{"id":165209,"date":"2025-08-25T11:49:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T11:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/they-find-out-how-the-brain-manages-to-overcome-the-memories-that-cause-fear\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T11:49:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T11:49:50","slug":"they-find-out-how-the-brain-manages-to-overcome-the-memories-that-cause-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/they-find-out-how-the-brain-manages-to-overcome-the-memories-that-cause-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"They find out how the brain manages to overcome the memories that cause fear."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/picture>
The finding of coordination between the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex provides new keys on the control of fear in humans (Infobae Illustrative Image)<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

An international team of scientists has made a significant breakthrough in understanding how the human brain deals with fear. This research, recently published<\/b><\/a> in Nature Human Behaviour<\/i>, identified the essential \u00a0coordination\u00a0 between \u00a0deep regions\u00a0 of the human brain<\/b><\/a> that facilitates the \u00a0formation of new memory fingerprints\u00a0 during the process of extinguishing fear.<\/p>\n

The scientists believe that this research opens the door for optimizing \u00a0therapies\u00a0 aimed at treating anxiety disorders by revealing specific mechanisms that interrelate with \u00a0behavioral adaptation\u00a0 and \u00a0clinical treatment\u00a0.<\/p>\n

Conducted at the Piti\u00e9 Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re hospital in Paris and the China South University of Guangzhou Hospital, this study involved intracranial recordings from 49 epilepsy patients. The collaboration spanned across \u00a0Spain\u00a0, \u00a0Germany\u00a0, \u00a0France\u00a0, and \u00a0China\u00a0, employing \u00a0intracranial electroencephalography (IEEG)\u00a0, which allows for high-resolution monitoring of activities in areas such as the \u00a0amygdala\u00a0, \u00a0hippocampus\u00a0, and \u00a0prefrontal cortex\u00a0. This advanced technique surpassed traditional non-invasive methods by offering detailed insight into the brain’s fear-learning pathways.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/picture>
The importance of contextual specificity in the extinction of fear highlights the complexity of inhibitory memories (Infobae illustrative image)<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

One of the study\u2019s major revelations is that \u00a0extinction of fear\u00a0 does not erase the original memory; instead, it fosters the creation of a \u00a0new inhibitory memory\u00a0 that is heavily context-dependent. This new memory enables a coordinated response from the \u00a0amygdala\u00a0, \u00a0hippocampus\u00a0, and \u00a0prefrontal cortex\u00a0 to suppress previously learned fear responses.<\/p>\n

During the research, participants were shown images of objects believed to be electric, some of which were associated with an \u00a0aversive stimulus\u00a0\u2014a loud cry paired with a negative facial expression. In the first phase, they learned to link certain images to threats. Later, during the extinction phase, these associations were modified, allowing researchers to observe how well patients could \u00a0adjust their expectations and responses\u00a0 in light of the change in stimuli.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/picture>
The international study used intracranial electroencephalography to access deep brain regions and analyze key processes in behavioral adaptation (Infobae illustrative image)<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The findings indicate that all stimuli were presented in various visual contexts using an ABC paradigm to evaluate the \u00a0contextual specificity of the memories\u00a0. The behavioral results demonstrated that participants learned and updated their threat responses relative to the stimuli and contexts; however, complete elimination of fear was not achieved, emphasizing the persistence of the original memory while showing the \u00a0coexistence of both memory traces\u00a0.<\/p>\n

From a neurophysiological perspective, the research team identified an increase in \u00a0theta oscillations (4\u201312 Hz)\u00a0 in the amygdala during the extinction phase when considering stimuli viewed as safe. This finding was interpreted as a specific safety signal pertaining to the context of extinction, differing from earlier studies where increased theta was predominantly linked to fear acquisition.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/picture>
The results suggest that the generalization of extinction memory could reduce relapses in treatments against anxiety disorders (Infobae illustrative image)<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The study also showed that neuronal representations of safe stimuli were more stable in the amygdala and temporal sensory regions during \u00a0extinction\u00a0, indicating effective memory consolidation contingent on specific contexts. Analysis of brain coordination revealed that \u00a0synchronization\u00a0 between the amygdala, hippocampus, and lateral prefrontal cortex intensified during extinction, particularly when stimuli were presented in the learning context.<\/p>\n

The lateral prefrontal cortex’s contextual specificity was correlated with a higher likelihood of \u00a0reinstating\u00a0 fear memory later. According to the researchers, the interplay between fear memory and extinction memory holds significant clinical implications, influencing phenomena such as fear renewal and extinction recovery.<\/p>\n

The importance of \u00a0contextual specificity\u00a0 in extinction memory cannot be overstated. When extinction memory is context-dependent, fear can return in altered environments (“renewal”). Conversely, if the extinction memory becomes dominant, safety responses are more generalized.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/picture>
The consolidation of inhibitory memory depends on specific neuronal patterns, with theta oscillations in the amygdala marking safety (Infobae Illustrative Image)<\/figcaption><\/div>\n

The experts involved in the study stated, “The contextual specificity during extinction learning predicts the reappearance of fear memory footprints, while the reappearance of extinction memory footprints predicts safety responses.” This understanding opens the door for developing more effective treatments for anxiety and fear-related disorders, emphasizing the brain\u2019s complex mechanisms involved in \u00a0fear management\u00a0.<\/p>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The finding of coordination between the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex provides new keys on the control of fear in humans (Infobae Illustrative Image) An international team of scientists has made a significant breakthrough in understanding how the human brain deals with fear. This research, recently published in Nature Human Behaviour, identified the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":165210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2144,624,54,10263,2670,9158],"class_list":["post-165209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mazagine","tag-brain","tag-fear","tag-find","tag-manages","tag-memories","tag-overcome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}