Behavioral Neuroscience – News and Features

Scientists have created detailed structures of the human opioid receptors to guide the development of more targeted pain medications.

In a study, taking a placebo significantly reduced feelings of guilt, even when participants were told they were being given a placebo.

For the first time, the creation and elimination of synapses in response to a fearful experience has been recorded in mice.

For over a decade scientists have studied these epigenetic modifications to test associations with disease. Now, a team of researchers reveals that the tool that has been the workhorse for these studies may not actually be appropriate for population epigenetics.

After a decade of research, a group of scientists has succeeded in describing a mechanism associated with the production of neuropathic pain, opening an window for the development of targeted therapies.

Children with absence epilepsy experience brief staring spells, during which they temporarily lose consciousness. Using a genetic model known as Genetic Absence Epilepsy Rats of Strasbourg (GAERS), researchers have identified the neuronal basis for this condition.

In a study using data from nearly 1,200 older adults, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have added to a growing body of evidence that loss of the sense of smell is a predictive marker for an increased risk of frailty as people age.

According to research, students’ positive and negative emotions were not just driven by the exam grades they received, but by what they expected to receive.

Neuroimaging technology has been shown to hold great promise in helping clinicians link specific symptoms of mental health disorders to abnormal patterns of brain activity. But a new Yale-led study shows there are still kinks to be ironed out before doctors can translate images of the brain to psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Although humans and apes share many similarities in our social behavior, new research has shown that apes, unlike humans, are more interested in the emotions of strangers than familiar faces.