New Research: Persistent Amygdala Activation Impacts Wellbeing
I pursued an MSc in Psychology & Neuroscience of Mental Health to understand how neuroscience can help inform psychological theory and practices. Personally, I had to understand the mechanics in my brain to understand why I suffered and now thrive with depression. So when new research comes along that intentionally looks to make an informed connection, I’m not only curious… I’m excited.
On Monday, a new study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience at the heart of this connection. The study was designed to map real-world emotional experiences with the brain’s individual processes towards negative, positive and neutral events and their impact on wellbeing.
Researchers looked at the activation of the amygdala in response to both negative, positive and neutral stimuli. They found that when the amygdala was activated for a prolonged time, persistently processing a negative image, even after being confronted with a neutral image, it predicted an “increase in negative daily mood and decrease[d]… positive daily mood”, just like a ripple, if our amygdala is continuously processing a negative event, it can impact how we interpret following events. One small incident could affect our mood in other interactions and events throughout the day.
What’s the Amygdala: The amygdala is the part of the…
