Can’t Stop Worrying? Blame It on Your Habenula
6:28 minutes
For some people, it’s hard to shake that feeling of worry and dread. Reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers say a pea-sized region of the brain called the habenula keeps track of our expectations of negative events. Neuroscience researcher Rebecca Lawson discusses how the habenula can affect motivation and what this might mean for treating depression.
Rebecca Lawson is a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at University College London in London, United Kingdom.
Alexa Lim was a senior producer for Science Friday. Her favorite stories involve space, sound, and strange animal discoveries.