Jumping at Shadows

2019 ◽  
pp. 265-274
Author(s):  
Patrik N. Juslin
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Sound Intensity ◽  
Motor Behaviour ◽  
Acoustic Feature ◽  
Close Link ◽  
Psychological Mechanism ◽  
Brain Stem Reflexes ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Brain Stem Reflex

This chapter introduces a psychological mechanism that involves a close link between perception and motor behaviour. It focuses on a mechanism called the brain stem reflex, which refers to a process whereby an emotion is aroused in a listener because an acoustic feature — such as sound intensity or roughness of timbre — exceeds a certain cut-off value for which the auditory system has been designed by natural selection to quickly alert the brain. It is a kind of ‘override’ system, which is activated when an event seems to require first-priority attention. Brain stem reflexes are said to be ‘hard-wired’: they are quick, automatic, and unlearned.

Brain Death: Assessment, Controversy, and Confounding Factors

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Arbour
Keyword(s):  
Brain Death ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Vital Signs ◽  
Spinal Reflexes ◽  
High Dose ◽  
Loss Of Consciousness ◽  
Confounding Factors ◽  
Metabolic Suppression ◽  
Brain Stem Reflexes ◽  
The Brain

When brain injury is refractory to aggressive management and is considered nonsurvivable, with loss of consciousness and brain stem reflexes, a brain death protocol may be initiated to determine death according to neurological criteria. Clinical evaluation typically entails 2 consecutive formal neurological examinations to document total loss of consciousness and absence of brain stem reflexes and then apnea testing to evaluate carbon dioxide unresponsiveness within the brain stem. Confounding factors such as use of therapeutic hypothermia, high-dose metabolic suppression, and movements associated with complex spinal reflexes, fasciculations, or cardiogenic ventilator autotriggering may delay initiation or completion of brain death protocols. Neurodiagnostic studies such as 4-vessel cerebral angiography can rapidly document absence of blood flow to the brain and decrease intervals between onset of terminal brain stem herniation and formal declaration of death by neurological criteria. Intracranial pathophysiology leading to brain death must be considered along with clinical assessment, patterns of vital signs, and relevant diagnostic studies.

Emotional reactions to music in depressed individuals

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 862-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura S. Sakka ◽  
Patrik N. Juslin
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Cognitive Bias ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Memory Condition ◽  
Memory And Attention ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Specific Induction ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Brain Stem Reflex

Music is often used to alleviate depression, an affective disorder. Yet, little is known about how listeners suffering from depression respond emotionally to music. The goal of this study was to investigate whether listeners show different patterns of emotional reactions to music depending on level of depression. In previous research, depression has been linked with negative biases in cognitive processes such as memory and attention. Here we indirectly investigated whether such biases may also influence psychological mechanisms involved in the arousal of emotions during musical experiences. Seventy-seven listeners (19–65 years old) took part in an experiment which compared depressed individuals with non-depressed controls. The participants listened to music stimuli designed to target specific induction mechanisms (brain stem reflex, contagion, episodic memory), and were asked to rate felt emotions. Based on previous studies on cognitive bias, we made predictions about how depression would affect reactions to each stimulus. The predictions received partial support: depressed listeners reported significantly lower levels of happiness in the memory condition and non-significantly higher levels of anxiety in the brain stem condition, than did controls. Conversely, no difference in reported sadness was found in the contagion condition. Observed differences were mainly attributable to the severely depressed listeners.

Blocking interactions between brain-stem reflex facilitation and sympathetic reflex enhancement

1959 ◽  
Vol 196 (3) ◽  
pp. 669-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. B. Kelly ◽  
L. M. N. Bach
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Reticular Formation ◽  
Quadriceps Muscle ◽  
Chemical Interference ◽  
Simultaneous Stimulation ◽  
Splanchnic Nerves ◽  
Peripheral Locus ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Brain Stem Reflex ◽  
Stimulation Of

In cats anesthetized with Nembutal the integrity of the lumbar sympathetic chain is necessary for the maintenance of the normal basal height of the patellar reflex. The centrally activated sympathetic component of brain stem enhancement of the patellar reflex is consistently and totally abolished by either surgical or chemical interference with the sympathetic supply to the hind leg. Although the use of sympatholytic drugs does not affect (presumably) synaptic facilitation of reflex activity resulting from brain stem reticular stimulation, mechanical stimulation of either the lumbar sympathetic or splanchnic nerves will cause a temporary but marked depression of this facilitation. Simultaneous stimulation of either the lumbar sympathetic or splanchnic nerves completely and consistently blocks the facilitatory effects of brain stem reticular stimulation. Conversely, simultaneous stimulation of the brain stem reticular formation consistently and totally blocks the enchancement of the patellar reflex which results from stimulation of the peripheral lumbar sympathetic or splanchnic nerves. The former phenomenon does not result from any peripheral locus of interaction between adrenaline and the innervation of the quadriceps muscle. Cross perfusion experiments indicate that the locus of interaction may involve the brain stem reticular formation.

Get Into the Groove

2019 ◽  
pp. 275-286
Author(s):  
Patrik N. Juslin
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Brain Stem ◽  
Brain Waves ◽  
Psychological Mechanism ◽  
Brain Stem Reflexes

This chapter considers a psychological mechanism that can arouse musical emotions called rhythmic entrainment. If brain stem reflexes focus on music as sound and sensation, entrainment focuses on rhythm. This is a primary feature of life. After all, we live in a rhythmic environment (e.g. seasons of the year, periods of daylight and dark), and our bodies are ‘symphonies of rhythm’, as reflected in processes such as heart rate, brain waves, and sleeping patterns. Rhythmic entrainment refers to a process whereby an emotion is evoked by a piece of music because a powerful, external rhythm in the music influences some internal bodily rhythm of the listener (e.g. heart rate), such that the latter rhythm adjusts towards and eventually ‘locks in’ to a common periodicity.

Permeability of the microcirculation in area postrema of rat

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 348-349
Author(s):  
Shams M. Ghoneim ◽  
Frank M. Faraci ◽  
Gary L. Baumbach
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Area Postrema ◽  
Upper Body ◽  
Sprague Dawley ◽  
Sodium Cacodylate ◽  
Acute Hypertension ◽  
Sprague Dawley Rats ◽  
Ultrastructural Characteristics ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Adjacent Brain

The area postrema is a circumventricular organ in the brain stem and is one of the regions in the brain that lacks a fully functional blood-brain barrier. Recently, we found that disruption of the microcirculation during acute hypertension is greater in area postrema than in the adjacent brain stem. In contrast, hyperosmolar disruption of the microcirculation is greater in brain stem. The objective of this study was to compare ultrastructural characteristics of the microcirculation in area postrema and adjacent brain stem.We studied 5 Sprague-Dawley rats. Horseradish peroxidase was injected intravenously and allowed to circulate for 1, 5 or 15 minutes. Following perfusion of the upper body with 2.25% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 M sodium cacodylate, the brain stem was removed, embedded in agar, and chopped into 50-70 μm sections with a TC-Sorvall tissue chopper. Sections of brain stem were incubated for 1 hour in a solution of 3,3' diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride (0.05%) in 0.05M Tris buffer with 1% H2O2.

Surgical Approaches to the Brain Stem

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Y. Wen ◽  
Roberto C. Heros
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Surgical Approaches ◽  
The Brain

ADRENERGIC INPUTS TO THE AMYGDALA AND THE CONTROL OF GONADOTROPHIN RELEASE

1979 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Borrell ◽  
Flavio Piva ◽  
Luciano Martini
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stem ◽  
Dopamine Receptor ◽  
Serum Levels ◽  
Female Rats ◽  
Receptor Blocker ◽  
Dopaminergic Drug ◽  
Gonadotrophin Secretion ◽  
Biphasic Effect ◽  
Adrenergic Blocker ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACT Drugs able to mimic or to antagonize the action of catecholamines have been implanted bilaterally into the basomedial region of the amygdala of adult castrated female rats. The animals were killed at different intervals after the implantation of the different drugs, and serum levels of LH and FSH were measured by radioimmunoassay. The results have shown that the intra-amygdalar implantation of the alpha-adrenergic blocker phenoxybenzamine induces a significant increase of the release both of LH and FSH. The implantation of the beta-adrenergic blocker propranolol brings about a rise of LH only. The dopamine receptor blocker pimozide stimulates the release of LH and exerts a biphasic effect (stimulation followed by inhibition) of FSH secretion. The alpha-receptor stimulant clonidine and the dopaminergic drug 2-Br-alpha-ergocryptine were without significant effects. From these observations it is suggested that the adrenergic signals reaching the basomedial area of the amygdala (possibly from the brain stem) may be involved in the modulation of gonadotrophin secretion.

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