The first time the mice were put into learning situations, they reacted negatively. They didn't know if the new associations would be positive or negative. According to the researchers, new stimuli are assigned a negative valence until their context can redeem them.
You are more responsive to negative experiences. If you almost get hit by a car, you will probably remember it for a long time, but if you eat a good meal, that memory is likely to disappear in a few days.
Ryan doesn't want to extend such interpretations to humans. He said that they were dealing with laboratory mice who were brought up in very poor environments.
He said it would be interesting to find out if fear is the default state of the human brain, or if it is different for different species, or even for individuals with different life experiences.
The thalamus and the amygdala need signals from other parts of the brain. It would be fascinating to know which brain cells are sending signals.
According to a recent study, a single fear memory can be stored in more than one part of the brain. The memory is likely to affect which circuits are involved. For example, if you don't have a lot of emotion in your memories, it's less important to use neurotensin.
Tasker was impressed by the clear-cut relationship that was found between a single molecule, a function, and a behavior. Tasker said it is rare to find a one to one relationship between a signal and a behavior.
There are neurological targets.
Drug targets for treating neurological disorders might be made possible by the crispness of the roles of neurotensin and the thal brain. If you can fix the assignment, you may be able to cure the disease.
It is not known if therapeutic drugs targeting neurotensin could change the nature of a memory. That is the hope, according to the man.
This is going to be difficult. Tasker said thatPeptides are difficult to work with because they don't cross the blood-brain barrier. He said that the field is very much headed towards developing targeted drugs.
There are important gaps in our understanding of how the brain works. It's not clear which receptors the neurotensin is binding to in the amygdala It will bother me until it's filled.
Hao Li, who was recently appointed as an assistant professor atNorthwestern University and is planning to explore some of these questions further in his new lab, said that too much is still unknown about how problematic valence assignments may drive anxiety, addiction, or depression. There are many other brainpeptides that could be targets for interventions. We don't understand what they do. It wasn't clear whether the experience was good or bad, so he was curious to know how the brain would respond.
After he leaves for the night, the questions linger in his mind. He jokes with his friends that he has a network of cells in his brain that make him feel good or bad.
He said that it is clear that this is biology. It makes me feel better when I am depressed.
The original story was originally published in the journal of the Simons Foundation, an editorially independent publication that covers research developments and trends in mathematics and the physical and life sciences.
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