Washington, July 09: In a landmark research, neuroscientists have located the neurons responsible for fear conditioning in the mammalian brain, a development that will facilitate better understanding and treatment for human phobias and anxiety disorders.
Researchers at the University of Washington used an imaging technique, which enabled them to trace the process of neural activation in the brains of rats, to pinpoint the basolateral nucleus in the region of the brain, called the amygdala, as the place where fear conditioning is encoded.
Fear conditioning is a form of Pavlovian, or associative, learning and is considered to be a model system for understanding human phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders.
Based on the study of rats, the research was designed to look for where information about conditioned and unconditioned stimuli converges in the brain as fear memories are formed.
“By understanding the process of fear conditioning we might learn how to treat anxiety by making the conditioning weaker or to go away. It is also a tool for learning about these brain cells and the underlying mechanism of fear conditioning,” said Ilene Bernstein, author of the new study, which is published in the latest issue of PLoS One journal.
–PTI