Brain Stimulation Could Modify Fear Memories

What if we were able to modify the negative effect of a returning memory that makes us afraid? A research group from the University of Bologna succeeded in this and developed a new non-invasive experimental protocol. The result of this study (to be found in the journal Current Biology) is an innovative protocol that combines fear conditioning - a stimulus associated with something unpleasant, that induces a negative memory - and the neurostimulation of a specific site of the prefrontal cortex.

This process alters the perception of an unpleasant (aversive) event so that it will no longer induce fear. "This experimental protocol combining transcranial stimulation and memory reconsolidation allowed us to modify an aversive memory that the participants had learned the day before", explains Sara Borgomaneri, researcher at the University of Bologna and first author of the study. "This result has relevant repercussions for understanding how memory works. It might even lead to the development of new therapies to deal with traumatic memories".

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