Congratulations to Drs. Sahib Khalsa and Justin Feinstein on their intriguing Journal of Neuroscience article featured by the editors in the current issue!

"In a pair of twin sisters, a rare disease had damaged the brain’s structures believed necessary to feel fear. But an injection of a drug [isoproterenol] could nevertheless make them anxious." The results suggest that the amygdala isn’t the only part of the brain involved in fear and anxiety. Determining the additional systems involved could provide key neural targets for future anxiety treatments.

News coverage of the research:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-holds-more-one-road-fear?tgt=nr
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2082072-fearless-twins-reveal-how-our-bodies-affect-our-emotions/

Full Citation: S. Khalsa et al. Panic anxiety in humans with bilateral amygdala lesions: Pharmacological induction via cardiorespiratory interoceptive pathways. Journal of Neuroscience. Vol. 36, March 23, 2016. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4109-15.2016

​Recently, there has been great interest in the role of brain development in child and adolescent behavior. This talk is targeted to community members who want to learn more about how neuroscience can aid parents and educators in supporting optimal child development. The period between childhood and adolescence (ages 10-12), often termed the “tweens,” can be a confusing and difficult time for both parents and children. Findings from cutting-edge neuroscience suggest that reward and pleasure systems in the brain dominate the less developed brain regions that help with making decisions and controlling behavior and emotion. These brain changes, in addition to body changes, make the tweenage years a particularly challenging time. In the second lecture supported by the Laureate Institute of Brain Research (LIBR) and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development group at LIBR, Dr. Morris will present an overview of how the brain develops and changes during the tweenage years, and how parents, caregivers, and educators can support positive development. The key themes that will be addressed are: (a) normal brain development and the role of puberty, (b) ways to successfully navigate relationship changes that occur during the tweenage period, (c) how to communicate and handle conflict, and (d) how parents and teachers can help tweens navigate the transition to adolescence.
 
Dr. Morris is a developmental scientist and the Bryan Close Professor of Child Development at Oklahoma State University. She studied psychology at Temple University, and a completed a postdoctoral fellowship in developmental psychology at Arizona State University. In October of 2015, Dr. Morris joined LIBR as a co-investigator for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, a landmark, nation-wide study of adolescent brain development funded by the National Institutes of Health. 

Map of the Laureate Conference Center and adjacent parking. Please call 918-502-5100 or email info@laureateinstitute.org with any questions.