Researchers at HKU have unveiled a transformative approach to understanding and treating social anxiety, challenging decades of laboratory-based assumptions and opening doors to targeted therapies.
Researchers at The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have unveiled a transformative approach to understanding and treating social anxiety, challenging decades of laboratory-based assumptions and opening doors to targeted therapies. By developing an AI-driven brain model that accurately captures fear in real-world scenarios, the discovery offers new hope to millions affected by disorders such as social phobia and autism, while paving the way for clinical interventions using innovative tools.
Fear is a natural survival instinct, but for many, it can become a debilitating condition like social anxiety. A fundamental challenge in treating such disorders is that traditional laboratory studies of fear fail to capture how the emotion is experienced in dynamic, real-world situations.
In two recent studies, a research team led by Professor Benjamin Becker from the Department of Psychology at HKU has made a significant breakthrough. The team first revealed that existing brain models of fear, developed using static images in labs, do not reliably track fear responses during real-life experiences, such as watching a scary movie. To overcome this, they developed an advanced AI-inspired brain model that can precisely track the conscious experience of fear in these dynamic, naturalistic situations.
Building on this innovation, the researchers used the new model to test the effects of the hormone oxytocin. The findings showed that oxytocin specifically reduces both the subjective feeling of fear and its corresponding neural signature in social contexts, but not in non-social ones. This suggests a highly targeted mechanism for alleviating social fear.
Key implications of the research:
- Challenges the validity of hundreds of previous laboratory studies, showing they may not accurately describe how the brain processes fear in daily life.
- Provides compelling evidence for a new, targeted treatment approach for disorders marked by excessive social fear, such as social anxiety, social phobia, and autism.
- Creates a powerful new AI-driven tool for bridging the gap between lab research and real-life emotional experiences, paving the way for more effective clinical interventions.
The studies were published in the leading journals IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing and Advanced Science.
Links to the papers:
