Panic disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by sudden, unexpected bouts of intense, irrational fear and symptoms such as difficulty breathing, a racing heart, sweating, and dizziness.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is caused by a traumatic event that results in symptoms which can impact mood, memory, cognition, behavior, arousal, and more.

Mental disorders, or psychiatric disorders, can develop from both genetic and environmental factors — impacting behavior, mood, and cognition.

As the connections between neurons change, homeostatic plasticity maintains the balance.

Key areas in your brain help you to weigh values, understand rules, make plans, and form predictions about the outcomes of your choices.

And other neuroscience news you may have missed in April 2023.

Social neuroscience refers to the study of neural functions underlying our understanding of interpersonal behavior, social rules, socially appropriate choices, and our sense of self and others.

Our executive function is our higher-level processing which mainly occurs in the prefrontal cortex — helping us with impulse control, working memory, and mental flexibility.

Two physicians — Pierre Paul Broca and Carl Wernicke — provided pivotal insights from patients with brain damage, demonstrating how particular regions influence language production and comprehension.

Specialized and organized regions of our brains can work together to build hierarchical, connected representations of concepts — helping us construct meaning.