Neuroscientists Discover Why the Memory of Fear Is Seared Into Our Brains
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Loading... - Patrik Krenn
- 04 Jul 2022
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The research was conducted by a team of neuroscientists from universities.
Experiencing a frightening event is likely something you’ll never forget. But why does it stay with you when other kinds of occurrences become increasingly difficult to recall with the passage of time?
Norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, is a chemical made by some nerve cells and in the adrenal gland. It can function as both a neurotransmitter (a chemical messenger used by nerve cells) and a hormone (a chemical that travels in the blood and controls the actions of other cells or organs). Norepinephrine is released by the adrenal gland in response to stress and low blood pressure.
A team of neuroscientists from the University School of Science and Engineering and University School of Medicine has been studying the formation of fear memories in the emotional hub of the brain – the amygdala — and think they have discovered a mechanism.
In a nutshell, the scientists found that the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine, also called noradrenaline, facilitates fear processing in the brain by stimulating a certain population of inhibitory neurons in the amygdala to generate a repetitive bursting pattern of electrical discharges. This bursting pattern of electrical activity changes the frequency of brain wave oscillation in the amygdala from a resting state to an aroused state that promotes the formation of fear memories.
Published recently in the journal Nature Communications, the research was led by cell and molecular biology professor Jeffrey Tasker, the Catherine and Hunter Pierson Chair in Neuroscience, and his PhD student Xin Fu.
Tasker used the example of experiencing an armed robbery. “If you are held up at gunpoint, your brain secretes a bunch of the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine, akin to an adrenaline rush,” he said. Read More...
