Flipping the emotional switches, Part 1

We are getting closer to identifying the individual emotional switches in the brain. What might this imply for future strategies for managing our emotions?

Researchers Find Fear and Courage Switches in Brain

https://bit.ly/2rmpkEO

Researchers have identified a cluster of neurons in mouse brains that encourage fear response to perceived threats. When an adjacent cluster of neurons is activated, boldness and courage behaviors are exhibited.

Let’s talk about this one specifically.

Who would have good reason to turn fear down (or off?)

First responders: firefighters, police EMTs, soldiers

People who suffer from irrational fears?

Business people who fear public speaking or making sales calls? 

These might actually be different kinds of fear, but the idea that you can flip a switch in the brain and suddenly start acting boldly is pretty enticing.

Would there ever be a time when we would turn up somebody’s fear response?

What about other emotions? We will look at those next time.

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Eternity Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) | Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

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