Geneva scientists research priority setting in the brain
Published: Monday, Jun 24th 2024, 12:50
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The hippocampus region of the brain processes immediate tasks differently to distant tasks. The brain thus sets priorities based on the time frame available for different activities. According to a Geneva research team, this finding could have implications for understanding depression.
This is because depressed people may perceive the distance to a destination differently than people without depression, according to a press release issued by the University of Geneva on Monday.
For their study, which was published in the journal "Nature Communications", the researchers wanted to find out more about how the brain sorts which targets require immediate attention and which do not.
To do this, the researchers asked 31 test subjects to imagine that they had to prepare for a four-year space mission to Mars. The preparation included activities such as taking care of their helmets, exercising and eating certain foods.
During the course of the fictitious mission, the participants were repeatedly presented with the same task list. They were then asked to indicate whether these were past, present or future tasks.
Meanwhile, the researchers examined what was happening in the brains of the test subjects. This showed that the hippocampus was activated in its posterior area when retrieving information about the present. When remembering past tasks or tasks to be achieved in the future, the front area was activated.
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