Pnoc neurons in the BNST trigger pupillary response and increase heart rate in response to anxiety and fear. Read More
Sleep deprivation reduces the brain's ability to unlearn fear-related memories, a new study reports. Read More
Study reveals the globus pallidus plays a critical role in fear processing. Read More
The expression of the CREB gene may function as a switch to regulate fear and extinction learning. The findings could provide a new avenue of treatment for PTSD and other mental health disorders. Read More
Study reveals a key role for the ventromedial hypothalamus in fight or flight behaviors. Findings suggest the ventromedial hypothalamus alters in response to social experiences. Read More
Haunted house experiment shows "just the right" amount of fear is key to maximizing enjoyment. Read More
Fear and anxiety share overlapping neural circuits. The findings contradict the popular belief that anxiety and fear are distinct emotions with different triggers and segregated brain circuits. Read More
Study provides contrary evidence to existing theory, finding anxiety and fear reflect overlapping neural circuits. Read More
When a mouse senses a threat, neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus become activated and remain active for ten seconds after the threat is removed. Fear responses could be induced by artificially stimulating these neurons. Artificially silencing the neurons reduced fear behavior. Read More
Repetitive transcranial memory stimulation applied to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modifies the negative effects of fear memories. The findings could have implications for the treatment of PTSD. Read More
During the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, people reported an increase in symptoms of depression, fear, anxiety, psychological trauma, and suicidal ideations. Read More
Hippocampal neurons that respond to fearful stimuli relay that information to the amygdala. These neurons synchronize when memories of the stimuli are later recalled. The synchrony is critical to establish fear memories and the greater the synchrony, the stronger the memory becomes. Read More