How does the human brain switch between survival tasks?

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Psychology Research News

Nervous System,Brain Tumor,Medical Devices

The hypothalamus is a small region of the human brain typically associated with regulating body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue, and sleep. But it also has another important role: helping the brain and body switch between different and opposing survival behaviors such as hunting prey and escaping predators, according to a new study.

Study uses fMRI scans to analyze the role of the human hypothalamus in switching between hunting and escaping behaviors in a virtual survival game

In the new study, the researchers developed artificial-intelligence-based approaches to optimize and analyze fMRI scans of the brains of 21 healthy individuals, taken over four-hour periods while people were engaged in a hunting and escaping survival game within the fMRI scanner. Participants had to control an avatar, switching between hunting prey and escaping a predator.

The authors conclude that the hypothalamus plays a key role in how the human brain switches between and coordinates survival behaviors -- a function that is important and evolutionarily advantageous. A new study has implicated several genes involved in a variety of bodily functions associated with the hypothalamus, a notoriously difficult-to-study region of the brain. The findings could help ...

Nervous System Brain Tumor Medical Devices Brain-Computer Interfaces Neuroscience Behavior Intelligence

 

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