The Journal of Neuroscience just published findings in their February 2008 issue about how young brains process fear. This piece of scientific work has significantly advanced the scientific understanding of how and when fear is stored in the brain. Fear is a complex process for scientists to understand and this new study has introduced a new way of thinking about the implications of fear in the early stages of the human brain. The two rounds of studies completed by Jee Hyun Kim and Rick Richardson, PhD of the University of New South Wales in Sydney found evidence in their subjects of the ability to distinguish fears in the early stages of brain development.

The researchers of the study used rats to help isolate the ages at which fears are learned and unlearned to compare to the human equivalents in age. This finding has raised the possibility that fears can not only be unlearned in the early brain stages, but they may even be able to be erased. The study further suggests that fears in later stages of life such as adolescence or adulthood may not be able to be erased. The implications of this study suggest that if a fear is extinguished in a young brain, that it may be possible to erase evidence of traumatic learnings forever.

Source: Society for Neuroscience