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Phobia

A phobia is a strong, persistent fear of situations, objects, activities, or persons.

Note: The above text is excerpted from the Wikipedia article "Phobia", which has been released under the GNU Free Documentation License.

For more information, see the following related content on ScienceDaily:

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Beyond Childhood: Picky Eating in College Students

Oct. 7, 2021 — Looking beyond the picky eating of childhood, researchers looked at this behavior in college students. Self-identified picky eaters ate significantly less fiber and vegetables and reported greater ...

Virtual Reality App Trial Shown to Reduce Common Phobias

July 14, 2022 — The trial studied phobia patients using a headset and a smartphone app treatment programme -- a combination of Virtual Reality (VR) 360-degree video exposure therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy ...

Half the Population to Have a Mental Health Disorder by 75

July 31, 2023 — Scientists analyzed data from more than 150,000 adults across 29 countries between 2001 and 2022 with results demonstrating the high prevalence of mental health disorders, with 50 per cent of the ...

Augmented Reality Helps Tackle Fear of Spiders

Sep. 20, 2021 — Researchers have developed an augmented reality app for smartphones in order to help people reduce their fear of spiders. The app has already shown itself to be effective in a clinical trial, with ...

Feeling Connected to Nature Linked to Lower Risk of Snake and Spider Phobias

Feb. 24, 2022 — A study of over a thousand people in Hungary has found for the first time that people who feel more connected to nature are less likely to be affected by snake and spider fears or ...

Researchers Discover New Classes of RNA for Learning and Memory

Nov. 30, 2023 — Researchers have discovered a new way ribonucleic acid (RNA) impacts fear-related learning and memory. Researchers demonstrated that a noncoding RNA known as Gas5 coordinates the trafficking and ...

Virtual Reality Helping to Treat Fear of Heights

Feb. 10, 2021 — Researchers have developed a virtual reality app for smartphones to reduce fear of heights. Now, they have conducted a clinical trial to study its efficacy. Trial participants who spent a total of ...

Why Do We Remember Stressful Experiences Better?

Oct. 15, 2021 — When the brain stores memories of objects, it creates a characteristic pattern of activity for each of them. Stress changes such memory ...

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

July 1, 2022 — The World Health Organization (WHO) recently listed a new diagnosis for complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). Experts have now summarized the symptoms of the long-awaited new diagnosis and ...

How Fear Memories Get Stuck in Some Brains

Sep. 20, 2022 — Researchers have discovered a biological mechanism that increases the strength with which fear memories are stored in the brain. The study, done in rats, provides new knowledge on the mechanisms ...

Mind & Brain News

December 8, 2023

Brittle Stars Can Learn Just Fine -- Even Without a Brain

Nov. 29, 2023 — We humans are fixated on big brains as a proxy for smarts. But headless animals called brittle stars have no brains at all and still manage to learn through experience, new research reveals. These shy marine creatures have no brain to speak of -- ...

From the First Bite, Our Sense of Taste Helps Pace Our Eating

Nov. 22, 2023 — When you eagerly dig into a long-awaited dinner, signals from your stomach to your brain keep you from eating so much you'll regret it -- or so it's been ...

AI System Self-Organizes to Develop Features of Brains of Complex Organisms

Nov. 20, 2023 — Scientists have shown that placing physical constraints on an artificially-intelligent system -- in much the same way that the human brain has to develop and operate within physical and biological constraints -- allows it to develop features of the ...

US Men Die 6 Years Before Women, as Life Expectancy Gap Widens

Nov. 14, 2023 — We've known for more than a century that women outlive men. But new research shows that, at least in the United States, the gap has been widening for more than a ...

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Discrimination During Pregnancy May Alter Circuits in Infants' Brains

Dec. 7, 2023 — Racial discrimination and bias are painful realities and increasingly recognized as detrimental to the health of adults and children. These stressful experiences also appear to be transmitted from ...

Ex-Entrepreneurs Can Thrive in the Right Employee Roles

Dec. 7, 2023 — Once an entrepreneur always an entrepreneur? Not necessarily, says a new study. Former entrepreneurs can transition from being their own boss into successful employees within an organization, ...

Serotonin Loss May Contribute to Cognitive Decline in the Early Stages of Alzheimer's Disease

Dec. 7, 2023 — Comparing PET scans of more than 90 adults with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI), researchers say relatively lower levels of the so-called ...

Protein Found in Brain Linked to Frontotemporal Dementia

Dec. 7, 2023 — An international team of researchers has identified a protein found in the brains of people with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), discovering a new target for potential treatments for the ...

New Target Found for Treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Dec. 7, 2023 — Medical researchers have uncovered a novel mechanism that leads to motor neuron degeneration in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). This discovery offers a new target for treatment that overcomes ...

Hydrogen Sulfide Regulates Neural Circuit for Respiration

Dec. 7, 2023 — Hydrogen sulfide, recognized by its characteristic rotten egg smell, is synthesized in the respiratory center -- an integral brain region governing respiration. Researchers have identified that ...

Why Do Some Older Adults Show Declines in Their Spatial Memory?

Dec. 7, 2023 — A study has investigated the possible scenarios that could lead to waning memory in some older ...

Riding Sound Waves in the Brain

Dec. 7, 2023 — A technology developed over the past few years for controlling microvehicles using ultrasound also works in the brain, as researchers have now been able to show. These microvehicles are gas bubbles, ...

Light Therapy May Improve Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease

Dec. 6, 2023 — Light therapy leads to significant improvements in sleep and psycho-behavioral symptoms for patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new ...

New Research Shows How Important Protein Keeps Our Cell Membranes in Balance

Dec. 5, 2023 — New research shows how important protein keeps our cell membranes in balance. Researchers have studied the structure, function and mechanisms of the ...