug offers an added benefit over the appropriate comparator therapy in these patient groups.
According to the findings, there are both positive and negative effects. There is proof of minor added benefit for one group of patients. For other groups, there are hints or indications of lesser ...
2014-11-07
The current classification system for colorectal cancer, which is based on genetic expression profiles, cannot be used to predict drug responses to FOLFIRI. This is the conclusion reached by a team from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), formed by members from the Gastrointestinal Cancer Clinical Research Unit and the Structural Computational Biology Group. The study, published this week in the journal Nature Medicine, will assist oncologists in making better-informed decisions regarding how to treat their colorectal cancer patients in the clinic.
Conclusions ...
2014-11-07
Published in Nature Biotechnology, the study showed that specially engineered lipid (fat) bodies, called liposomes, can be used to prevent bacterial toxins from killing human cells.
This could prevent unnecessary deaths from diseases such as pneumonia and sepsis. The treatment is a valuable alternative to current medications, particularly for infections that have become resistant to antibiotics.
The bacterial toxins, produced by major human pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumonia, Streptococcus pyogenes and Methicillin Resistant Staphlycoccus aureus (MRSA) were ...
2014-11-07
During hibernation, dormice enter into 'torpor' to save energy and water. In this state, the dormice become inactive and show a marked decrease in their metabolic rate, causing their body temperature to reduce.
Torpor was then found to be a strategy used when food availability was limited. The researchers compared two groups of juveniles born late in the season - one able to feed freely and the other intermittently fasted on alternate days. The fasted dormice showed considerably greater use of torpor, enabling them to maintain high growth rates and accumulate sufficient ...
2014-11-07
Muscle-specific protein cofilin-2 controls the length of actin filaments in muscle cells.
Sliding of myosin and actin filaments past each other provides the force for muscle contraction. In contrast to most non-muscle cells, the actin filaments in muscle sarcomeres are of precise length and relatively stable. Defects in the organization of these actin filament arrays result in various heart and muscle disorders, such as myopathies.
The research group of professor Pekka Lappalainen at Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, has now revealed a new mechanism ...
2014-11-07
Bethesda, MD -- After many generations, rats bred for their bad attitude behave differently from those selected for a calm demeanor around humans. Research published November 7 in the journal GENETICS identifies gene regions that contribute to differences between nasty and nice rats in their behavior and the activity of genes in the brain. These results may provide important clues as to which genes make tame animals like dogs behave so differently from their wild ancestors.
"Tameness is one trait that all domestic animals share. Whether it's pigs or cats or horses, domestication ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Brain's response to threat silenced when we are reminded of being loved and cared for
