Neuroscience of Fear

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Humans share brain structures controlling the fear response with other mammals, birds, and reptiles. These structures have been evolutionarily preserved because fear helps protect us from danger, injury, and death. Although we are now further removed from the dangerous elements of nature, our primal fear instincts remain. We will examine the neurobiological, psychological as well as evolutionary aspects of the fear response, and consider how it ties into decision-making and our everyday lives. We will examine this set of issues from a multidisciplinary perspective, synthesizing recent work from the fields of biology, psychology, neuroscience and philosophy.