 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
By Kirsten Houmann, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent
ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research is paving the way to understanding why its harder for some to keep their emotions in check.
Text Continues Below
By using a new mechanism, scientists have identified brain pathways that help bring emotions under control. Researchers at Columbia University recently examined the interaction between the prefrontal cortex (PFC) -- the part of the brain responsible for human cognition as well as control of emotions -- and the nuclei deep in the brain that generate emotions. They did this by examining a certain part of the PFC while patients were reevaluating in a positive way, or reappraising, an image that had a negative meaning attached to it.
What we wanted to know was how the prefrontal cortex exerts its effects on emotion, and so we looked for pathways from the prefrontal cortex to areas deeper in the brain that we believe, from a large body of literature, are associated with emotional experiences, lead study author Tor D. Wager, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Columbia University, told Ivanhoe.
Findings revealed two brain pathways that connect the PFC with the part of the brain responsible for emotions. One pathway helped reduce negative emotion, and the other worsened negative emotion. Dr. Wager says the discovery could eventually increase understanding about psychiatric disorders as well as help guide treatment for them.
One of the things were trying to do now is test whether these pathways are disrupted in people with anxiety disorders, Dr. Wager said.
SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Tor D. Wager, Ph.D.; Neuron, 2008;59:841-843
Sign up for a free weekly e-mail on Medical Breakthroughs called First to Know by clicking here.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
|
.gif)
