Mice are experts at learning fears, and they’re experts at unlearning them, too. But what allows these animals to push past their terror when something that was a threat isn’t a threat anymore? According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), a dopamine circuit in the brain sends out the signals that initiate fear extinction in mice, enabling these animals to overcome their trepidations.
“Dopamine is essential to initiate fear extinction,” said Michele Pignatelli di Spinazzola, a study author and a neuroscientist at MIT, according to a press release.
Indeed, the new study points to dopamine as an important mechanism for managing fear in mice as well as in humans, as dopamine dysfunctions could contribute to human conditions like anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
