FeaturedNeurosciencePsychology·October 19, 2020·6 min readFear and Anxiety Share Same Bases in BrainFear 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
FeaturedNeuroscience·September 21, 2020·4 min readThe Overlap Between Fear and Anxiety Brain CircuitsStudy provides contrary evidence to existing theory, finding anxiety and fear reflect overlapping neural circuits.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·September 19, 2020·6 min readHow Fear Persists in the Mouse BrainWhen 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
FeaturedOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology·August 2, 2020·5 min readTranscranial Stimulation to Prevent Fear Memories From ReturningRepetitive 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
FeaturedOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology·July 31, 2020·4 min readPandemic Leads to Higher Depression, Anxiety and FearDuring the early months of the coronavirus pandemic, people reported an increase in symptoms of depression, fear, anxiety, psychological trauma, and suicidal ideations.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·July 13, 2020·3 min readWhy Are Memories Attached to Emotions so Strong?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
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology·July 9, 2020·6 min readHow Fear Transforms into AnxietyIn anxiety, neural activity becomes elevated across many specific brain regions, and normal coordination between the networks becomes decreased.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·May 21, 2020·3 min readBrain’s ‘updating mechanisms’ may create false memoriesNew evidence suggests the brain can update poorly formed memories with incorrect information, leading to the creation of false memories.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology·May 16, 2020·4 min readAcute stress may slow down the spread of fearsStress alters how we process and share risky information. Researchers report people were less likely to amplify fears in conversations when they were feeling stressed.Read More
Auditory NeuroscienceFeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·May 12, 2020·2 min readHow the brain responds to the sudden sound of silent dangerStudy provides insight into the neural mechanisms of how prey animals use the sounds or actions of others to infer danger and respond defensively.Read More
FeaturedGeneticsNeurosciencePsychology·May 4, 2020·3 min readExtinguishing fearful memories depends on the flexibility of your DNAThe ability to extinguish fear memories may rely on the flexibility of a person's DNA.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience ArticlesPsychology·March 13, 2020·3 min readHow associative fear memory is formed in the brainThe formation of fear memories involves the strengthening of neural pathways between the hippocampus and the amygdala.Read More