About the episode
Researchers were curious about what happens in the brain when we look away from something scary. To find out, they did an experiment with fruit flies.
Why do we cover our eyes at that one scene in a horror movie? Or do we look away when someone else does something scary? This response, of course, varies from person to person, but it may be driven by the same mechanism.
Now you can’t look at a lot of things in the brains of humans – especially from an ethical point of view – that you can in fruit flies. First, they looked at what happens in the brain of fruit flies that have already been frightened when they encounter a spider-like object in their path. The flies quickly turn away in this situation. Fruit flies that were not in a state of high alert did not do this.
When they then looked at this reaction in the brain, they saw that a cluster of about 20 to 30 neurons triggered waves of the chemical tachykinin. If they genetically modified the frightened flies in such a way that this mechanism was disrupted, they would no longer turn away from the spider. That suggests that this group of neurons is necessary for that aversion response.
Why would you want to know more about this? Ultimately, the researchers hope that their experiments will contribute to a better understanding of anxiety disorders and phobias and to finding better treatments.
Much further research will be required for this.
Read more here: Fear is in the eye of the beholder.
2023-07-13 14:54:17
#avoid #scary
