YouTube video by Greenhouse for Mental Health Development

Cognitive functions emerge from the dynamic interplay of distributed, large-scale brain networks. Functional connectivity (FC) reflects stable brain organization and general cognitive abilities, while...

Dissociated neuronal cultures on High-Density Multi-Electrode Arrays (HD-MEAs) provide a controllable in vitro platform to systematically investigate the formation, development, and functioning of neu...

Research reveals that REM sleep deprivation disrupts brain connectivity, with the thalamus playing a key role in sensory information relay and REM sleep regulation.

With the ongoing consideration of the diagnostic criteria for mental disorders that is active in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) and International Classification of D...

Abstract. Motivation is an important feature of emotion. By driving approach to positive events and promoting avoidance of negative stimuli, motivation drives adaptive actions and goal pursuit. The amygdala has been associated with a variety of affective processes, particularly the appraisal of stimulus valence that is assumed to play a crucial role in the generation of approach and avoidance behaviors. Here, we measured amygdala functional connectivity patterns while participants played a video game manipulating goal conduciveness through the presence of good, neutral, or bad monsters. As expected, good versus bad monsters elicited opposing motivated behaviors, whereby good monsters induced more approach and bad monsters triggered more avoidance. These opposing directional behaviors were paralleled by increased connectivity between the amygdala and medial brain areas, such as the OFC and posterior cingulate, for good relative to bad, and between amygdala and caudate for bad relative to good monsters. Moreover, in both conditions, individual connectivity strength between the amygdala and medial prefrontal regions was positively correlated with brain scores from a latent component representing efficient goal pursuit, which was identified by a partial least squares analysis determining the multivariate association between amygdala connectivity and behavioral motivation indices during gameplay. At the brain level, this latent component highlighted a widespread pattern of amygdala connectivity, including a dorsal frontoparietal network and motor areas. These results suggest that amygdala-medial prefrontal interactions captured the overall subjective relevance of ongoing events, which could consecutively drive the engagement of attentional, executive, and motor circuits necessary for implementing successful goal-pursuit, irrespective of approach or avoidance directions.

npj Mental Health Research - Functional connectivity-related changes underlying mindfulness meditation for internet gaming disorder: a randomized clinical trial

The right subiculum, middle temporal, and frontal gyrus process both pain and cognition.

Researchers found that high-dose psilocybin significantly disrupts brain functional connectivity, particularly in the default mode network, with lasting effects linked to therapeutic benefits.