Know Thy Positive Self

Hermans, E. J., van Marle, H. J. F., Ossewaarde, L., Henckens, M. J. A. G., Qin, S., van Kesteren, M. T. R., . . . Fernández, G. (2011). Stress-Related Noradrenergic Activity Prompts Large-Scale Neural Network Reconfiguration. Science, 334(6059), 1151-1153. doi:10.1126/science.1209603 After re-read this paper I think I get more information from it. This study included two experiments, one regular fMRI study, one with Neuro-pharmaceutical manipulations. In the first experiment, participants viewed highly stressful video clips with self-referential instruction while their brain was scanned. Using model free data-analysis (i.e., multi-voxel), the authors found that the sensory network (visual cortex) are highly correlated among participants in both aversive and neutral conditions. However, brain regions previous claimed to be involved in the intrinsic connectivity network (ICN, include autonomic neuroendocrine control [frontoinsular cortex, dorsal anterior cingulate corte...

Chen, J., Leong, Y. C., Honey, C. J., Yong, C. H., Norman, K. A., & Hasson, U. (2017). Shared memories reveal shared structure in neural activity across individuals. Nat Neurosci, 20(1), 115-125. doi:10.1038/nn.4450 How memory is formed and retrieved is one of the most "hard-core" questions in cognitive neuroscience. Recently, a paper published in  Nature Neuroscience found that the pattern of neural activity when recalling memorized information across individuals is more similar than the neural pattern between encoding-recall.  In this study, participants are required to view two video clips that were extracted from TV series "Sherlock", then they recall the episode of the video without any cues. That's, free-viewing, free-recalling. Like we view a TV and then tell it to a friend, but in a fMRI scanner.  The authors found that the neural activities in certain brain regions during viewing and recalling are highly correlated, including the  defa...