How Does The Brain React To Fear?

Using computational models of the brain, researchers at University of Missouri have found new evidence on how the brain reacts to fear. The research includes important findings that could help victims of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"Computational models make it much easier to study the brain because they can effectively integrate different types of information related to a problem into a computational framework and analyse possible neural mechanisms from a systems perspective. We simulate activity and test a variety of 'what if' scenarios without having to use human subjects in a rapid and inexpensive way," said Guoshi Li, an electrical and computer engineering doctoral student. Past studies have already shown that fear can subside when overcome with fear extinction memory, but it is not permanently lost. Fear extinction is a process in which a conditioned response to a stimulant that produces fear gradually diminishes over time as subjects, such as rats in auditory fear experiments, learn to disassociate a response from a stimulus. While one theory has concluded that fear extinction memory deletes fear memory, another has concluded that fear memory is not lost, but is inhibited by extinction memory as fear can recover with the passage of time after extinction. "Fear extinction memory is not well understood, and our computational model can capture the neuron response well in rat during auditory fear conditioning with a mixture of mathematics and biophysical data," said Li.
"Our main contribution is that our model predicts that fear memory is only partially erased by extinction, and inhibition is necessary for a complete extinction, which is a reconciliation of the erasure and inhibition theories. Furthermore, our model shows that the inhibitory connection from interneurons to pyramidal cells serve as an important site for the storage of extinction memory," he added.
The fear circuit is disrupted in PTSD victims, and they cannot retrieve the fear extinction memory. However, the fear extinction memory exists, which is why the fear memory dominates every time victims get a fear cue. Li's research team is targeting the inhibitory connection in the brain that makes it possible to retrieve the extinction memory. He hopes that his research can contribute to new drugs that can help PTSD victims. "Treatment for PTSD patients depends on which connection stores the fear extinction memory and which circuit misfires. With our model, we can figure out what specific connections store fear/extinction memory and how such connections are disrupted in the pathology of PTSD, which may lead to the suggestions of new drugs to treat the disease," Li said. The study has been published in the Journal of Neurophysiology and Psychiatric Annals.

The Simplest Problem Solving Tool in the World

You can never solve a problem on the level at which it was created. - Albert Einstein

There are a great many problem solving techniques taught in both business and therapy schools, ranging from complex software simulations to Jay Haley's model of "Symptoms, metaphors, hierarchy, and power". Yet the simplest problem solving tool in the world exists inside our own minds, and we can learn to use it effectively in a matter of minutes.

Try this little experiment...
Look around the room you are in and make a mental note of everything that's blue - everything in your environment that is the color blue. Don't read any further until you've done it. (I'll wait here... :-)
Did you find lots of blue things? Remember where they are. Now fix your eyes on the screen or on the page you're reading from. Don't look around, no matter what. As soon as you finish reading this sentence, close your eyes, then mentally list everything in the room that's brown! (No peeking, now...)

How'd you do?
If you're like most people, you were only able to identify a small percentage of the brown objects in the room. That's because we human beings can only pay attention to between 5 and 9 things at a time (according to George Miller, a scientist who had an almost unhealthy obsession with these things). When those 7+/-2 bits of attention are occupied with your problem, there's no room left in your awareness to find the solution!
Any time you find yourself stuck on a problem, you can be certain of one thing:
The answer you are looking for is somewhere (anywhere) other than where you're currently focusing.
Therefore, if you want to gain an insight, solve a problem, or just get moving again, you must begin by shifting your focus.
-Psy.Visesh, 94401 35779

-విశేష

Counselling Psychologists Association

Hi Friends,

Thanks to you all for participating in the 2nd annual meet of APCPA. Here we are starting the blog to share our views. Please actively participate and enrich our association.