Northwestern Medicine investigators have uncovered new insights into the synaptic connections of subgroups of interneurons, findings that may improve the understanding of fear responses and could ...

Have you ever felt a chill run down your spine while watching someone else in distress? This phenomenon, known as vicarious fear, allows us to experience fear by observing others—even when we are not ...

A newly reported study suggests that fear and the immune system are connected in previously unknown ways. Results from the preclinical research, headed by scientists at Mass General Brigham, showed ...

Neuroscientists identify a CRF-neuron "switch" in the brain's BNST region that, when activated, allows for significantly faster unlearning of fear responses.

After just a single shock, the fear-conditioning hadn't been hardwired, and the rats quickly ventured back into the dimly lit areas. However, after a second experience of being shocked with higher ...

A new study reveals that people with high psychopathic traits don't lack fear. Instead, their hearts race during scary situations, but their brains uniquely interpret this physical arousal as an ...

The stress-induced mechanisms that cause our brain to produce feelings of fear in the absence of threats -- such as in PTSD -- have been mostly a mystery. Now, neurobiologists have identified the ...

The left panel depicts direct fear, in which a mouse experiences an immediate threat such as a predator or footshocks, leading to robust defensive reactions and activation of survival circuits. The ...