QBI Neuroscience Seminar: The midbrain periaqueductal gray: Critical interface between the emotional and the autonomic brain

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 03 February 2016 - Wednesday, 03 February 2016

Time:

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Dr Hari Subramanian, Senior Research Fellow, Asia-Pacific Centre for Neuromodulation, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland

Title
The midbrain periaqueductal gray: Critical interface between the emotional and the autonomic brain

Abstract:

Understanding how a person’s emotional state can influence body homeostasis is an important question in neuroscience. Emotional processing has been extensively studied in forebrain structures such as the cerebral cortex, amygdala, cingulate cortex, thalamus and hippocampus but previous work has also shown that the ventral periaqueductal gray (PAG) in the midbrain is involved in processing the autonomic features associated with fear and anxiety. In this seminar I will detail our evidence that the PAG acts to modulate the autonomic nervous system during emotional expression.