Ascona 2014 manifold roles of mast cells for positive emotionality

After underscoring the uniqueness of mast cells for neuroscience this poster presented at the 2014 conference on Brain circuits for POSITIVE EMOTIONS at the Centro Franscini on Monte Verità (Ascona) refers to the possible role of thalamic mast cells in modulating the Cortico-thalamo-subcortico-cortical loops and specifically of the paraventricular thalamic nucleus. Stimulation of pvNclThal seems to cause "sign-tracking" in rats which corresponds to Uncertainty-Orientation in humans (R. Sorrentino), the prime motivator. A new function of positive emotion in relation to "thinking about signs for better modeling" might be to sharpen personal cognitive stile, which is modulated via pvNclThal.