For the first time, scans have shown that the forebrain of adults with anxiety controls emotions differently.
- Faced with a difficult social situation, a completely different part of the brain was active in anxious adults.
- This section, which is used, is less effective in controlling emotions.
- It would be solicited because the prefrontal cortex, the brain area normally used, is overstimulated by anxiety.
When anxious people have to figure out how to behave in a difficult social situation, they use a different section of the forebrain to make their decision. This was observed by researchers at Radboud University (Netherlands) by analyzing the brain scans of several volunteers. In one study, adults saw pictures showing happy and angry faces. They had to first move an arrow towards the happy face and away from the angry face. “At some point, they must have done the reverse: moving towards an angry face and away from a happy face… This requires controlling our automatic tendency to avoid negative situations.”
‘A less efficient part’ of the brain is used in people with anxiety
During the experiment, anxious participants performed just as well as volunteers who weren’t, but scans showed that a completely different part of the brain was active in people with anxiety. “In them, we often find that during emotional control, a signal is sent from the most forward part of the prefrontal cortex to the motor cortex, the part of the brain that commands your body to act. is a less efficient part of this section that is used”explained the authors in a statement.
Anxiety would over-stimulate the prefrontal cortex
Further analyzes revealed that this was likely due to the “normally used” section being overstimulated in anxious people. “This could explain why anxious people find it difficult to have alternative behavior and therefore avoid social situations. The downside is that they never learn that social situations aren’t as negative as they think they are,” added the team who believe that these results, published in the journal NatureCommunicationscould be used to develop new treatments for adults with anxiety.