Status 'determines brain's reactions to others'

BBC NEWS Health

29 April 2011 Last updated at 02:33

Our brains react differently to others depending on how we view their social status, researchers say. The Current Biology study found those who see themselves as being of a high status display more brain activity with those they think are equally elevated. The researchers said behaviour was determined by how people saw those around them.

A British expert said first evaluations were crucial in determining how individuals related to each other. It was already known from other studies that monkeys behave this way; changing behaviour dependent on how they perceived the other animal's position in the troop. The 23 participants, who had varying levels of social status, were shown information about someone of higher status and information about someone of lower status.

The team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure activity in the ventral striatum, part of the brain's reward system. People who viewed themselves as having a higher subjective socioeconomic status displayed greater brain activity in response to other high-ranked individuals, while those with lower status have a greater response to other low-status individuals.

First evaluations

Dr Caroline Zink, of the US National Institute of Mental Health, who led the study, said: "The way we interact with and behave around other people is often determined by their social status relative to our own, and therefore information regarding social status is very valuable to us. "Interestingly, the value we assign to information about someone's particular status seems to depend on our own." She added that socioeconomic status is not based solely on money, but can also include factors such as accomplishments and habits.

 

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9 January 2011 Last updated at 18:04

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Music 'releases mood-enhancing chemical in the brain'

By Sonya McGilchrist Health reporter, BBC News

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Music releases a chemical in the brain that has a key role in setting good moods, a study has suggested.

The study, reported in Nature Neuroscience, found that the chemical was released at moments of peak enjoyment.
Researchers from McGill University in Montreal said it was the first time that the chemical - called dopamine - had been tested in response to music.
Dopamine increases in response to other stimuli such as food and money.
It is known to produce a feel-good state in response to certain tangible stimulants - from eating sweets to taking cocaine.
Dopamine is also associated with less tangible stimuli - such as being in love.
In this study, levels of dopamine were found to be up to 9% higher when volunteers were listening to music they enjoyed.
The report authors say it's significant in proving that humans obtain pleasure from music - an abstract reward - that is comparable with the pleasure obtained from more basic biological stimuli.
Music psychologist, Dr Vicky Williamson from Goldsmiths College, University of London welcomed the paper. She said the research didn't answer why music was so important to humans - but proved that it was.
"This paper shows that music is inextricably linked with our deepest reward systems."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12135590

Scientists find way to wipe out painful memories

by Danny Buckland, Daily Mirror 29/04/2011

It sounds like something from a science fiction movie. But researchers reckon they have found a way to erase painful memories and post-traumatic stress. They discovered a link between a protein called PKM and recollections of disturbing incidents.

By targeting the specific brain circuit which holds the tormenting memory they believe they could weaken it or wipe it out. The incredible study paves the way for treatment for war veterans and victims of horrific attacks. It may also help drug addicts and people with long-term memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

Professor David Glanzman, the study’s senior author, said: “I think it will be feasible."

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health-news/2011/04/29/scientists-fiind-way-to-wipe-out-painful-memories-115875-23092965/#ixzz1Ktvduclf

‘ANXIETY PROTEIN’ THAT HOLDS KEY TO A CURE FOR STRESS 

The British team has found that the brain releases an “anxiety protein” when exposed to stress

Thursday April 21,2011

By Victoria Fletcher Health Editor

SCIENTISTS have made a breakthrough in their understanding of stress.

It could lead to new treatments for the one in three people who suffer from stress disorders and depression. And it could help to explain why some people seem to suffer from anxiety more easily than others.

The British team has found that the brain releases an “anxiety protein” when exposed to stress. Levels of this protein neuropsin appear to dictate how we react to such situations. The researchers believe that targeting it or the gene that produces it could manipulate how we respond to stress and people with conditions it causes. In severe cases stress can lead to long term damage, problems with depression and post-traumatic stress.

Lead scientist Dr Robert Pawlak, from the University of Leicester, said: “Stress-related disorders affect a large percentage of the population and generate an enormous personal, social and economic impact. It was previously known that certain individuals are more susceptible to detrimental effects of stress than others. Although the majority of us experience traumatic events, only some develop stress-associated psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. The reasons for this were not clear.”

The research, reported in the journal Nature, showed that a part of the brain that controls emotional responses, called the amygdala, reacts to stress by boosting levels of neuropsin. This in turn triggers a series of chemical events that causes the amygdala to increase activity. Neuropsin interacted with two cell membrane proteins to activate a specific gene that regulates stress response. Further work revealed a link between the neuropsin pathway and the way mice behaved in a maze. Stressed animals stayed away from open, illuminated zones in the maze where they felt exposed and unsafe. But when their amygdala proteins were blocked, either by drugs or gene manipulation, the mice appeared to become immune to stress.

Dr Pawlak said: “We conclude that the activity of neuropsin and its partners may determine vulnerability to stress. We are tremendously excited about these findings. We know that all members of the neuropsin pathway are present in the human brain. They may play a similar role in humans and further research will be necessary to examine the potential of intervention therapies for controlling stress-induced behaviours."

Read more: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/241990/-Anxiety-protein-that-holds-key-to-a-cure-for-stress-Anxiety-protein-that-holds-key-to-a-cure-for-stress#ixzz1K90cLKSb

Time to spring clean... your mind? Scientists say memory lapses can be blamed on too much irrelevant information

By Fiona Macrae, Mail Online
Last updated at 8:00 AM on 21st April 2011

If you struggle to remember names and numbers or frequently fail to follow the plot of a film, help could be at hand. Scientists say the problem is that you know too much – and you need to declutter, or spring-clean your mind.

Experiments show that the memory lapses that come with age are not simply due to brain slowing down. Instead, they can be blamed on the well-used brain finding it more and more difficult to stop irrelevant information interfering with the task in hand.

The first step in the study was to compare the working memory of the young and old. Working memory involves holding information in mind while manipulating it mentally.

Examples in everyday life include retain plots of films and books to understand or predict what will happen next and following the thread of a conversation while working out how you can contribute to the topic.
In the context of the study, it involved giving the volunteers groups of sentences and asking them to work out whether each line made sense – and to remember the last word of each sentence.

Rest: Getting a good night's sleep is just one way to spring clean the mind

Overall, the younger people, who had an average age of 23, did better, the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology reports. The Canadian researchers then did a second experiment to see what was hindering  the older volunteers, who had an average age of 67. This involved being shown a pictures of eight animals and being asked to memorise the order in which the creatures appeared. The volunteers were then shown dozens of the pictures and asked to click on their computer mouse when the first animal in their memorised sequence occurred, then the second and so on.

The older adults found it more difficult to progress, suggesting the previous picture was stuck in their mind. Mervin Blair, of Montreal’s Concordia University, said: ‘We found that  the older adults had more difficulty in getting rid of previous information. ‘We found that that accounted for a lot of the working memory problems seen in  the study.’

A third study confirmed that the memory problems were not simply due to a  simple slowing down of the mind. Mr Blair, a PhD candidate, says that the older mind appears to have trouble  suppressing irrelevant information. This makes it more difficult to concentrate on the here and now.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1378991/Memory-loss-solution-Declutter-mind.html#ixzz1K8vinag5