Uploaded February 2019 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
QBI researchers have discovered a DNA modification that enhances our ability to extinguish fear.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, could help guide the development of new treatments for fear-related anxiety disorders.
Professor Tim Bredy explains that while fear is an important survival mechanism in which cues in the environment tell us to respond in certain ways, so too is the ability to inhibit fear when it’s no longer needed.
“You still want to have that memory of ‘there’s something dangerous there, I want to be careful,’ but you don’t want it to compromise your ability to function normally,” he says.
Fear extinction works as a counter-balance to fear. It involves the creation of new non-fearful memories with similar environmental elements that compete with the original fear memory.
The balance between fear and fear-extinction is critical to cognitive flexibility, enabling the brain to rapidly adapt to changing conditions, says Prof Bredy.
Moreover, a key feature in both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias is an impairment in fear extinction.
Read more: https://qbi.uq.edu.au/article/2019/02/extinguishing-fear-memories-relies-unusual-change-dna
Queensland Brain Institute | http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au
Facebook | fb.me/qldbraininstitute
Twitter | twitter.com/qldbraininst
Instagram | instagram.com/qldbraininstitute
SoundCloud | soundcloud.com/qldbraininstitute
LinkedIn | linkedin.com/company/queensland-brain-institute
QBI researchers have discovered a DNA modification that enhances our ability to extinguish fear.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, could help guide the development of new treatments for fear-related anxiety disorders.
Professor Tim Bredy explains that while fear is an important survival mechanism in which cues in the environment tell us to respond in certain ways, so too is the ability to inhibit fear when it’s no longer needed.
“You still want to have that memory of ‘there’s something dangerous there, I want to be careful,’ but you don’t want it to compromise your ability to function normally,” he says.
Fear extinction works as a counter-balance to fear. It involves the creation of new non-fearful memories with similar environmental elements that compete with the original fear memory.
The balance between fear and fear-extinction is critical to cognitive flexibility, enabling the brain to rapidly adapt to changing conditions, says Prof Bredy.
Moreover, a key feature in both post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias is an impairment in fear extinction.
Read more: https://qbi.uq.edu.au/article/2019/02/extinguishing-fear-memories-relies-unusual-change-dna
Queensland Brain Institute | http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au
Facebook | fb.me/qldbraininstitute
Twitter | twitter.com/qldbraininst
Instagram | instagram.com/qldbraininstitute
SoundCloud | soundcloud.com/qldbraininstitute
LinkedIn | linkedin.com/company/queensland-brain-institute
