Everyone has their fears which prohibit people from doing anything that would have been fun or beneficial. However, recent reports show that scientists have now discovered a way to remove fear from the brain.
To conquer one's fears, most people would just say to face the fear and personally do it despite the traumatic trouble that comes with it. Some of the treatments to involve drugs, and that these drugs can have some side effects which are not necessarily healthy for the brain, and it increases the chances of one being drug-dependent.
Science Alert reports that the process uses a mixture of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and brain scanning technology, and it is called "Decoded Neurofeedback." The process does not involve any conscious feedback from the patient, and it merely decodes certain brain patterns related to the particular fear and that it overwrites them using a common reward system.
The study was conducted by having the subjects shown a particular computer image by means of electric shocks; after that, the subjects were given positive reinforcement by having some money whenever they picked up parts of mild fear that were implanted in the brain. This resulted to having created a positive reaction towards the fear with the same stimulus that triggered the fear in the first place.
Tech Times says that the method is the least intrusive considering that the fear is not correctly overwritten immediately, but that the patient undergoes a series of steps in order not to shock the brain. Because of that the cognitive activity is not entirely affected at once.
Due to the results of this study, the scientists are hoping they can develop a clinical treatment that would serve as an alternative to the risky drug-based treatment, and as such scientists are eyeing regular sessions of "Decoded Neurofeedback" as the standard for future treatment. For now, the researchers are expanding their study to the 17 volunteer patients they had were relatively small to derive a safe conclusion.
