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How the Brain Recognizes and Rationalizes Fear

Understanding how the brain responds to fear could help treat people with phobias, PTSD, and anxiety.

ByEmilie Le Beau Lucchesi
(Credit: Prostock-studio/Shutterstock) Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

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When athletes line up at the start of a race, the crowd often hushes in anticipation until the quiet is broken by the crack of a starter pistol. The discharge sounds like a real gunshot, yet most people aren’t filled with fear. Instead, the race begins, the fans cheer, and the blast is forgotten.

To not react negatively to a starter pistol, the brain has to recognize the blast as harmless and then shut down any fearful reactions. But how does the brain know when to ignore a starter pistol but then react to a real gunshot?

A 2025 study in Science revealed the brain mechanism in which animals are able to overcome such fears. The research could help scientists better understand how to help people with anxiety, phobias, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

People are born with innate fears, like reacting to loud noises. These fears can be helpful ...

  • Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi

    Emilie Lucchesi has written for some of the country's largest newspapers, including The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and an MA from DePaul University. She also holds a Ph.D. in communication from the University of Illinois-Chicago with an emphasis on media framing, message construction and stigma communication. Emilie has authored three nonfiction books. Her third, A Light in the Dark: Surviving More Than Ted Bundy, releases October 3, 2023, from Chicago Review Press and is co-authored with survivor Kathy Kleiner Rubin.

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