The brain contains a real "archive" for fears, which is able to remember individuals and situations that have constituted a threat and therefore allows us to stay away from them, according to a study from "Columbia University".

The result allows us to better understand the underlying brain mechanisms not only in everyday life, but also in many disorders related to fear of others, such as social anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and therefore paves the way for for possible treatments.

To investigate where in the brain the most threatening memories originate, researchers led by Pegah Kassraian studied the behavior of rats when faced with socially stressful situations, analyzing what was happening simultaneously in the hippocampus, the brain area that plays a key role in memory. both in mice and humans.

In particular, the hippocampus contains two regions that are important for the ability to remember other individuals and places where experiences took place, and this is where the study authors discovered the archive: the results, in fact, show that these areas also help to register aspects more complex aspects of social memory, namely whether an individual is harmless or a threat.

"It is vital for all species that live in social communities, including mice and humans, to have social memories that can help avoid future experiences that might be harmful, while also keeping us open to individuals who might be useful: scary memories are important. for survival and help to keep us safe," Kassraian points out.

"It is possible that social anxiety symptoms are related precisely to the inability to discriminate between those who represent a threat and those who do not," adds Steven Siegelbaum, co-author of the study.