Science News about Imaging

Anxious Youth Have Disturbed Brain Responses When Looking at Angry Faces

Science Update • June 20, 2008

When looking at angry faces so quickly that they are hardly aware of seeing them, youth with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) have unchecked activity in the brain’s fear center, say NIMH researchers.

The Maturing Brain Parallels its Evolution

Science Update • June 05, 2008

Evolutionarily older areas of the human brain that mature earliest follow a simple, straight-line growth pattern.

Imaging Identifies Brain Regions and Chemicals Underlying Mood Disorders; May Lead to Better Treatments

Science Update • May 06, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC, May 6 — Recently developed imaging techniques allow the mapping of the brain circuits and chemical systems believed responsible for a range of mood abnormalities including depression and bipolar disorder, and hold promise for improved treatments, scientists say.

Human Brain Appears “Hard-Wired” for Hierarchy

Press Release • April 23, 2008

Human imaging studies have for the first time identified brain circuitry associated with social status, according to researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health. They found that different brain areas are activated when a person moves up or down in a pecking order – or simply views perceived social superiors or inferiors. Circuitry activated by important events responded to a potential change in hierarchical status as much as it did to winning money.

Bipolar Youths’ Misreading of Faces May be Risk Marker for Illness

Science Update • March 04, 2008

Youngsters with pediatric bipolar disorder and healthy peers who have first-degree relatives with bipolar disorder share the same difficulty labeling facial emotions, NIMH researchers have discovered. Reporting in the February 2008 online edition of the American Journal of Psychiatry, the scientists suggest that the facial emotion recognition impairment might be part of an inherited predisposition to the illness.

Scans Reveal Faulty Brain Wiring Caused by Missing Genes

Science Update • February 20, 2008

An NIMH study using an emerging imaging technology has discovered faulty wiring in the brains of people with Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects some aspects of thinking.

Depression’s Flip Side Shares its Circuitry

Science Update • November 14, 2007

Humans tend to be overly optimistic about the future, sometimes underestimating risks and making unrealistic plans, notes NIMH grantee Elizabeth Phelps, Ph.D., New York University.

Brain Matures a Few Years Late in ADHD, But Follows Normal Pattern

Press Release • November 12, 2007

In youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the brain matures in a normal pattern but is delayed three years in some regions, on average, compared to youth without the disorder.

Bipolar Youth Show Distinct Pattern of Brain Development

Science Update • August 28, 2007

The first picturess of the brain changing before-and-after the onset of pediatric bipolar disorder reveal a distinct pattern of development, when compared to that seen in healthy youth or in childhood onset schizophrenia.

New Technique Pinpoints Crossroads of Depression in Rat Brain

Science Update • August 02, 2007

NIMH-funded scientists have developed a new high-speed technique for imaging brain activity and used it to pinpoint a circuit signal in rats that may be at the crossroads of depression — a possible "final common pathway" where different causes of, and treatments for, the disorder appear to converge.

Cortex Area Thinner in Youth with Alzheimer’s-Related Gene

Press Release • April 24, 2007

A part of the brain first affected by Alzheimer’s disease is thinner in youth with a risk gene for the disorder, a brain imaging study by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found.

Adolescent Brains Show Lower Activity in Areas That Control Risky Choices

Science Update • March 15, 2007

A new NIMH study could help explain why adolescents are so prone to make risky choices. When contemplating risky decisions, they show less activity in regions of the brain that regulate processes involved in decision-making, compared with adults.

Brain’s Reward Circuit Activity Ebbs and Flows with a Woman’s Hormonal Cycle

Press Release • February 02, 2007

Fluctuations in sex hormone levels during women’s menstrual cycles affect the responsiveness of their brains’ reward circuitry, an imaging study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has revealed.

Brain’s Fear Center Likely Shrinks in Autism’s Most Severely Socially Impaired

Press Release • December 04, 2006

The brain’s fear hub likely becomes abnormally small in the most severely socially impaired males with autism spectrum disorders, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have discovered.

More Direct Way to Map Brain Activity Deemed Feasible

Science Update • October 30, 2006

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to directly detect the electrical activity emitted by neurons, NIMH scientists and colleagues have demonstrated.

Shy Temperament: More than Just Fearful

Science Update • August 07, 2006

Compared to others, children with extremely shy temperament have heightened brain activity in response to any prominent event, whether the event is positive or negative, a new imaging study suggests.

Brain Changes Mirror Symptoms in ADHD

Science Update • July 19, 2006

The severity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in youth appears to be reflected in their brain structure, recent NIMH-supported brain imaging studies are finding.

Fear Circuit Flares as Bipolar Youth Misread Faces

Press Release • May 29, 2006

Youth with bipolar disorder misread facial expressions as hostile and show heightened neural reactions when they focus on emotional aspects of neutral faces, NIMH researchers have discovered.

Cortex Matures Faster in Youth with Highest IQ

Press Release • March 29, 2006

Youth with superior IQ are distinguished by how fast the thinking part of their brains thickens and thins as they grow up, researchers at NIMH have discovered.

Aggression-Related Gene Weakens Brain’s Impulse Control Circuits

Press Release • March 20, 2006

A version of a gene previously linked to impulsive violence appears to weaken brain circuits that regulate impulses, emotional memory and thinking in humans, researchers at NIMH have found.

Trust-Building Hormone Short-Circuits Fear In Humans

Press Release • December 07, 2005

A brain chemical recently found to boost trust appears to work by reducing activity and weakening connections in fear-processing circuitry, a brain imaging study at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has discovered.

Scientists Uncover New Clues About Brain Function in Human Behavior

Press Release • July 10, 2005

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a genetically controlled brain mechanism responsible for social behavior in humans — one of the most important but least understood aspects of human nature.

Brain Scans Reveal How Gene May Boost Schizophrenia Risk

Press Release • April 21, 2005

Clues about how a suspect version of a gene may slightly increase risk for schizophrenia are emerging from a brain imaging study by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Perceptual Decision-Making Hub Pinpointed in Human Brain

Press Release • October 18, 2004

A perceptual decision-making hub at the front of the brain makes the call on whether you’re looking at a face or a house — and likely many other things — scientists at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.

Rare Deficit Maps Thinking Circuitry

Press Release • September 01, 2004

Using brain imaging, neuroscientists at the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have pinpointed the site of a defect in a brain circuit associated with a specific thinking deficit.

Depression Traced to Overactive Brain Circuit

Press Release • August 02, 2004

Press Release August 2, 2004 Depression Traced to Overactive Brain Circuit A brain imaging study by the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found that an emotion-regulating brain circuit is overactive in people prone to depression — even when they are not depressed.

Imaging Study Shows Brain Maturing

Press Release • May 17, 2004

The brain's center of reasoning and problem solving is among the last to mature, a new study graphically reveals.

Brain Signal Predicts Working Memory Prowess

Press Release • April 16, 2004

Some people are better than others at remembering what they have just seen—holding mental pictures in mind from moment to moment.

Monkey Talk, Human Speech Share Left-Brain Processing

Press Release • January 29, 2004

Scans have pinpointed circuits in the monkey brain that could be precursors of those in humans for speech and language.

Brain Shrinkage in ADHD Not Caused by Medications

Press Release • October 08, 2002

A 10-year study by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) scientists has found that brains of children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are 3-4 percent smaller than those of children who don't have the disorder—and that medication treatment is not the cause.