Can Fear Be Forgotten?

clipped from www.popsci.com If fear really is all in our heads, Joseph LeDoux thinks he can eliminate it. The first step is to block out our memories clipped from www.popsci.com What Fear Does to the Brain Say you're afraid of mice. When the eye sees one skitter, it transmits the data to the thalamus [A], which sends the information straight to the the amygdala [B] and the visual cortex [C]. The amygdala rapidly associates the image with a fear memory and tells the hypothalamus [D] to prime the body for action. Meanwhile, the visual cortex goes through the higher-level processing of the image, but rationalization (it's just a mouse!) is too late [E] to overcome the amygdala's immediate repsponse. clipped from www.popsci.com Without the fear memory, though, the chain falls apart: If my brain can't remember why I'm afraid of spiders, then I won't be afraid of spiders. Yet selectively eliminating a memory would seem to be impossible. LeDoux suspected it was not. clipped from www.popsci.com Virtual-reality simulations [left], aided by a drug that helps memory formation, work to disassociate thoughts