Brain and Emotions Research at UW-Madison
Science of Emotions Home | University Communications | UW Home | Feedback
   

Research in progress

Resilience in the face of later-life challenges
In later life, people may experience more of life's slings and arrows, including health problems, loss of loved ones and less engagement with the world. This project looks at the health and well-being of 150 older women who have recently gone through the difficult experience of community relocation.

Prior UW research has shown that some members of this group have been remarkably resilient and upbeat during this transition, while others experience set backs. This research teases out some of the health-related correlations with resilience, and may show the way to delaying or preventing some diseases and mental health problems associated with later life.

Brain circuits linked to coping with stress
Sophisticated scanning technology is giving scientists an insider's view of the precise brain circuits that produce and control emotional reactions. UW researchers are going further by correlating individual differences in the circuitry of emotion with physiological measures. Now they are examining the anatomy and activity of brain circuits linked to resilience and vulnerability in the older women participating in the later-life-challenges project described above.

In another part of the study, before and after scans will be taken of the women who learn and practice meditation to see if it produces biological changes in the brain that make it easier to cope with stress.

Group exercise for women with breast cancer
Group support sessions can be beneficial for both the mental and physical health of patients with cancer; what about exercise? Building on the proven benefits of exercise in treating heart disease, arthritis and stroke, this study examines the effects of a group exercise training program for postmenopausal women with newly diagnosed breast cancer. Women enrolled in the study participate in a 16-week training program individually tailored to each of them. Initial results are showing significant improvements in physical fitness and psychological well-being.

Getting to the sources of fear and anxiety
Children with anxious temperaments are at risk of developing anxiety, depression and related disorders as adults. Wisconsin emotion researchers have been studying defensive behaviors in monkeys to better understand the related temperament that may put humans at risk, including extreme shyness, excessive anxiety and exaggerated fearfulness. The researchers have found that chronically fearful and anxious monkeys have specific patterns of brain electrical activity as well as elevated levels of two kinds of stress hormones. Their latest study challenges the existing theory that the brain structure called the amygdala controls all fear and anxiety responses. The findings show that in primates, the amygdala is involved in acute fear responses, but doesn't appear to play a role in anxiety responses that may be present from early in life and related to general temperament.

Brain responses to antidepressants
A new drug called venlafaxine is proving to be very successful clinically in treating depression, but how exactly does it affect brain function? This study uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques to establish how antidepressants such as venlafaxine can reverse the brain alterations that are associated with depression. The study also explores how treatment with medications may change depressed patients' responses to positive and negative stimuli.

Fearful temperament points to vulnerability
The free-ranging male monkeys of Cayo Santiago, a small island off Puerto Rico, provide a unique opportunity to study biological factors associated with different kinds of emotional and social styles because they normally go through a highly stressful event during adolescence that results in death for 25 percent of them. UW researchers have identified monkeys for whom this process is especially difficult and have found that the animals have fearful temperaments as well as specific brain activity and hormone levels related to elevated stress. Additional physiological measures will be taken to learn which constellation of factors may make some monkeys more vulnerable to stress and more susceptible to disease than others.

Measuring the power of positive outlooks
Diagnosis with a serious illness can be overwhelming, but some people make a remarkable adjustment and manage to sustain a positive outlook and a sense of psychological well-being. This study compares symptoms and physiology in women with two debilitating conditions, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, with the goal of determining the benefits of maintaining a positive emotional outlook.

In a second phase of the study, half the women in each group will be taught a special type of meditation. Differences will be compared between the two groups in pain sensitivity, immune response and measures of psychological health.

The social and economic influences on mental health
Scientists are finding evidence of how positive attitudes and emotions can be a protective factor for health, but until now not much attention has been paid to understanding the way social factors influence positive mental functioning. For example, lower income and lower occupational status groups are typically held in lower social regard and are exposed to more stressful life conditions that potentially make it harder for them to feel happy and in control of their lives.

This study takes stock of social influences on the mind, tapping information from three large population studies: the National Survey of Families and Households, the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Midlife.


  		 
Science of Emotions Home | University Communications | UW Home | Feedback
 

Maintained by University Communications
Send questions or comments to
Copyright © 2001 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System