New Study Finds Where Stress Lives In The Brain
According to new findings from Yale University, a team of researchers have finally determined where stress lives in the brain. A finding that could potentially save millions in the fight for those that suffer from debilitating anxiety and depression. The findings were published in Nature Communications journal on May 27.
When researching brain scans of those faced with troubling images such as dirty toilets, snarling dogs, or mutilated faces, scientists were able to find a network of neural connections emanating from the hippocampus — the part of the brain responsible for motivation, emotion, and memory.
While stress in animals has been thoroughly studied, connecting emotions to physiological responses is impossible in animals.
“We can’t ask rats how they are feeling,” said Elizabeth Goldfarb, associate research scientist at the Yale Stress Center and lead author of the study.
In this new study, participants were asked to rate their stress level when presented with the troubling images. The study soon revealed that the neural connections emanating from the hippocampus were also reaching dorsal lateral frontal cortex, an area of the brain responsible for higher cognitive function and the regulation of emotion. Scientists noted that when the connection between the lateral frontal cortex and the hippocampus were stronger, the subject felt less stress.
In another note, scientists found that subjects reported more stress when the neural connection between the hippocampus and the hypothalamus were stronger.
During the study, scientists were able to determined that people suffering from mental illness such as anxiety may not be receiving as much calming feedback from the frontal cortex in times of stress. Why this is, has yet to be determined.
“These findings may help us tailor therapeutic intervention to multiple targets, such as increasing the strength of the connections from the hippocampus to the frontal cortex or decreasing the signaling to the physiological stress centers,” said Sinha, who is also a professor in Yale’s Child Study Center and neuroscience department.
An interesting note from the study found that all of the subjects, none of which suffered from mental illness, adapted to the stressful situations as the study went further. The researchers hypothesize that the subjects’ brain started to access memories which in turn helped moderate their reactions to the stressful images.
“Similar to recent findings that remembering positive experiences can lower the body’s stress response, our work suggests that memory-related brain networks can be harnessed to create a more resilient emotional response to stress,” Goldfarb said.
While this study has certainly shed light on an often confusing and vague topic, finding the location in which stress lives is one step closer to discovering how to moderate and control stress through external means, especially in those that suffer from debilitating mental illness.
