A new study reports a single dose of ketamine given a week before a stressful even can act as a buffer against PTSD.
Using optogenetics to stimulate different areas of the hippocampus has the ability to enhance or suppress memories in mice. The findings could have implications for suppressing memories associated with traumatic events in PTSD, and also in enhancing cognitive ability or improving memory for those with neurodegenerative diseases, in the future.
Researchers report scary movies can have a residual anxiety effect years after people watch them.
Following exposure to visual stimuli, the neurons activated by the stimuli remain more active during subsequent sleep. Sleep is vital for these neurons to connect an emotional or fearful memory to a sensory event.
A new mouse study reveals males recall fearful memories better than females. Researchers attribute the difference to the gene Cdk5, which has previously been implicated in creating fear memories and stress behaviors. The study reports Cdk5 is naturally activated in males, but not females.
A new study reveals the amygdala has distinct neurons that can judge ambiguity and intensity of facial expressions.
Those with anxiety escape from non-imminent threats of danger sooner than those who are not anxious.
Researchers report worms can learn to activate a defense mechanism that protects cells from damage.
From designing drugs to help suppress traumatic memories, to harnessing the power of heartbeats, researchers are searching for new therapies to help people overcome their fears and phobias.
A new study provides proof that the amygdala is not the only gatekeeper of fear in the human brain. Other regions, such as the brainstem, diencephalon, or insular cortex, could sense the body’s most primal inner signals of danger when basic survival is threatened.
Discovery about fear pathways in the brains of worms could have implications for better understanding anxiety in humans, researchers report.
Study provides insight into the neural mechanisms of how prey animals use the sounds or actions of others to infer danger and respond defensively.
