The brain learns fear from other people's faces

Regardless of whether you are stung by a bee or if you see your friend, you will start running or find somewhere to hide if you hear its buzz. A new study shows why you do that: it proves the areas of the brain that react when recognizing your fears and from there are also triggered when you see others frightened.

The study, detailed in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, explains why some people are afraid of spiders or snakes, rarely contacting them.

Recognize fear

Participants studied a short video of a person placed in a state of fear, nerve stimulation - often something that people are not afraid of - will go along with what they often object to And this is a case of electric shock.

The character on the film is watching the colored squares on the computer screen, when a blue image appears, the person slightly jerks, and when a yellow square appears, there is no twitch. . Participants responded to this when blue appeared by moving the muscles tight and tight, while moving their hands.

Apparently this person was uncomfortable, he was in a state of extreme anxiety. A research member Professor Andreas Olsson of Columbia University said that research shows that he was in a state of anxiety before receiving the vibration, you can see how they approximate to receive vibrate.

(Photo: Ibiblio.org)

In contrast, when watching the yellow square appear unexpectedly, the audience is still comfortable, the study participants said they were in a similar situation when given a blue image, responding to fear. by anticipating the vibrations even though they have never really been frightened, they identify themselves with their own fear only by watching.

The fearful reactions of the subjects are measured by the amount of sweat poured out.

Reaction from the brain

The indirect identification of feedback from the brain, in experiments with previously limited conditions, is directly recognized, a part of the brain called amine is proven to be very important in development and show fear.

Experts have conducted monitoring of the brain activity of each study participant, the image depicted shows that the tonsils react when subjects watch videos of how to take on the fear of a person. when they see the blue squares themselves.

Professor Olsson said he discovered that tonsils were related to whether you were afraid of other people and that you might also get fear immediately afterwards. And it seems that the same processes in the brain will activate when directly experiencing fear and observing others.

In the real world

Studies can explain why people are afraid of things in horror movies or why children are afraid of snakes, spiders or even fear of other strains after seeing their parents' fearful reactions.

According to Professor Olsson, you can identify your fears by observing other people's emotional expressions and what it means to have an impact or that you have directly experienced, which may be the reason for Why do so many people have fearful obsessions due to agents like snakes and spiders.

Anh Phuong