Imagine that you have watched a horror movie. Surely, some of the terrifying scenes in the script will stay in your thoughts for a long time, scaring you and making you fear the dark. Have you ever stopped to think about how fear gets “stuck” in our brain? Scientists at a Swedish university seem to have the answer.
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The study was carried out in mice by scientists at the University of Linköping and published in the journal “Molecular Psychiatry”. According to the publication, an identified biological mechanism may be the key to making fear accompany us for so long.
Before, we must put fear in a clean dish and assume publicly: it is important. It is thanks to this feeling that we manage to escape circumstances that can threaten our life.
However, more than that he becomes unpleasant. Then, fear becomes an obstacle for us to live normally, as in situations of extreme anxiety or stress post-traumatic, causing people to have exaggerated responses in times of stress or when some trigger activates a fear memory.
When we go through a situation that causes us fear, some regions in our brain are activated. The first of these is the amygdala, along with the prefrontal cortex, regions that work in emotional regulation.
For the study, the researchers investigated a protein called PRDM2, which suppresses the expression of many genes. And that's where the answer to how fear gets stuck in our brain can live.
Before we continue, we need context: scientists have already discovered that levels of this protein are less in people with alcohol dependence, also leading to exaggerated responses in situations of stress. As it is common for substance abuse and anxiety to go hand in hand, researchers suspected that the mechanism was similar and had a common link.
For new memories to last, they need to be stabilized and preserved as long-term memories in our brains. In this study, scientists investigated the effects of reduced levels of PRDM2 on how fear memories undergo this process.
According to Estelle Barbier, one of the researchers who conducted the study and a professor at the University of Linköping, increased activity in the network between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala also increases response to fear.
"We show that down-regulated PRDM2 increases the consolidation of fear-related memories," she explained.
In addition, the researchers also identified the genes that are affected when PRDM2 levels are reduced. So, the result of increased activity of nerve cells that connect the frontal lobes and the amygdala was proven.
If increasing protein causes more fear reactions, would it be right to increase it to make us less sensitive to trauma? Not exactly.
Barbier stated that we still don't have biological ways to increase PRDM2. “However, this mechanism is only part of the explanation of why individuals are more vulnerable to conditions related to anxiety“, he completed.
So far, scientists at the Swedish university have been able to conclude that some people may be predisposed to developing pathological fears. Furthermore, more research still needs to be done.
Graduated in Social Communication at the Federal University of Goiás. Passionate about digital media, pop culture, technology, politics and psychoanalysis.
