Researchers created a simulation in a virtual reality world to test the effect of anxiety on the brain, and now different parts of the brain cooperate to shape behavior.
According to a study author and assistant professor at the Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience, University of Rochester Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Ph.D., the results showed that there is more to anxiety disorders than ignorance of safety and poor environmental awareness. Instead, people with the condition cannot control their behavior and feelings. While a person in the simulation could agree that they were in a safe space, imaging showed that their brain did not seem to agree.
Researchers asked study participants to play a virtual reality game where they could pick flowers. About 50% of the flowers had bees. Researchers used mild electrical current to simulate a sting from the bees. The rest of the meadow did not have bees.
The researchers used fMRI to determine that the volunteers could differentiate dangerous and safe areas in the meadow. Despite this, volunteers with an anxiety disorder had raised dorsomedial prefrontal and insular cortex activity. Therefore their brains would respond to a safe area as if it was still dangerous.
Suarez-Jimenez adds that no other study has used this method to study discrimination learning. While scientists are aware of the areas of the brain to check, they have never looked into the topic in a virtual-reality setting. The results show that experts should develop interventions to help patients with anxiety disorder take charge of their bodies.
The study only indicated brain differences between patients with anxiety and those without the condition. Other parameters like sweating, commonly seen when patients are anxious, did not change.
Suarez-Jimenez, research focuses on learning the neural mechanisms the brain uses to understand the world. It specifically looks at how the brain differentiates safe from dangerous environments.
The researchers used the virtual-reality world to determine the signatures for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety disorders. He wants to know how humans create maps based on their past experiences and the time the maps play on anxiety and stress. Suarez-Jimenez plans to determine if other disorders such as PTSD have similar patterns.