Functional brain networks, mental health & sensory processing

13/05/2025

Salience Network Expansion May Be A Reliable Biomarker for Depression
A new commentary highlights a groundbreaking discovery: individuals with depression consistently show an enlarged salience network, a brain system responsible for attention regulation and switching between mental states.
This expansion appears to be stable over time, unaffected by symptom severity or treatment, and may precede the onset of depression, making it a potential early biomarker.
Researchers suggest the enlargement could result from genetic factors, compensatory neural activity, or atrophy in other brain regions.

Salience Network Expansion May Be A Reliable Biomarker for Depression

A new commentary highlights a groundbreaking discovery: individuals with depression consistently show an enlarged salience network, a brain system responsible for attention regulation and switching between mental states.

This expansion appears to be stable over time, unaffected by symptom severity or treatment, and may precede the onset of depression, making it a potential early biomarker.

Researchers suggest the enlargement could result from genetic factors, compensatory neural activity, or atrophy in other brain regions.

23/01/2025

Targeting Reward Pathways to Treat Depression

Researchers have identified two brain signals, expected value and prediction error, that predict recovery potential in individuals with depression.

These signals, part of the brain’s reward-learning system, influence how people respond to rewards and setbacks, with implications for tailoring treatments to individual needs.

10/10/2024

Neuron Density Differences in Autistic Children’s Brains

A recent study has found that children with autism exhibit unique patterns of neuron density in certain brain regions, differing from their peers.

Advanced brain imaging showed reduced neuron density in parts of the cerebral cortex involved in memory and reasoning, while regions like the amygdala displayed increased density.

These differences were consistent across children with autism and did not appear in those with other psychiatric conditions, such as ADHD or anxiety.

09/10/2024

Interesting study on influence of sleep and exercise on brain connectivity . This study would need to be expanded to a larger research trial but it is still interesting

https://www.psypost.org/daily-habits-like-sleep-and-exercise-can-shape-brain-connectivity-for-weeks/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0nx4XMc8_sZZvILJRbHqb29Qsu2VC-Dpb6EnJu55dxDNb00I9109nqF_A_aem_bvBipzXB70OSIzotO9Khsg

Daily behaviors like sleep, exercise, and mood appear to affect brain connectivity for up to 15 days, suggesting that short-term habits have prolonged effects on brain function, with potential implications for personalized mental health treatments.

08/10/2024

Salience Network Disruption Tied to Dementia Behavior Changes

Researchers have found that tau protein buildup in the brain may disrupt the salience network, a crucial pathway involved in processing emotions and reactions, and that this disruption is linked to early behavioral changes in dementia.

Through advanced imaging of 128 people in the early stages of dementia, they observed that greater impairment of the salience network correlated with more pronounced behavioral symptoms, such as anxiety, apathy, and mood shifts.

29/09/2024

Interesting but small research article about larger salience networks being a predictor for depression

https://neurosciencenews.com/depression-network-neuroimaging-27606/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2j-RisFnOBWkQRnk2RRfMfLEirXnhBYOYEFIOELwdjRStTjqfIfVivaRE_aem_CvcSZFxqFQCI-J3suZBL0A

Researchers have identified a unique brain network pattern that may predispose some people to depression.

12/08/2024

this is a nice article on the default mode network and creativity https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.psypost.org%2Fneuroscientists-identify-brain-network-critical-for-creative-idea-generation%2F&h=AT2AA9JxgDt6Vip5Da-vSPX2V2eT2UgC7vaD-nMm2tpRhuAfCXAkOH5vpfhLPJiMa5GaWhy74wTMNxYg6dHJPnKVpgx5qDkaxD74K4bKPvzE8ClkSY8NFoDkJc1WzcjJ0UJR&s=1

Researchers found that the brain's Default Mode Network (DMN) is essential for creative thinking. Disrupting DMN activity reduced creativity, showing a causal link between this network and the generation of original ideas.

13/07/2024

interesting study on music composers and their more efficient neural pathways in specific brain regions

Music composers exhibit more efficient neural pathways and stronger functional connectivity in key brain regions, particularly the orbitofrontal cortex, compared to non-musicians.

24/05/2024

Interesting to see salience networks featuring in this study and linked to sensory processing.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/7suSmpXWttvm2Y2G/

Brain Patterns Predict Autism Risk in Infants

New research reveals distinct brain connectivity patterns in 6-week-old infants at higher risk for autism.

Differences in the Salience Network, responsible for focusing attention, may predict later sensory and social behaviors.

Stronger sensory connections at 6 weeks correlated with sensory over-responsivity at age one, while stronger social connections predicted better shared attention.

These early brain differences could shed light on the development of reduced social attention and atypical sensory processing in autism.

25/02/2024

Central Autonomic Network (CAN)

This is a nice summary paragraph on the CAN network in an article:

"The central autonomic network (CAN) mediates the task- and division-specific regulatory control of central pathways for peripheral autonomic regulation.

The CAN includes the
-insular cortex,
-central nucleus of the amygdala,
---hypothalamus,
-periaqueductal gray matter,
-parabrachial complex,
-nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS)
-ventrolateral medulla (VLM)

High-order autonomic control associated with cognitive and emotional functioning is mediated by the insular cortex and the amygdala through hypothalamic–brainstem pathways].

A network of respiratory, cardiovagal and vasomotor neurons is contained in the NTS, periventricular nucleus (PVN) and VLM regions and receives afferent vagal sensory input from thoracic and abdominal viscera and other cranial nerves.

These structures, accordingly, modulate the activity of the preganglionic autonomic neurons.

It is very important to note that central autonomic modulation by the CAN does not simply rely on a monolithic network of brain regions, but instead features certain task and division specificity with several reciprocal interconnections, leading to a high neurochemical complexity according to its state-dependent activity .
CAN dysregulation may affect downstream autonomic output (brainstem) centers, thereby altering peripheral ANS activity and, eventually, the dynamics of different subordinate systems (e.g., cardiovascular system) (Figure 1).

Accordingly, CAN dysregulation may be critically involved in psychiatric disorders, essential hypertension, obesity and other medical conditions.

Agorastos A, Mansueto AC, Hager T, Pappi E, Gardikioti A, Stiedl O. Heart Rate Variability as a Translational Dynamic Biomarker of Altered Autonomic Function in Health and Psychiatric Disease. Biomedicines. 2023 May 30;11(6):1591. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11061591. PMID: 37371686; PMCID: PMC10295200.