It is true that there are ways to train our brain to better manage stress and other types of emotional responses, but such techniques do not work for everyone and are not always very accessible. Now, a new study carried out by scientists at Tel Aviv University (Israel) has revealed a tool that could allow the self-regulation of brain activity to a wider audience.
The researchers tested the instrument with 42 healthy adult individuals. They were taught to modify their amygdala activity by reducing an auditory feedback signal associated with it, which led to a decrease in amygdala electrical activity.
The imaging tool provides accurate information about electrical activity in the brain’s amygdala, the region that regulates emotional responses such as fear and stress. Using the new method, the experts discovered that the participants were able to reduce amygdala activity and thus have better control of emotional responses such as stress.
This inexpensive imaging tool that uses EEG to clearly show amygdala activity is, unlike functional MRI, much more accessible and much less expensive.
” The main advance of this new tool is the possibility of using a low-cost accessible imaging method such as EEG (electroencephalogram) to describe brain activity,” explain the authors of the work.
The researchers say their new brain imaging tool still needs to be tested in people who have experienced real-life trauma to determine how it might help people cope with their emotions.
The study has been published in the journal Biological Psychiatry.
