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To test the effectiveness of the drug, researchers created bad memories by giving mice electric shocks while a loud noise was played.
Over time, the creatures learned to associate the sound with the shock, and hearing the noise alone was enough to make them freeze.
But when they were given a drug called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, they lost their fear, the journal Science reports.
The effect of the drug was similar to a psychological technique called extinction training, in which phobia sufferers are repeatedly exposed to their nemesis in a bid to desensitise them to it.
The U.S. government-funded researchers believe that, as in extinction training, the drug did not erase the bad memory completely, but created a sense of safety and positivity that made it easier to cope with.
Over time, the creatures learned to associate the sound with the shock, and hearing the noise alone was enough to make them freeze.
But when they were given a drug called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, they lost their fear, the journal Science reports.
The effect of the drug was similar to a psychological technique called extinction training, in which phobia sufferers are repeatedly exposed to their nemesis in a bid to desensitise them to it.
The U.S. government-funded researchers believe that, as in extinction training, the drug did not erase the bad memory completely, but created a sense of safety and positivity that made it easier to cope with.
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- carpe noctem
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