Giving yourself verbal or mental instructions to clear your mind can help make room in your brain for more productive thoughts, a new study reveals. US researchers used brain imaging scans and machine learning to investigate what happens to the brain when we try to stop thinking about something. Three instructions – to'clear' our mind, 'suppress' a thought and'replace' a thought with something else – all successfully removed and manipulated unwanted information in the'working memory'. The working memory is the mental'notepad' that contains fleeting thoughts and is responsible for the temporary holding and processing of information. Holding information in the working memory is essential for cognition, but removing unwanted thoughts is equally important, researchers say.

No one knows what the future holds, but many people are unable to cope with the uncertainty. However, researchers have discovered that the fear of the unknown may be linked to an unusual enlargement of a brain region that is responsible for decision making and motor control. The team believes the findings could help specialists predict those at risk of developing anxiety disorder or OCD later in life, allowing intervention to occur before symptoms arise. Researchers at Dartmouth College conducted MRI scans on 61 students following a survey that measured their ability to tolerate the uncertainty of future negative events. The team analyzed the scans and compared them with the intolerance of uncertainty scores, which showed the size of the striatum was linked with intolerance of uncertainty.

Using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and brain scanning technology, a team of researchers has developed a novel method that can help remove specific fears from the brain. The new technique that could read and identify a fear memory can pave way of treating patients with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias, the study said. Neuroscientists, from the University of Tokyo, developed'Decoded Neurofeedback' -- which used brain scanning to monitor activity in the brain, and identify complex patterns of activity that resembled a specific fear memory. In the study, the team included 17 healthy volunteers in whom a fear memory was created by administering a brief electric shock when they saw a certain computer image. Using brain scanner, the researchers monitored the volunteers' mental activity and were able to spot signs of that specific fear memory. Using AI algorithms, they also developed a fast and accurate method of reading the fear.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered a way to remove specific fears from the brain using a combination of artificial intelligence and brain scanning technology. Fear related disorders effect around 19 million US adults, or 8.7 percent of the adult population. Current treatments are limited to expensive and'unpleasant' forms such as aversion therapy, where individuals confront their fear by being exposed to it in the hope they will learn that the thing they fear isn't harmful after all. Now a team of neuroscientists from University of Cambridge, Japan and the USA, has found a way of unconsciously removing a fear memory from the brain. Using AI, the team developed a method to read and identify fear memory using'Decoded Neurofeedback'.

LONDON: Scientists have discovered a way to remove specific fears from the brain, using a combination of artificial intelligence and brain scanning technology, an advance that may lead to new treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias. Currently, a common approach is for patients to undergo aversion therapy, in which they confront their fear by being exposed to it in the hope they will learn that what they fear is not harmful. However, this therapy is unpleasant. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK have found a way of unconsciously removing a fear memory from the brain. They developed a method to read and identify a fear memory using a new technique called'Decoded Neurofeedback'.

London: Scientists have discovered a way to remove specific fears from the brain, using a combination of artificial intelligence and brain scanning technology, an advance that may lead to new treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias. Currently, a common approach is for patients to undergo aversion therapy, in which they confront their fear by being exposed to it in the hope they will learn that what they fear is not harmful. However, this therapy is unpleasant. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK have found a way of unconsciously removing a fear memory from the brain. They developed a method to read and identify a fear memory using a new technique called'Decoded Neurofeedback'.

London: Scientists have discovered a way to remove specific fears from the brain, using a combination of artificial intelligence and brain scanning technology, an advance that may lead to new treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and phobias. Currently, a common approach is for patients to undergo aversion therapy, in which they confront their fear by being exposed to it in the hope they will learn that what they fear is not harmful. However, this therapy is unpleasant. Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK have found a way of unconsciously removing a fear memory from the brain. They developed a method to read and identify a fear memory using a new technique called'Decoded Neurofeedback'.

Imagine if your fear of spiders, heights or confined spaces vanished, leaving you with neutral feelings instead of a sweat-soaked panic. A team of neuroscientists said they found a way to recondition the human brain to overcome specific fears. Their approach, if proven in further studies, could lead to new ways of treating patients with phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The international team published their findings Monday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. About 19 million U.S. adults, or 8.7 percent of the adult population, suffer prominent and persistent fears at the sight of specific objects or in specific situations, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.

Treating phobias commonly involves patients being exposed to the objects, animals or situations they fear the most. A fear of cars, born from a car crash, may be tackled by exposure to vehicles, for example, or people with arachnophobia can beat it by handling spiders. The process involves remembering, and then mentally dealing with, the initial trauma but this can be a difficult and painful experience. AI may soon be able to help. "It would be nice if there was some way we could do this without people ever having to confront it – either unconsciously or subconsciously," Ben Seymour, a neuroscientist, told WIRED. Using a combination of real-time brain imaging through MRI scans, artificial intelligence, and rewards, the University of Cambridge doctor has created a way to remove specific fearful memories from the brain.

Whether it is a phobia of spiders or a traumatic event in the past, the effects of fear can reverberate through a person's life. But with the right training we can rid ourselves of them, according to a study. Researchers have found a method for tricking the brain into letting go of specific fears, which they claim could lead to new treatments for phobias and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). By combining functional brain imaging with artificial intelligence, researchers have been able to zero in on memories related to fear and retrain them. For people suffering from phobias, a common course of treatment is aversion therapy, bringing someone into contact with their fear. In the case of spiders, a person could be gradually introduced to the arachnids through photos, images and eventually the real thing, learning that their fear is far greater than any actual risk a spider poses.