New Target of Human Emotions: Scientists Discover Brain Pathway Underlying Behavior

Emotions are a huge part of the human existence. They dictate our actions on a daily basis. Now, scientists have discovered a brain pathway that underlies the emotional behaviors critical for survival.

Understanding what parts of the brain deal with emotions is an important part of treating emotional disorders, such as anxiety, panic attacks and phobias. But learning how central neural pathways work, researchers can potentially develop effective methods to deal with these disorders.

In order to learn a bit more about the emotional segment of the brain, the researchers examined the periaqueductal grey (PAG). This important brain region is responsible for how humans and animals respond to danger and can trigger responses such as freezing, a high heart rate, increase in blood pressure, and the fight or flight response.

In this case, the researchers discovered a brain pathway leading from the PAG to a highly localized part of the cerebellum, called the pyramis. The pyramis is involved in generating freezing behavior when central survival networks are activated during threatening situations. This could mean that the pyramis may serve as an important part of convergence for different survival networks in order to react to an emotionally challenging situation.

"There is a growing consensus that understanding the neural circuits underlying fear behavior is a fundamental step towards developing effective treatments for behavioral changes associated with emotional disorders," said Stella Koutsikou, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The findings are important for better understanding and treating disorders that deal with emotions. Not only that, but they identify a promising new target for therapy.

"Our work introduces the novel concept that the cerebellum is a promising target for therapeutic strategies to manage dysregulation of emotional states such as panic disorders and phobias," said Bridget Lamb, one of the researchers, in a news release.

The findings are published in The Journal of Physiology.