Electric shock study provides insight into making anti-anxiety drugs

Electric shock experiments on humans have shown that brain regions linked to fear responses are also highly activated when fears are unlearned, a finding that provides insight into developing drugs for anxiety and other fear disorders.

Researcher Elizabeth Phelps and colleagues at New York University have found that a brain structure called the amygdala becomes most active as fears are unlearned. In addition, a connected area called the ventral medial prefrontal cortex appears to be critical for the extinction of fear.