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Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, TU Dresden, Germany. Electronic address:

Background: Affective dysregulation (AD) or synonymously "irritability" is a transdiagnostic construct that serves as a diagnostic criterion in various childhood mental disorders. It is characterized by severe or persistent outbursts of anger and aggression. Emotional self-regulation is highly dependent on the ability to process relevant and ignore conflicting emotional information. Read More

Neuroimage 2021 Apr 11:118011. Epub 2021 Apr 11.

Research Group "Social Stress and Family Health", Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Psychosocial Medicine, Psychotherapy and Psychooncology, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.

The hippocampus is a highly plastic brain structure supporting functions central to human cognition. Morphological changes in the hippocampus have been implicated in development, aging, as well as in a broad range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. A growing body of research suggests that hippocampal plasticity is closely linked to the actions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Read More

World J Clin Cases 2021 Mar;9(9):2136-2145

Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, United States.

Clinical studies have suggested that internal and/or external aversive cues may produce a negative affective-motivational component whereby maladaptive responses (plasticity) of dural afferent neurons are initiated contributing to migraine chronification. However, pathophysiological processes and neural circuitry involved in aversion (unpleasantness)-producing migraine chronification are still evolving. An interdisciplinary team conducted this narrative review aimed at reviewing neuronal plasticity for developing migraine chronicity and its relevant neurocircuits and providing the most cutting-edge information on neuronal mechanisms involved in the processing of affective aspects of pain and the role of unpleasantness evoked by internal and/or external cues in facilitating the chronification process of migraine headache. Read More

Praxis (Bern 1994) 2021 Apr;110(5):263-267

Abteilung Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie, Institut für Psychologie, Universität Bern.

The Coupling of Pain, Anxiety, and Stress There is considerable neurobiological, clinical and epidemiological evidence that the systemic phenomena of anxiety and pain closely interact. Both perceptions trigger stress activation processes and are in turn modulated by long-term stress. This overview illustrates the coupling of pain, anxiety and stress with some clinical examples. Read More

PLoS Biol 2021 Apr 13;19(4):e3000751. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.

Across many species, scream calls signal the affective significance of events to other agents. Scream calls were often thought to be of generic alarming and fearful nature, to signal potential threats, with instantaneous, involuntary, and accurate recognition by perceivers. However, scream calls are more diverse in their affective signaling nature than being limited to fearfully alarming a threat, and thus the broader sociobiological relevance of various scream types is unclear. Read More