An amygdala-cortical circuit for encoding generalized fear memories.

Generalized learning is a fundamental process observed across species, contexts, and sensory modalities that enables animals to use past experiences to adapt to changing conditions. Evidence suggests that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) extracts general features of an experience that can be used across multiple situations. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a region of the PFC, is implicated in generalized fear responses to novel contexts.

Covert variations of a musician's loudness during collective improvisation capture other musicians' attention and impact their interactions.

While research on auditory attention in complex acoustical environment is a thriving field, experimental studies thus far have typically treated participants as passive listeners. The present study-which combined real-time covert loudness manipulations and online probe detection-investigates for the first time to our knowledge, the effects of acoustic salience on auditory attention during live interactions, using musical improvisation as an experimental paradigm. We found that musicians were more likely to pay attention to a given co-performer when this performer was made sounding louder or softer; that such salient effect was not owing to the local variations introduced by our manipulations but rather likely to be driven by the more long-term context; and that improvisers tended to be more strongly and more stably coupled when a musician was made more salient.

Cultural Determinants of Body Image: What About the Menopausal Transition?

Body image is an important aspect of psychological well-being that is influenced by several biological and psychosocial risk factors. Cultural determinants of body image include the patterns of shared beliefs, values, practices, and social norms within a group that can act as a lens through which a person perceives, compares, and evaluates their body. Women tend to experience higher rates of body dissatisfaction than men, with reproductive milestones such as puberty, pregnancy, and postpartum being windows of vulnerability for body image concerns.

Efficacy of Cortisone Injection in Foot and Ankle Osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the foot and ankle is prevalent and often debilitating, necessitating effective treatment options. This study evaluates the analgesic efficacy of corticosteroid injections in individual foot and ankle joints. Stepping Hill Hospital conducted a retrospective audit of 166 patients who received guided corticosteroid injections.

Evaluation of a personalized auditory-cognitive training on the improvement of speech understanding in noise in cochlear implanted patients.

Objective: The cochlear implant is a commonly used implantable device for the auditory rehabilitation of severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. The effectiveness of the implant, depends on many factors, including intensive auditory training, which is crucial. Intelligibility in a noisy environment is a current issue and poses a major difficulty for implanted patients.