A coward born? Scientists have found a way to take down the BRAIN to give courage and remove fear
- Scientists have developed a way to monitor brain activity in real time
- They say it was used to remove fear and boost someone’s confidence
- Believes it has the potential to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias and anxiety
Scientists have developed a method that changes how someone’s brain functions to increase confidence and eradicate fears.
It is believed that the technique may have the potential to treat psychological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias and anxiety.
The technology, decoded ‘neurofeedback’, is still in its infancy, and although Japanese researchers have found it to work, it is not effective for everyone.
The team therefore published their findings in the hope that other experts could help improve the procedure.
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Scientists have developed a method that alters the functioning of a person’s brain, and it can be used to increase self-confidence and eradicate fears. In the photo an anonymous person’s brain scan
A combination of artificial intelligence and MRI imaging was used by experts from the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) in Seika, Japan.
They found an fMRI scanner could provide real-time brain activity comparable to previous recordings.
For example, the brain of a person with arachnophobia will react in a specific way when confronted with a tarantula image, which is recorded by a computer.
But the brain’s natural activity variation means that a reaction that looks the same will also occur at random times.
The technology, decoded ‘neurofeedback’, is still in its infancy, and although Japanese researchers have found it to work, it is not effective for everyone. The team therefore published their findings in the hope that other experts could help improve the procedure.
At the points where it matches the fear call, researchers gave a monetary reward to the participants.
Eventually, this positive reinforcement rewires the brain so that when the person is reactivated with a spider, they do not react in the same way.
“The simple act of giving a reward every time the pattern is detected changes the original memory or mental state,” explains dr. Mitsuo Kawato of ATR.
“It is important that participants do not have to be aware of the content of the patterns to make them work.”
Data were obtained from more than 60 people who participated in five separate studies and all the data were collected in one database.
“The decoded Neurofeedback approach can have major benefits for clinical populations over traditional treatments,” said Dr. Aurelio Cortese said.
‘Patients can avoid the stress associated with exposure therapies or side effects due to established drugs.
“As such, it is crucial that we accelerate the development of the Decoded Neurofeedback technique – and this will only be possible if more scientists are able to work on the actual data.”
The full findings are available in Scientific Data.