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Raquel E. Gur, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
School of Medicine
10 Gates Building/4283
(215) 662-2915 FAX: (215) 662-7903
email: raquel@bbl.med.upenn.edu
Click here for selected publications since Dr. Gur's arrival at Penn
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Human neuropsychology, emotion and cognitive processes, integration of neurobehavioral data with neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic data on regional brain function in healthy, neurologic and psychiatric populations; understanding sex differences in health and disease from a neurodevelopmental perspective RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
RESEARCH SUMMARY
The Gurs' work relied on established scientific findings that human emotions are stimulated and regulated through a network that extends through much of the limbic system at the base of the brain (the region encompassing the amygdala, hypothalamus and mesocorticolimbic dopamine systems), and then upward and forward into the region around the eyes and forehead (the orbital and dorsolateral frontal area), and under the temples (the parietal and temporal cortex).
The amygdala is involved in emotional behavior related to arousal and excitement, while the orbital frontal region is involved in the modulation of aggression.
The Gurs' study measured the ratio of orbital to amygdala volume in a sample of 116 right-handed, healthy adults younger than 50 years of age; 57 subjects were male and 59 were female. Once the scientists adjusted their measurements to allow for the difference between men and women in physical size, they found that the women's brains had a significantly higher volume of orbital frontal cortex in proportion to amygdala volume than did the brains of the men.
KEY WORDS:
Neuropsychology; neuroimaging; schizophrenia; brain and behavior; emotion
