Last month, a terrible earthquake raised havoc in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. While the Haitians in Port-au-Prince are miles away from us, witnessing media images of their physical and emotional suffering moves us tremendously, and motivates many of us to respond to their distress with monetary and other donations. In a sense, this is an amazing human feat—that we are able to feel for other people’s far away tragedies. How is it that we are so moved? This is a question about human empathy, and it has boggled the minds of great thinkers for centuries. Indeed, German philosopher Rudolf Lotze coined the term empathy (einfuhlung) to literally mean “in” (em) and “feeling” (pathos), or “to feel into.” Read more →

Emotional or mood problems are more frequent in people with disabilities (of any severity or duration) than in the general population. Rates range from about 20% to 50%, depending on the study and the population – from spinal cord injury to multiple sclerosis to stroke. It is important to understand the rates and types of mood disorders because the functional deficits associated with disability (I’m using disability to refer to any sort of loss of function, even if it is only temporary) can manifest similarly to mood disorder symptoms. For example, what might look like anhedonia could simply be inability to do much, or at least the reticence to be active because of pain or functional loss. Read more →

Emotional memories last forever. Evolutionarily speaking, it is advantageous to remember the important events in life. However, some memories become harmful or maladaptive, such as in post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and some addictions. Psychologists and psychiatrists have tried for more than a century to erase these detrimental memories through pharmacological, psychological, and behavioral treatments, with only limited success. However, a new study published in Nature Neuroscience reports that the common medication propranolol — a member of the beta-blocker class normally used to treat hypertension — can erase the fearful element of an emotional memory. Read more →

Listening to music activates a network of brain regions associated with memory, motor functioning and emotional processing. Certain tunes can spark an individual to recall the lyrics of a song, even if they have not heard the song for several years. A certain song can help to recall a certain memory o time in your life in vivid detail. Music is found to enhance emotional and cognitive functioning, decrease the perception of pain and increase endurance during athletic endeavors. Music makes virtually everything more pleasurable from sitting in the dentist’s chair to waiting in line at the grocery store. Read more →

Is compassion a skill that can be perfected, like playing a musical instrument or competing in sports? A study published this spring suggests: Yes. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin assert that cultivating compassion and kindness through learned meditation practices can make a person more empathetic.

Previous studies have pinpointed the insula and anterior congulate cortices in empathetic responses. Researchers recently investigated the voluntary generation of compassion in this neuronal network by asking participants to engage in compassion meditation, and measuring their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Read more →

Welcome to the thirty-eight edition of Brain Blogging. In this round, we cover a series on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), how the brain continuously repairs itself, and a recently approved anti-psychotic drug Invega.

Remember, we review the latest blogs related to the brain and mind that go beyond the basic sciences into a more human and multidimensional perspective. If you were left out, just leave a comment with your blog entry. You can check our archive for every edition. Read more →