Articles tagged with Prefrontal Cortex
Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center found a genetic variant causing disrupted communication between brain regions, leading to working memory deficits and increasing the risk of schizophrenia. The study used a mouse model with a 22q11 deletion mutation, which showed impaired neural activity and behavior in cognitive tasks.
A new study suggests that emotions are crucial for making moral judgments. Patients with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPC) have difficulty responding emotionally to hypothetical situations and may judge others' actions as morally permissible even if they intended harm.
Older adults remember past experiences positively due to strong brain connections between emotion and memory regions. In contrast, young adults lack these connections, making it harder to recall positive events.
Research reveals that brain damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex impairs judgment of harmful intent, leading to more lenient moral judgments for attempted harms. The study suggests that patients with VMPC damage primarily evaluate actions based on outcomes rather than intentions.
A study from Harvard University suggests that brain activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex is a better indicator of how someone will feel in the days following a fight with their partner. Individuals who show more neural activity in this region are less likely to be upset and may display improved day-to-day mood.
Researchers have extended the fear map to include the prelimbic cortex, revealing its importance in emotional regulation. The study found that mice lacking a critical growth factor in the prelimbic cortex struggle to remember to fear electric shocks, suggesting a potential link to anxiety disorders.
Researchers developed a brain-based model to understand how Parkinson's affects learning and attention, highlighting the role of dopamine in non-motor symptoms. The study shows that dopamine medications enhance attentional performance in patients.
Researchers found that trauma history, not endurance, influences ability to dampen emotional responses. Resilient individuals enhance emotional brain circuitry, suggesting a key strategy for trauma recovery.
Researchers have identified groups of neurons that precisely keep time in the primate brain, allowing for fine-scale control over actions. The discovery opens doors to investigations into how the brain produces and uses its natural time code.
Researchers identified populations of neurons coding time with extreme precision in the primate brain's prefrontal cortex and striatum. This fine-scale coverage enables precise timing of actions, such as speaking or driving a car.
Researchers at Medical University of South Carolina pioneer bilateral epidural prefrontal cortical stimulation, providing significant improvement in depressive symptoms. Five patients showed average improvement of 54.9% after seven months, including three who reached remission.
Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that nearly half of young adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder between ages 18-25 may recover by age 30. The study suggests a possible link to brain development and social changes during emerging adulthood.
New research from Vanderbilt University found that training increases brain processing speed and enhances multitasking efficiency. Through daily practice, individuals showed improved performance on simple tasks when completed separately or together.
Researchers at MIT found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex fire in unison and send signals to the visual cortex to generate high-frequency waves associated with attention, learning, and consciousness. This neural synchrony enables communication between distant brain regions.
A study by IDIBAPS reveals that prefrontal cortex activation improves working memory by reinforcing parietal cortex activity, enhancing short-term visual information retention. This innovative view opens up new research avenues, particularly for understanding and treating diseases affecting working memory.
Scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have documented brain activity in anticipation of music sequences, revealing a neural process that prepares the body to act. This finding sheds light on how humans predict motor activities and provides insight into cued associative learning.
A new neuroimaging study shows that stressed humans experience impaired attention-shifting abilities, similar to rats under stress. However, the brain's resilience allows for quick recovery from stress, returning to normal function within a month.
Researchers used fMRI to find that patients with stress-related psychiatric disorders have abnormal brain activation in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, affecting memory suppression. This can lead to poor memory and increased anxiety due to lingering traumatic memories.
Researchers found that low-income children's brains function differently from those of high-income peers, with detectable differences in prefrontal cortex response to visual stimuli. This study provides a direct measure of brain activity and sheds light on the impact of socioeconomic status on brain development.
A new imaging study reveals two distinct brain regions competing for control: one associated with risk aversion, the other with a desire for risk-taking. The prefrontal cortex plays a critical role in risk assessment.
A study found that participants with greater activation in the anterior prefrontal cortex, a key brain structure for short-term memory, scored higher on intelligence tests and exhibited better self-control. This neural link suggests that improving brain function in this area may lead to increased self-control.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University found that two brain areas handle complex rules: the prefrontal cortex controls rule changes and parietal cortex controls number switches. This discovery may lead to enhanced understanding of mental illnesses with impaired rule-changing abilities.
A new study by Dr. Martha Turner and colleagues found that patients with confabulation, a condition where memories are distorted after brain damage, all shared damage to the inferior medial prefrontal cortex. This discovery sheds light on how the human brain controls memory and distinguishes true from false recollections.
Researchers found that alcohol inhibits NMDA receptor ion channels in the prefrontal cortex, disrupting its normal duties and leading to impaired decision-making. This discovery may lead to effective treatments for alcoholism by targeting specific ion channels.
Researchers found that, when jazz musicians improvise, a large portion of the brain's prefrontal region 'takes 5' to let creativity flow. This shutdown allows for novel ideas and impulses to emerge. The study suggests this brain pattern is key to highly creative thought.
A study using functional MRI technology reveals that areas of the brain associated with unpleasant emotions and memories become less active during scratching, suggesting a possible explanation for its relieving effect. The findings may lead to new treatments for chronic itch, which affects over 30 million Americans.
Researchers identified brain regions that fire up more when people make impulsive decisions, a key finding linking thinking patterns to addiction. The study suggests raising dopamine levels may be an effective treatment for addiction, offering new approach to therapy and potential subtypes of alcoholics.
Youth with ADHD exhibit delayed brain maturation in frontal cortex areas, which can affect higher-order executive control functions. However, the delay is most pronounced in regions at the front of the brain's outer mantle, supporting ability to control thinking, attention, and planning.
Researchers discovered neurons in monkeys' prefrontal cortex respond to specific Arabic numerals and shapes, similar to children's activation patterns. This suggests the brain builds on existing numerical precursor systems to acquire symbolic numerical abilities.
Researchers found that doctors can learn to control their brain's automatic pain response, allowing them to better treat patients. The study showed that doctors activate the neural circuit related to emotion regulation and cognitive control when watching videos of people in pain.
Researchers have identified a specific region in the frontal cortex as key to recording and learning social information. This discovery may improve understanding of mechanisms behind mental disorders affecting social skills, such as schizophrenia and autism.
Researchers have identified the medial prefrontal cortex as a crucial region in storing and recalling social memories. This finding opens new perspectives on understanding human recollections and mental disorders affecting social skills.
A two-stage model suggests that humans learn novel tasks by first processing stimulus shape and then discriminating between shapes to categorize objects. The study used fMRI to measure brain activity while participants learned to group cars into categories, revealing a complex interplay between lower and higher brain processes.
Researchers found that adolescence leads to a significant loss of neurons in the ventral prefrontal cortex, particularly in females, which challenges current models of brain development. This finding has implications for understanding human psychopathologies like schizophrenia and depression that often arise during late adolescence.
Researchers discovered that brain regions involved in spatial attention, planning movements, and decision-making activate simultaneously when preparing for a task. This preparation enables the brain to get a 'running start', leading to quicker responses. The study's findings have implications for understanding real-world tasks like dri...
A common gene variant is found to optimize brain function and improve thinking abilities, but also increases the risk of developing schizophrenia. The study suggests that this variant may have a paradoxical effect when combined with impaired prefrontal cortex function.
Scientists have successfully decoded brain patterns to determine an individual's chosen plan of action before execution, revealing a key role for the medial prefrontal cortex in reflecting mental states. This breakthrough uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to decode intentions from neural activity patterns.
Researchers found that experiencing control over a stressor immunizes a rat from developing depression-like syndrome when it later encounters uncontrollable stressors. The prefrontal cortex plays a crucial role in processing information about controllability and regulating responses to subsequent stressors.
Research shows that people who feel in control of their lives are less effective at coping with pain when it's beyond their control. Teaching psychological coping strategies helps reduce pain effects. The study suggests acceptance-based therapy may be a more effective approach to managing persistent pain.
A region of the human brain believed to be critical to intellectual abilities functions much like a digital computer, according to CU-Boulder Professor Randall O'Reilly. The prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia operate by turning electrical signals into binary states and flexibly manipulating them, similar to digital computers.
Researchers conducted experiments on 200 people, finding that snap judgments about faces are formed rapidly, often before rational thought can influence the reaction. The study suggests that our intuitions about attraction and trust are among the fastest and most intuitive judgments we make.
Studies found that people with autism have reduced connections and coordination between brain areas, leading to difficulties in problem-solving and communication. The research provides evidence for a new theory that views autism as a failure of brain regions to communicate with each other.
Researchers Wako Yoshida and Shin Ishii explored how different cortical regions function in solving partially observable decision-making problems. They found that the anterior prefrontal cortex is involved in belief maintenance, while the medial prefrontal cortex is involved in belief back-track processes.
Researchers discovered that neurons in the lateral prefrontal cortex process information for future events to generate action plans, enabling monkeys to plan complex behaviors. The study provides new insights into the central function of behavioral planning in this higher brain region.
A recent study published in Neuron found that brain areas related to self-awareness are inactive when individuals focus on external tasks, and only active when both sensory experience and self-awareness are present. This suggests a new perspective on the role of self-awareness in perception.
Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activity during sensory processing and introspection. They found that sensory processing activated the sensory cortex, while introspection activated the prefrontal cortex, which was silenced during intense sensory engagement.
Research reveals that as people age, their brains become less specialized, a phenomenon likely driven by age-related changes in brain volume or efficiency. To compensate, older adults exhibit increased activity in the frontal cortex.
The study found that children with superior IQs have a cortex that thickens rapidly and peaks earlier than those with average or high IQs. The researchers suggest that this may be due to an extended critical period for development of high-level cognitive circuits.
Research finds activation of specific brain regions depends on participants' preferences for risk or ambiguity, shedding light on why people make risky choices. The study's results contribute to the emerging field of neuroeconomics, a new area of research that combines neuroscience and economics.
Research reveals that the number of serotonin receptors in the subgenual prefrontal cortex affects the amygdala's emotional state, influencing behavior in stressful situations. Higher levels of these receptors can reduce rational 'discussion' and lead to increased amygdala activity.
A study published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research found that adolescents and young adults with AUDs have a smaller prefrontal cortex, which is associated with early-onset drinking. This may lead to difficulties in inhibiting urges, delaying gratification, and thinking clearly about the consequences of actions.
Israeli psychologists studied participants with prefrontal-lobe damage and found they struggled to comprehend sarcastic messages. The researchers propose a neural network for processing sarcastic utterances, highlighting the importance of integrating social/emotional context with literal language.
The study reveals that both nature and nurture are essential for developing flexible self-control. The computer model demonstrates how the prefrontal cortex learns from life experiences to apply rules and strategies in new situations.
A new study reveals that neurons in a bird's brain region, analogous to the mammalian prefrontal cortex, selectively fire when birds are told to remember and stop firing when they are told to forget. This suggests that the avian brain may be capable of executive control, similar to humans.
Researchers found that five out of eight African Americans and seven out of eleven Caucasians showed increased amygdala activity when viewing expressionless African American photos compared to Caucasian photos. This suggests that people from both groups have similar emotional brain responses to the same stimulus.
A Pitt professor has been awarded a prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship to study brain communication and its impact on mental disorders like schizophrenia. The two-year, $45,000 fellowship will fund his research into how brain areas interact during normal behaviors and how this interaction breaks down in schizophrenia.
A study found that increased activity in the prefrontal cortex predicts higher dopamine levels in the midbrain in individuals with the val COMT gene type, while decreased activity is seen in those with the met type. This suggests a 'tuning' model where dopamine regulates signal-to-noise ratios in brain cells.
Research suggests pathological gamblers exhibit altered decision-making functions and executive control, leading to long-term negative consequences. The study sheds light on the role of the prefrontal cortex in this neuropsychiatric disorder.
Research reveals that two brain systems, amygdala and right prefrontal cortex, play a crucial role in determining an individual's behavior and emotional expression when seeking help. The study found that animals with more secure relationships had increased activity in the right prefrontal cortex and decreased amygdala activity, while t...
A study by University of Colorado researchers found that rats with controlled stress exhibit reduced brainstem activation and behaviors similar to depression and anxiety. The prefrontal cortex sends inhibitory signals to the brainstem when stress is controllable, quelling alarm center activity.