All Articles by Dario Dieguez, Jr, PhD
Dr. Dieguez spent over 10 years writing about, obtaining funding for, and conducting neuroscience research. He has worked as a Science Writer at NIH's Center for Scientific Review and the Office of the NIH Director. For several years, he worked as an educational consultant and freelance science writer, with multiple clients in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Germany. He has taught multiple courses in biology and psychology and currently runs a national research program at a non-profit organization.
The NeuroSocial Network
Social neuroscience is a rapidly growing discipline that examines the relationship between the brain and social behavior. The “social brain hypothesis” posits that, over evolutionary time, living in large, social groups favored the physical growth of brain regions important for social behavior. In non-human primates, some evidence indicates that the size of the amygdala is related to social behavior. Little is known, however, about this relationship in humans. A provocative new study finds that the volume of a key component of the social brain, the amygdala, is directly related to the size and complexity of social networks in adult humans.
Imaging the Musical Brain
Humans experience pleasure from a variety of stimuli, including food, money, and psychoactive drugs. Such pleasures are largely made possible by a brain chemical called dopamine, which activates what is known as the mesolimbic system -- a network of interconnected brain regions that mediate reward. Most often, rewarding stimuli are biologically necessary for survival (such as food), can directly stimulate activity of the mesolimbic system (such as some psychoactive drugs), or are tangible items (such as money). However, humans can experience pleasure from more abstract stimuli, such as art or music, which do not fit into any of these categories.
The Neuroscience of Fear and Loathing
Fear is an innate emotion that is triggered by environmental stimuli perceived as potentially threatening or harmful. This emotion is so basic to human existence that its expression on a human face can be accurately recognized by anyone in the world. Thus, fear is a highly evolved, universal emotion whose existence is critical to survival.
Love Can Alleviate Pain
The early stages of a new, romantic relationship are associated with feelings of euphoria, which likely arise from brain mechanisms responsible for sensations of pleasure or reward. Imaging studies have shown that viewing pictures of a new, romantic partner elicits brain activity in multiple reward processing centers in the brain. Interestingly, these findings have now been replicated in a sample of Chinese participants, suggesting that patterns of brain activation elicited by viewing pictures of a romantic partner may be universal.
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Future Posts
- Drug-Induced Mystical Experience
- Facebook – Coming to a 12-Step Program near You?
Latest Posts
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Comments
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