Neuroscience
From today's New York Times:
Study Points to a Solution for Dread: Distraction
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE
Published: May 5, 2006
The New York Times
For those who dread a colonoscopy or a root canal so much that they avoid it altogether, scientists have good news.
The first study ever to look at where sensations of dread arise in the brain finds that contrary to what is widely believed, dread does not involve fear and anxiety in the moment of an unpleasant event. Instead, it derives from the attention that people devote beforehand to what they think will be extremely unpleasant.
So the solution to dread, the researchers say, is self-distraction.
"We sort of knew that things like self-hypnosis help relieve dread, but now we know why," said Dr. Gregory S. Berns, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, who led the study.
The research, being published today in the journal Science, is "terrific, " said a leading expert on brain imaging, Dr. Read Montague, a professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine who was not involved in the study. It demonstrates that the brain "assigns a cost to waiting for something bad, so that the bad thing is worse when it's delayed farther in the future," Dr. Montague said.
[ ... Read the full article ... ] [free registration required]
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Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain
- Interpretations
The recent Science article Neurobiological Substrates of Dread, Berns et al. (2006) has drawn a lot of interest. In the mainstream media many similar dry and simplified accounts are propogating, but the blogosphere has some great analysis. Three unique...
- Brain Dread
It makes time slow down when you want it to go fast, and it keeps turning your mind back to the very thing you want to forget – dread is a most unpleasant emotion. Now Gregory Berns (pictured) and colleagues at Emory University School of Medicine think...
- The Microeconomics Of Anticipation
OR: The Kiss and the Shock and Patterns of Inferotemporal Preference. The Neurocritic is not an economist and is not fond of the field of neuroeconomics. Nonetheless, to understand the narrow definition of "dread" used by Berns et al. (2006) in their...
- The Concept Of Dread
I LIVED on dread; to those who know The stimulus there is In danger, other impetus Is numb and vital-less. As ’t were a spur upon the soul, A fear will urge it where To go without the spectre’s aid Were challenging despair. Emily DickinsonNo, The...
- The Dread Zone
I encountered this research about the neurobiology of dread twice recently — in the New York Times and on Science Friday (mp3). Science Friday interviewed Gregory Berns (professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory), who used fMRI to determine...
Neuroscience
The Values of Distractions
From today's New York Times:
Study Points to a Solution for Dread: Distraction
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE
Published: May 5, 2006
The New York Times
For those who dread a colonoscopy or a root canal so much that they avoid it altogether, scientists have good news.
The first study ever to look at where sensations of dread arise in the brain finds that contrary to what is widely believed, dread does not involve fear and anxiety in the moment of an unpleasant event. Instead, it derives from the attention that people devote beforehand to what they think will be extremely unpleasant.
So the solution to dread, the researchers say, is self-distraction.
"We sort of knew that things like self-hypnosis help relieve dread, but now we know why," said Dr. Gregory S. Berns, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, who led the study.
The research, being published today in the journal Science, is "terrific, " said a leading expert on brain imaging, Dr. Read Montague, a professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine who was not involved in the study. It demonstrates that the brain "assigns a cost to waiting for something bad, so that the bad thing is worse when it's delayed farther in the future," Dr. Montague said.
[ ... Read the full article ... ] [free registration required]
-
Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain
- Interpretations
The recent Science article Neurobiological Substrates of Dread, Berns et al. (2006) has drawn a lot of interest. In the mainstream media many similar dry and simplified accounts are propogating, but the blogosphere has some great analysis. Three unique...
- Brain Dread
It makes time slow down when you want it to go fast, and it keeps turning your mind back to the very thing you want to forget – dread is a most unpleasant emotion. Now Gregory Berns (pictured) and colleagues at Emory University School of Medicine think...
- The Microeconomics Of Anticipation
OR: The Kiss and the Shock and Patterns of Inferotemporal Preference. The Neurocritic is not an economist and is not fond of the field of neuroeconomics. Nonetheless, to understand the narrow definition of "dread" used by Berns et al. (2006) in their...
- The Concept Of Dread
I LIVED on dread; to those who know The stimulus there is In danger, other impetus Is numb and vital-less. As ’t were a spur upon the soul, A fear will urge it where To go without the spectre’s aid Were challenging despair. Emily DickinsonNo, The...
- The Dread Zone
I encountered this research about the neurobiology of dread twice recently — in the New York Times and on Science Friday (mp3). Science Friday interviewed Gregory Berns (professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory), who used fMRI to determine...