For the first time, researchers looked at the entire duration of such a situation. They found not only changes in the communication of brain regions, but also a dynamic process: Different networks behaved differently during acute stress.
From this, the scientists were able to determine how susceptible a person is to negative mood and how much this increased their risk of mental illness.
Until now, experts knew little about the dynamic processes in the brain during acute stress. Research has usually focused on the brain areas that are active at a given time. Now, however, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (MPI) and the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Tübingen University Hospital have observed what happens in the brain over the entire period of a stressful situation, such as while solving a tricky math problem.
“Our study shows not only where changes occur, but how different brain regions interact and how their communication changes over the course of the situation,” summarizes first author Anne Kühnel from the MPI.
The results of the study were recently published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
The participants were asked to solve math problems under time pressure while inside a magnetic resonance imaging scanner. No matter how well they did, they only received negative feedback—a stressful situation. The dynamic response of the brain’s networks differed in the study participants.
The scientists were able to relate the responses to how anxious or depressed the participants were. It is known that the more negative a person’s basic temperament is, the higher their risk of mental illness.
“The altered communication between brain regions supports the theory that mental disorders are network diseases in which the interaction of neural units is disturbed,” says MPI Director Elisabeth Binder and continues, “The new findings are important for developing more individualized diagnoses and personalized therapies.” READ MORE...
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