Why We Hate the Sound of Chewing Food or a Pen Clicking Repeatedly

For the first time, University in Britain researchers have demonstrated a difference in brain structure and function in sufferers for people with misophonia.

Ever wondered why the sound of people chewing food, breathing off, a pen clicking repeatedly irritate you? It may be because of an abnormality in the emotional control mechanism which causes the brain to go into overdrive on hearing such trigger sounds, say researchers led by one of Indian-origin.

The findings showed that the brains of people with such condition -- known as misophonia or hatred of trigger sounds -- showed a physical difference in the frontal lobe between the cerebral hemispheres -- with higher myelination in the grey matter of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC).

Revolutionary Approach for Treating a Common and Aggressive Brain Cancer
Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are the standard of care for glioblastoma, and that hasn't changed in three decades.

‘The brains of people with a condition known as misophonia or hatred of trigger sounds showed a physical difference in the frontal lobe between the cerebral hemispheres.’

"For many people with misophonia, for the first time we have demonstrated a difference in brain structure and function in sufferers," said Sukhbinder Kumar at Newcastle University in Britain.

Further, the study, published in the journal Current Biology, also showed abnormal connections between this frontal-lobe area and an area called the anterior insular cortex (AIC) -- known to be involved in processing emotions and integrating signals both from the body and outside world.

In misophonic participants, the trigger sounds increased activity in both brain areas, while in normal participants, the increase was seen only in the AIC, not in the frontal area.

Deep Brain Stimulation can be Useful for Treatment of Addiction
It has been very difficult to reduce heroin-seeking and -taking in an animal model because heroin is an addictive drug.

This reflects an abnormality of a control mechanism between the frontal lobe and AIC, the researchers said.

"We now have evidence to establish the basis for the disorder through the differences in brain control mechanism in misophonia. This will suggest therapeutic manipulations and encourage a search for similar mechanisms in other conditions associated with abnormal emotional reactions," added Tim Griffiths, professor at Newcastle University.

Mini-Brains That can Grow Blood Vessels Hold Promise for Advancing Medical Research
Brain vasculature is important because the brain sometimes attempts to redesign its vasculature in some diseases and brain injury to compensate for what's happening.

The trigger sound was also found to evoke a heightened physiological response with increased heart rate and sweating in people with misophonia, the researchers noted.

Source-IANS

Two Brain Networks Influence How We Make Decisions
New study sheds light on the networks that determine how quickly we choose an option, and how much information we need to make that choice.