Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

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5 papers

Multisensory brain mechanisms of bodily self-consciousness

Olaf Blanke
Nature reviews. Neuroscience Summary & key facts 2012 1,131 citations

This review says our sense of being a body comes from the brain combining many body signals. It describes three parts of bodily self-consciousness: self-identification (feeling a body is mine), self-location (where I feel I am), and the first-person perspective (the point from which I see). Experiments that create mismatched…

Action Observation and Synchronization Multisensory perception and integration Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts

Neuroscience of human social interactions and adult attachment style

Pascal Vrtička, Patrik Vuilleumier
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Summary & key facts 2012 281 citations

Attachment theory, described about 40 years ago, explains stable ways people form close bonds. This review sums up brain imaging and cognitive studies that link adult attachment styles (secure, avoidant, anxious, resolved/unresolved) to how people feel about and think about others. It proposes that attachment style shapes quick judgments of…

Attachment and Relationship Dynamics Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior

Psilocybin desynchronizes the human brain

Joshua S. Siegel, Subha Subramanian, Demetrius Perry, Benjamin P. Kay, Evan M. Gordon, Timothy O. Laumann, et al.
Nature Summary & key facts 2024 199 citations

A single dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic that acutely causes distortions of space-time perception and ego dissolution, produces rapid and persistent therapeutic effects in human clinical trials1-4. In animal models, psilocybin induces neuroplasticity in cortex and hippocampus5-8. It remains unclear how human brain network changes relate to subjective and lasting…

Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior Psychedelics and Drug Studies Tryptophan and brain disorders

Play fighting and the development of the social brain: The rat’s tale

Sergio M. Pellis, Vivien C. Pellis, Jackson R. Ham, Rachel Stark

Scientists reviewing lab rat studies say juvenile 'play fighting' helps shape the social brain. Research over the past 100+ years shows that when young rats are deprived of normal peer play during the juvenile period, adult rats show socio-cognitive problems and changes in neurons in the prefrontal cortex, especially the…

Memory and Neural Mechanisms Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior Stress Responses and Cortisol

The need to change: Is there a critical role of midlife adaptation in mental health later in life?

Friederike Thams, Stefanie Brassen
eLife Summary & key facts 2023 8 citations

Although late-life depression (LLD) is a serious health problem and more common than dementia in people over 60, it is underdiagnosed and undertreated. The cognitive-emotional etiology of LLD is particularly poorly understood. This is in contrast to the now extensive literature from psychology and cognitive neuroscience on the characteristics of…

Aging and Gerontology Research Health disparities and outcomes Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
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