Scientists have used scenes from horror movies to identify a key neural pathway in humans that explains how our brain processes feelings of fear and anxiety, a finding that could help unlock new ways to treat mental health disorders.
People are motivated to remember fearful events, because this information is useful for daily survival. Yet over-interpretation of fear may lead to anxiety and other mental disorders, researchers said.
Until now, the brain circuit underlying fear has only been mapped in rodents.
Now, researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in the US have recorded neuronal activity using electrodes inserted into the amygdala and hippocampus of nine people as they watched scenes from horror movies to stimulate
the recognition of fear.
