PFC tagged posts

Stroop-interference-related cortical activation patterns. Credit: Image courtesy of University of Tsukuba

Neuroimaging studies, in which the activity of different parts of the brain can be visualized, have provided some clues. Until now, however, no study has directly linked brain activation with both mental and physical performance. They found that the fitter men performed better mentally than the less fit men, by using parts of their brains in the same way as in their youth.

As we age, we use different parts of our brain compared to our younger selves. Eg when young, we mainly use the left side of our prefrontal cortex (PFC) for mental tasks involving short term memory, understanding the meaning of words and the ability to recognize previously encountered events, objects, or people...

Dopamine-dependent long term depression of mediated transmission profoundly disrupts normal synaptic transmission between hippocampus and PFC. These results show how dopaminergic activation induces long-term hypofunction of NMDARs, which can contribute to disordered functional connectivity, a characteristic that is a hallmark of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Credit: https://neurowiki2012.wikispaces.com/file/view/Reward_circuit.jpg/315908202/Reward_circuit.jpg

New research reveals mechanisms that trigger disruption in the brain’s communication channels linked to symptoms in psychiatric disorders. This research could have important implications for treating symptoms of brain disorders.

Many of our everyday cognitive functions such as learning and memory rely on normal communic...