Researchers have found an approach to expel specific fears from the brain, utilizing a combination of
artificial intelligence and brain scanning technology. Their method, distributed in the inaugural version of Nature Human Behaviour, could prompt to another method for treating patients with conditions, for example, post-traumatic anxiety disorder (PTSD) and phobias.
The new approach joins artificial intelligence (AI) and brain scanning technology in a system called
"Decoded Neurofeedback."
In this experiment, a
fear memory was induced in 17 sound volunteers by managing a brief electric shock when they saw a specific computer image. At the point when the pattern was identified, the researchers over-composed the fear memory by giving their experimental subjects a reward.
Dr.
Ben Seymour, of the University of Cambridge's Engineering Department (One of the authors of the study) said, “The way information is represented in the brain is very complicated, but the use of artificial intelligence (AI) image recognition methods now allow us to identify aspects of the content of that information. When we induced a mild fear memory in the brain, we were able to develop a fast and accurate method of reading it by using AI algorithms. The challenge then was to find a way to reduce or remove the fear memory, without ever consciously evoking it.”
The team repeated the technique more than three days. Volunteers were informed that the monetary reward they earned relied on upon their brain activity, yet they didn't know how. By consistently associating subtle patterns of brain activity connected to the electric shock with a little reward, the researchers wanted to progressively and unknowingly abrogate the fear memory.
The study's creators noticed that their experiment was generally small and said encourage research was expected to transform this approach into a confirmed clinical treatment for patients with phobias or PTSD. Still, they said they trusted "Decoded Neurofeedback" could help patients keep away from the worry of presentation therapies or the side-effects of drug-based therapies.
