Researchers Uncover A Circuit For Sadness In The Human Brain
"Scientists may have caught a glimpse of what sadness looks like in the brain."
"A study of 21 people found that for most, feeling down was associated with greater communication between brain areas involved in emotion and memory, a team from the University of California, San Francisco reported Thursday in the journal Cell."
"'There was one network that over and over would tell us whether they were feeling happy or sad,' says Vikaas Sohal, an associate professor of psychiatry at UCSF."
"The finding could lead to a better understanding of mood disorders, and perhaps new ways of treating them."
Previous research had established that sadness and other emotions involve the amygdala, an almond-shaped mass found in each side of the brain. And there was also evidence that the hippocampus, which is associated with memory, can play a role in emotion.
But Sohal and the other researchers were curious about precisely what these and other brain areas are doing when someone's mood shifts.