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.
Within four hours of using a new virtual reality smartphone app, those with a fear of heights report a significant reduction of their fears in real-life situations.
Infant children whose mothers experienced neglect when they were young showed altered brain circuitry in areas associated with anxiety and fear response.
Pnoc neurons in the BNST trigger pupillary response and increase heart rate in response to anxiety and fear.
Sleep deprivation reduces the brain's ability to unlearn fear-related memories, a new study reports.
Study reveals the globus pallidus plays a critical role in fear processing.
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.
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.
Haunted house experiment shows "just the right" amount of fear is key to maximizing enjoyment.
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.
Study provides contrary evidence to existing theory, finding anxiety and fear reflect overlapping neural circuits.
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.
