Scientists have discovered how the brain suppresses and eliminates instinctual fear.

In a new study, scientists identified how the brain can suppress instinctual fears.

Although fear is critical for survival, understanding how this emotion subsides when there is no real danger is also important. Scientists revealed in their study published in the journal Science how the brain manages this process. Researchers conducted experiments on mice, scaring them with a shadow simulation to observe how the fear disappeared.

It was observed that after 30 to 50 trials, the mice returned to their normal behaviors. The team monitoring brain activity determined which regions were involved as the mice learned to suppress their fears.

These studies showed that the visual cortex played a key role in the initial stages, and after fear suppression, information and memories were stored in the previously unexplored ventrolateral geniculate nucleus (vLGN) region of the brain. Sara Mederos, who led the study, stated that this discovery could help develop new treatment methods for disorders such as phobias, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The team highlighted that these findings offer a new understanding of how the brain suppresses fear and through similar neural pathways in the human brain, these insights could create treatment opportunities for mental health issues associated with fear.