News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
...secondary somatosensory cortex (SII), and anterior insular cortex (aIC). Memory trials, however, evoked activity in SI/ PPC and aIC but not in SII. The anterior cingulate cortex, associated with affective aspects of pain, was not activated in the memory trial, suggesting that an affective component was not r...Smokers quit after damage to brain region
...in processes of emotion and feeling, the fact that insular damage breaks down a learned habit such as smoking, demonstrates a powerful link between habit and emotion or feeling," she said. The finding that one small region could be the Achilles' heel of smoking addiction is especially surprising, given the ...Too mellow for our predatory world
...dators may lead to adaptations in the behaviour of insular animals. Over a longer evolutionary period, birds for example can lose their ability to fly. This would greatly reduce their ability to escape should new predators appear. In contrast to such "hard wired" traits, however, behavioural patterns should ...Aggression-related gene weakens brain's impulse control circuits
...late the fear hub (cingulate, orbital frontal, and insular cortices) essentially the same circuit that was changed in volume. While these changes were found in both men and women, two other experiments revealed gene-related changes in men only. In a task which required remembering emotionally negative info...Thinking the pain away? Study shows the brain's painkillers may cause 'placebo effect'
...stral right anterior cingulate, the right anterior insular cortex and the left nucleus accumbens. When the researchers correlated the mu opioid activity changes with the participants' own ratings of their pain and emotions, they also observed that the placebo-induced activation of the opioid system was corr...Brain's opioid receptorsor endorphin systemmay hold key to treatment possibilities for bulimia
... women was lower than in healthy women in the left insular cortex. The insula is involved in processing taste, as well as the anticipation and reward of eating, and has been implicated in studies of other driven behavioral disorders, including drug addiction and gambling." Bulimia nervosa is a serious eating...Study in Royal Society journal on world's only horned rodent
...the mechanism underlying loss is important because insular populations are more vulnerable to human exploitation and the introduction of exotic predators than those found on the mainland. Contact : Dr DT Blumstein, UCLA, 621 Young Drive South, LOS ANGELES, CA, 90095-1606, USA Dynamic games with imitation pr...