MARION — Neuroscientist Sage Aronson will talk about the causes of depression, how the teenage brain works and steps toward preventing depression at a young age at Tabor Academy on Feb. 11. 

Aronson is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, where he studies how the brain processes stimuli. He also studies and how the of these systems can lead to depression if they are not properly regulated. In 2017, he started a company, Neurophotometrics, that makes imaging devices to record how signals spread through the brain.

Many parts of the brain are involved in determining whether a particular experience or action is perceived to be good or bad. Our ability to appropriately assign these signals is
fundamental to our everyday life. But what happens when this delicately-balanced circuitry gets thrown out of balance? 

Aronson will provide an overview of what we know about how the brain assigns and processes experiences, how individual symptoms of depression can be caused by the up- or down-regulation of individual parts of this circuitry, and steps experts can take to help prevent depression.

The lecture is free and open to the public on Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lyndon South Auditorium in the Stroud Academic Center.