4-5 stars Advanced knowledge

Advanced knowledge

Reciprocity behaviors differ as to whether we seek cerebral vs. limbic system rewards

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Cerebrum, Limbic system , ,

This 2014 Japanese human study showed which brain areas were involved in indirect reciprocity. It was mainly cerebral areas that were active in:

“Reputation-based reciprocity, in which they help others with good reputations to gain good reputations themselves.”

Previous studies found much the same with direct reciprocity, where an individual was reimbursed by someone who directly owed them a debt of cooperation.

It was mainly limbic system areas that were active in:

“Pay-it-forward reciprocity, in which, independently of reputations, they help others after being helped by someone else.”

The researchers compared and contrasted self-interested behaviors of:

  • direct reciprocity and
  • reputation-based reciprocity,

both of which sought rewards in the cerebrum, with empathetic behaviors of:

  • pay-it-forward reciprocity,

where the subjects sought emotional rewards in the limbic system.

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/11/3990.full “Two distinct neural mechanisms underlying indirect reciprocity”

This post has somehow become a target for spammers, and I’ve disabled comments. Readers can comment on other posts and indicate that they want their comment to apply here, and I’ll re-enable comments.

Want empathy from your therapist? Don’t give a scientific explanation of your condition

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Cerebrum, Limbic system, Lower brain

This 2014 Yale study found that providing scientific explanations of patients’ conditions actually REDUCED an important part of what patients may need from therapists – empathy.

That finding summed up the malaise throughout the current dog-and-pony-show approaches in psychotherapy, where:

  • Efforts to treat symptoms are maximized, and approaches to treat causes are minimized;
  • The therapist is in charge, not the patient;
  • The cerebrum is the all-in-all, while the limbic system and instinctual parts of the patient’s brain that drive behavior are suppressed.

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/50/17786.full “Effects of biological explanations for mental disorders on clinicians’ empathy”

Our early experiences are maintained and unconsciously influence us for years, if not indefinitely

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Brain hemispheres, Memory , , , ,

This 2014 Montreal study provided more evidence of critical periods during human development:

“Clearly illustrates that early acquired information is maintained in the brain and that early experiences unconsciously influence neural processing for years, if not indefinitely.

We show that internationally adopted children (aged 9–17 years) from China, exposed exclusively to French since adoption (mean age of adoption, 12.8 mo), maintained neural representations of their birth language despite functionally losing that language and having no conscious recollection of it.

We show that neural representations are not overwritten and suggest a special status for language input obtained during the first year of development.”

YES! GIVE US MORE STUDIES LIKE THIS ONE!

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/48/17314.full “Mapping the unconscious maintenance of a lost first language”

Chronic stress changes the architecture of the hippocampus, leading to depression and cognitive impairment

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Cortisol, Epigenetics, Hippocampus, Limbic system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress ,

This 2014 rodent study gave further details that:

“Chronic stress, which can precipitate depression, induces changes in the architecture and plasticity of apical dendrites that are particularly evident in the CA3 region of the hippocampus.”

Other studies on the hippocampus CA3 region include:

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/45/16130.full “Role for NUP62 depletion and PYK2 redistribution in dendritic retraction resulting from chronic stress”

The same brain areas are used for spontaneous and rehearsed speech

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain hemispheres, Primal Therapy

This 2014 human study found:

“..(brain) areas that respond reliably during spontaneous and rehearsed speech production of the same real-world story are the same.”

This finding highlighted the difficulty a therapist or researcher may encounter in objectively determining another person’s reality.

If the listener relied solely on words and speech, they may not be able to tell whether what’s heard was a planned narrative or if the speech had some other origin. That’s why in Dr. Arthur Janov’s Primal Therapy, for example, the therapist is trained to look beyond the patient’s words to ascertain the feeling being expressed.

Also:

“Production of a real-life narrative is not localized to the left hemisphere but recruits an extensive bilateral network.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/43/E4687.full “Coupled neural systems underlie the production and comprehension of naturalistic narrative speech”

Non-PC alert: Treating the mother’s obesity symptoms positively affects the post-surgery offspring

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics , ,

This 2013 Quebec human epigenetic study found that DNA methylation – chemical modification that causes genes to express differently – as durably detectable between siblings born before and after their mother’s gastric bypass surgery.

The younger, post-maternal-surgery siblings were found to have DNA indicating reduced risks of developing diabetes and heart disease when compared with the DNA of their older, pre-maternal-surgery siblings. The mothers’ average weight loss was 103 lbs.

It was notable to see this famous research reference cited:

“Prenatal exposure to famine during the Dutch hunger winter of 1944 is associated with obesity with less DNA methylation (“undermethylation”) of the imprinted insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) gene in exposed offspring relative to their unexposed siblings.”

It was also notable to see the reactions to this non-politically-correct finding. For one example, this news article was in full-fledged denial, stating:

“Nor do investigators know whether a father’s weight loss might have a similar impact. It’s also possible that epigenetic inheritance wasn’t at play.”

Other news coverage expressed the memes that:

  • Pregnant women can abuse anything and everything with impunity without any consequent damage to their fetus, and
  • There wasn’t the tiniest chance that the mother was involved in any of their child’s adverse outcomes. When the child’s diverted developmental and behavioral consequences manifested, political correctness would dictate that these arose out of some unknown factors.

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/28/11439.full “Differential methylation in glucoregulatory genes of offspring born before vs. after maternal gastrointestinal bypass surgery”

Treating the father’s symptoms of an inherited disease can epigenetically treat the son

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Epigenetics , , ,

This 2014 La Jolla rodent study showed that treating the symptoms of an inherited disease can, through epigenetic DNA methylation, positively treat the symptoms in the subjects’ offspring.

The disease studied was Huntington’s, which is the most common inherited neurodegenerative disease:

  • The treatment induced epigenetic changes in the expression of genes on the male Y chromosome.
  • The treated male subjects were bred, and their sperm carried both the Huntington’s disease and the epigenetic changes that reduced the symptoms.
  • The male offspring showed both delayed onsets of Huntington’s disease and reductions of specific symptoms when compared with both the treated subjects’ female offspring and the control group non-treated subjects’ male offspring.

Per the definitions in A review of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of reproductive disease and Transgenerational effects of early environmental insults on aging and disease, for the term in the study’s title “transgenerational effects” to apply, the researchers needed to provide evidence in at least the next 2 male and/or 3 female generations of:

“Altered epigenetic information between generations in the absence of continued environmental exposure.”

The study instead provided evidence for intergenerational effects.

http://www.pnas.org/content/112/1/E56.full “HDAC inhibition imparts beneficial transgenerational effects in Huntington’s disease mice via altered DNA and histone methylation”

Activation of brainstem neurons induces REM sleep

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Acetylcholine, Brainstem, Lower brain, Neurochemicals

This 2014 MIT/Harvard rodent study provided evidence that specific brainstem neurons (cholinergic, or containing acetylcholine) regulated dream sleep.

The researchers used a more exact technique that selectively activated just one neuron. They made the neurons in this study sensitive to light using an algae protein that responded to a specific light frequency. Once expressed in the neuron, the protein activated the neuron when that specific frequency of light was shown onto it.

“Interestingly, both manipulations resulted in a change in the number of REM [rapid eye movement] sleep episodes and did not change REM sleep episode duration, suggesting that the PPT [pedunculopontine tegmentumis part of the brainstem] involved in REM sleep initiation but not REM sleep maintenance.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/112/2/584.full “Optogenetic activation of cholinergic neurons in the PPT or LDT induces REM sleep”

The brainstem nucleus locus coeruleus is the primary source of norepinephrine

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brainstem, Cerebrum, Cortisol, Locus coeruleus, Lower brain, Neurochemicals

This 2014 rodent study provided further information on the locus coeruleus segment of the brainstem:

“The brainstem nucleus locus coeruleus is the primary source of norepinephrine to the mammalian neocortex.

Neurons in the locus coeruleus maintain segregated connections to brain regions with distinctly different functions. Specifically, cells that communicate with the prefrontal cortex, a region involved in cognition and executive function, are characterized by properties that allow for independent and asynchronous modulation of operations in this area, compared with those that project to the motor cortex and regulate movement generation.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/18/6816.full “Heterogeneous organization of the locus coeruleus projections to prefrontal and motor cortices”

Stress impairs the normal matching of neuronal activity to increased blood flow in the amygdala

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Amygdala, Cortisol, Limbic system, Neurochemicals, Stress

This 2014 rodent study showed one aspect of how stress changed the amygdala. Stress didn’t allow normal matching of neuronal activity to increased blood flow:

“Chronic stress — which is a contributing factor for many diseases — impairs neurovascular coupling in the amygdala..

Neurovascular coupling (is) the process that matches neuronal activity with increased local blood flow.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7462.full “Stress-induced glucocorticoid signaling remodels neurovascular coupling through impairment of cerebrovascular inwardly rectifying K+ channel function”

How oxytocin and vasopressin were repurposed through evolution to serve social functions

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Neurochemicals, Oxytocin, Vasopressin

This 2013 primate summary study showed how nonsocial behaviors, neurology and neurochemicals were repurposed through evolution to serve social functions.

Oxytocin and vasopressin retained their:

  • water regulation,
  • reproduction, and
  • anxiety relief

functionalities while they also evolved to become instrumental in:

  • pair-bonding,
  • parental care,
  • selective aggression,
  • social prominence,
  • generosity, and
  • trust.

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/Supplement_2/10387.full “Neuroethology of primate social behavior”

A mother’s care affects the infant’s hippocampus structure and function through epigenetic regulation of genes

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Brain development, Epigenetics, Glutamate, Hippocampus, Limbic system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress

This 2012 McGill University rodent study found:

“Variations in maternal care in the rat affect hippocampal morphology and function as well as performance on hippocampal-dependent tests of learning and memory in the offspring.

Thus, in the rat, as in humans, social influences operate during early life to influence the structure and function of brain regions critical for cognitive capacity.

Variations in maternal care can influence hippocampal function and cognitive performance through the epigenetic regulation of genes.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/109/Supplement_2/17200.full “Variations in postnatal maternal care and the epigenetic regulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 expression and hippocampal function in the rat”

The effects of early-life stress are permanent alterations in the child’s brain circuitry and function

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Amygdala, Brain development, Cortisol, Limbic system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress ,

The sobering application of this 2013 rodent study’s finding was that if the limbic systems of human children weren’t already permanently damaged before they entered an orphanage, the orphanage experience would probably do that to them:

“The current study manipulates the type and timing of a stressor and the specific task and age of testing to parallel early-life stress in humans reared in orphanages.

The results provide evidence of both early and persistent alterations in amygdala circuitry and function following early-life stress.

These effects are not reversed when the stressor is removed nor diminished with the development of prefrontal regulation regions.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/110/45/18274.full “Early-life stress has persistent effects on amygdala function and development in mice and humans”

One way that mothers cause fear and emotional trauma in their infants

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Amygdala, Brain development, Cortisol, Epigenetics, Limbic system, Memory, Neurochemicals, Stress , , ,

This 2014 rodent study showed that infants learned to fear specific items in the environment that their mothers feared. The imprinting memory happened at a stage in the infants’ lives when they hadn’t yet developed the physiology to respond to the environment with fear on their own.

The learning cue was the mothers’ fear response – in this case, her distress odor, even when the mother was not present – coupled with the infants’ stress. The fear memory was stored in the infants’ amygdalae:

“These memories are acquired at younger ages compared with amygdala-dependent odor-shock conditioning and are more enduring following minimal conditioning.

Our results provide clues to understanding transmission of specific fears across generations and its dependence upon maternal induction of pups’ stress response paired with the cue to induce amygdala-dependent learning plasticity.”

There’s no scientific reason why this and related studies shouldn’t inform researchers who ignore the earliest stages of human life when studying limbic system disorders in humans.

For an example of researchers choosing to NOT be informed, look at Is this science, or a PC agenda? Problematic research on childhood maltreatment and its effects.

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/33/12222.full “Intergenerational transmission of emotional trauma through amygdala-dependent mother-to-infant transfer of specific fear”

How mothers-to-be program lifelong low testosterone into their unborn male children

gettingwell4 4-5 stars Advanced knowledge, Epigenetics, Testosterone

This 2014 rodent study was one of many on how pregnant mothers-to-be epigenetically program their developing children. The enduring changes made to the male fetuses in the womb led to lifelong low testosterone, which produces a variety of ill health effects:

“Leydig cells do not develop until puberty but the team showed that their function is impaired if their stem cell forefathers are exposed to reduced levels of testosterone in the womb.

There is increasing evidence that a mother’s diet, lifestyle and exposure to drugs and chemicals can have a significant impact on testosterone levels in the womb.”

http://www.pnas.org/content/111/18/E1924.full “Fetal programming of adult Leydig cell function by androgenic effects on stem/progenitor cells”