Fears of a woman can be inherited by children
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Specialists from the United States found that the objects of fear arise in humans since infancy, while what a person will fear in life depends on the fears of his mother before and during pregnancy. Fears and phobias of women directly affect what her child will fear in life.
To such conclusions scientists have pushed experiments with laboratory rodents, the results of which were published in one of the scientific journals.
For the study, scientists selected laboratory rats. During the experiments, biologists studied how the traumatic experience experienced by females (even long before pregnancy) will affect offspring.
Scientists sprayed a mint smell in the cells with rodents, after which the female rats received an electric shock, which was supposed to lead to the elaboration of a conditioned reflex. After the rats developed a reflex, the female rats became pregnant and gave birth to the young. Also, scientists selected another group of newborn rats whose mothers were not intimidated by mint aroma and electric current. As a result, scientists found that the smell of mint causes fear only in the first group of newborn rats (whose mothers had a traumatic experience), in addition, fear of mint smells arose even in cases where the rats were completely alone in their cells, without their mother.
Then the scientists gave the rats a special remedy that blocks the work of the amygdala, after which the fear of mint smell taken from the mother disappeared. This experience allowed specialists to determine that area in the brain, which is responsible for the formation of fear in rodents.
Given that the principle of the formation of fear in rodents and humans is similar, the scientists suggest that they managed to find a way to prevent the inheritance of various fears and phobias in humans.
As the leading specialist of the research project noted, newborns are not able to recognize the danger on their own, and therefore the mother is the source of information about what to be afraid of. Quite important is that the child adopts the traumatic experience of the mother at a subconscious level and in the future, fear or phobia can persecute a person for quite a long time, possibly for the rest of his life. Specialists especially stressed the moment that fears and phobias can provoke obsessive states and already being an adult man is forced to overcome inherited fears from his mother.
A recent study of specialists from the Wisconsin Research Institute showed that experiences and stress in infancy can change the structure of the brain. As it turned out, the children who experienced a strong shock at the age of 2-3 years had a greatly reduced volume of some parts of the brain, which directly affected the adequate manifestation of emotions, communication, and also the ability to learn. What factors provoke such changes in the brain, scientists can not say for sure. However, experts once again point out that it is adults who are responsible for the growth of their children.
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