Scientists have found a way to boost the BRAIN to boost your courage and allay fear

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Born a coward? Scientists have found a way to zap the BRAIN to boost your courage and allay fear

  • Scientists have developed a way to monitor brain activity in real time
  • They say it has been used to allay fear and boost a person’s confidence
  • Believed to have the potential to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and anxiety

By Joe Pinkstone for Mailonline

Published: Updated:

Scientists have developed a method that changes the way a person’s brain works to increase confidence and eradicate fears.

The technique is believed to have the potential to treat psychological conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and anxiety.

The technology, also referred to as ‘Decoded neurofeedback’, is still in its infancy, and while Japanese researchers have found it to work, it is not effective for everyone.

The team has therefore published their findings in the hope that other experts can help improve the procedure.

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Scientists have developed a method that changes how a person's brain works and can be used to boost confidence and eradicate fears. Depicted, the brain scan of an anonymous person

Scientists have developed a method that changes how a person’s brain works and can be used to boost confidence and eradicate fears. Depicted, the brain scan of an anonymous person

A combination of artificial intelligence and MRI imaging was used by experts at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) in Seika, Japan.

They found that an fMRI scanner can provide real-time brain activity that can be compared to previous recordings.

For example, the brain of a person with arachnophobia reacts in a certain way when confronted with a picture of a tarantula and it is recorded by a computer.

But the variation in the brain’s natural activity means that a response that looks the same will also occur randomly.

The technology, also referred to as 'Decoded neurofeedback', is still in its infancy, and while Japanese researchers have found it to work, it is not effective for everyone. The team has therefore published their findings in the hope that other experts can help improve the procedure

The technology, also referred to as ‘Decoded neurofeedback’, is still in its infancy, and while Japanese researchers have found it to work, it is not effective for everyone. The team has therefore published their findings in the hope that other experts can help improve the procedure

At the points where this matches the fear-evoked response, researchers gave participants monetary rewards.

Ultimately, this positive reinforcement rewires the brain so that when the person is triggered again with a spin, it doesn’t respond in the same way.

“The simple act of giving a reward repeatedly each time the pattern is detected changes the original memory or mental state,” explains Dr. Mitsuo Kawato from ATR.

‘It is important that participants do not have to be aware of the content of the patterns for this to work.’

The data was obtained from more than 60 people participating in five separate studies and all data was collected in one database.

“The Decoded Neurofeedback approach could have major advantages for clinical populations over traditional treatments,” said lead author Dr. Aurelio Cortese.

Patients could avoid the stress associated with exposure therapies or side effects from established medications.

‘That is why it is crucial that we accelerate the development of the Decoded Neurofeedback technique – and that can only be done if more scientists can work on the actual data.’

The full findings are available in Scientific Data.

Exercising just 2.5 hours a WEEK can reduce your risk of migraines

Exercising for just two and a half hours a week can reduce your risk of migraines, a new study suggests.

Researchers at a headache clinic at the University of Washington looked at the amount of exercise per week achieved by patients diagnosed with migraines.

They found that exercising above the two-and-a-half-hour threshold – the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) – reduced migraine triggers, such as anxiety and poor-quality sleep.

In their sample of more than 4,500 adults with migraines, 73 percent got less than two and a half hours a week, they found.

Migraines are a common health condition, affecting about one in five women and about one in 15 men, according to the NHS.

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