Untitled

Fears are formed when we associate things with a strong, negative emotional response. Now, a team of scientists have developed a technique which lets them erase new emotional memories from the human brain—which could make it possible to wipe out your fears for good.

When the brain learns something, a memory is created through a process called consolidation: at first the memory is unstable, but proteins form in the brain to fix it in place. By disrupting the way that process is carried out, it’s possible to affect the content of a memory. This new study,published in Science by researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden, shows that it’s possible to erase emotional memories by interrupting consolidation processes in the brain.