Mapping the brain dynamics of fear
Where in the brain does fear happen?
Anxiety can shape everything from how we perceive the world and respond to uncertainty, to our relationships, careers, and the decisions we make in daily life. Yet, despite decades of dedicated research and major advances in neuroscience, we still lack objective biological markers that can distinguish individuals at risk for anxiety disorders or guide the development of targeted interventions.
Our lab is tackling this challenge by leveraging advanced functional neuroimaging methods and psychophysiological measures to map how the brain dynamically responds to potential threats. We are examining how brain activity changes across different phases of potential threat situations to explore how patterns in brain responses may be linked to anxiety severity and symptoms.
We focus on phase-specific brain activity to investigate how various regions in neural circuitry long-known to play a role in threat processing and anxiety states interact as a threat becomes more imminent. By systematically studying these patterns in both healthy individuals and those with anxiety, we aim to pinpoint specific neural signatures that correspond to anxiety symptoms such as hypervigilance, avoidance, and heightened tension.
Grounded in translational neuroscience, our approach provides an opportunity to uncover conserved biological mechanisms which may underpin symptoms in psychopathology. Ultimately, this research aims to refine our current understanding of the brain’s threat-processing networks, and how they may be altered in clinical populations. This has the potential to establish reliable, brain-based biomarkers for anxiety, paving the way for novel, targeted, neuroscience-guided interventions.
If we can identify the precise neural mechanisms underlying different symptom dimensions, we may be better able to develop more efficacious and personalized treatments that may benefit clinical populations currently underserved by existing treatments.