The annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience will begin in just a few short weeks - from October 13 through the 16th in New Orleans. This will be the first time the annual meeting has been in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. While I attend the meeting I'll provide some posts to this blog about the interesting research highlights and events.
Besides myself, several graduates of Washington College will be presenting scientific posters at the conference. They are:
Caitlin Orsini ('07) - Ph.D. University of Michigan
Elaine Pranski ('07) - Ph.D. Emory University
Lisa Gavrushenko ('10) - University of Maryland School of Medicine
Nikki Scutella ('10) - University of Maryland School of Medicine
Just for fun: Can you identify what is depicted in the logo for the annual meeting above?
While attending a recent conference on the west coast, I had some time to read the New York Times and my interest was peaked by the headline on the story below:
Here is a synopsis of the news report. Gary Cossey had pleaded guilty to to a single count of possessing child pornography. At the sentencing hearing expert psychologists for the defendant testified that Mr. Cossey was not a high risk repeat offender in-part because he had voluntarily been participating in therapy sessions with signs of responding positively to therapeutic interventions.
Nevertheless, the judge rejected these arguments because it was very likely that Cossey would commit repeated offenses stating: "It is a gene you were born with. And it is not a gene you can get rid of," Judge Gary Sharpe then sentenced Cossey to a prison term of 6.5-years, a life term of supervised release, and a $100 court fee.
However, a court of appeals overturned the sentence* because there was no evidence to support the assertion that Cossey would inevitably repeat his offenses due to a child pornography gene. Neither is there undisputed evidence that such a gene exist. The appeals court then ordered that another judge be appointed to preside over a re-sentencing hearing to determine a Cossey's final jail sentence.
But what if there were such a gene? What if it were not a trait that was expressed according to classic laws of Mendelian inheritance, but was a polygenetic trait? Would it be the case in either instance that a person with this gene or genes would inevitably be either a consumer or purveyor of child pornography?
Recent research from the University of Iowa substantiates the important role the the amygdala serves in the perception of fear. But questions regarding the role of the amygdala in the expression of emotions have persisted. A recent study provides an answer.
For decades, investigators have been trying to identify how the brain encodes and decodes environmental and social stimuli related to various emotions (e.g., disgust, happiness, anger, sadness, surprise). In the process they have debated whether or not there are just a few fundamental emotions from which all emotions may be derived, much like the manner in which primary colors may be combined with black to create a range of colors and hues, and if so, what might these basic emotion be. Investigators have also sought to determine if such basic emotions are cultural universals.
One of the emotions that has been considered fundamental is the emotion of fear. Does the cover from the journal Nature above to the right appear to be an image that conveys fear?
