Duke University
Want To Support This Program? Donate Now.The Sensory Processing and Emotion Regulation Program is the longest standing research program involved with The International Misophonia Research Network. Founded by Jennifer Jo Brout in 2008 and led by Dr. Zach Rosenthal‚ research conducted within this program investigates the relationship between auditory over-responsivity/misophonia‚ emotions‚ cognition and behavior.
NYU LeDoux Lab
Want To Support This Study? Donate Now.The goal of this research is to explore how the processing of auditory stimuli in the brain can go awry (leading some people to have aversive reactions to stimuli that most people consider innocuous). To gain a better understanding of how these averse reactions are controlled by the brain‚ we are building on our research over the past 30 years. We have shown that the brain region called the amygdala is key to such responses. One area of the amygdala ‚ the lateral nucleus‚ is involved in receiving sensory inputs and another‚ the central nucleus‚ controls the expression of responses. Over-reactivity to auditory stimuli could be due to a hypersensitive lateral amygdala or an over-reactive central amygdala.
Stephen Porges (The Polyvagal Theory)
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Polyvagal Theory makes predictions based on acoustic properties. The Polyvagal Theory proposes that subjective responses to sounds are initially (before associative learning) based on two features of the acoustic signal: pitch and variation in pitch. The theory articulates that for mammals there is a frequency band of perceptual advantage in which social communication occurs. It is within this frequency band that acoustic “safety” cues are conveyed.
Dr. Sukhbinder Kumar (Newcastle University)
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Dr. Sukhbinder Kumar and colleagues from the Institute of Neuroscience at New Castle University published a groundbreaking misophonia study in Current Biology (February‚2017). The research team measured three sets of sounds that were presented to both misophonics and to controls while they were in an MRI scanner. Sounds included typical misophonia “trigger sounds”‚ typically unpleasant sounds‚ as well as neutral sounds. Measurements of brain activity and autonomic responses (heart rate and galvanic skin response) were recorded in the MRI scanner
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