{"id":4097,"date":"2026-03-19T13:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T11:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ub.edu\/brainlab\/?p=4097"},"modified":"2026-04-14T10:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T08:28:30","slug":"new-brainlab-publication-on-a-direct-auditory-pathway-to-the-amygdala-linked-to-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ub.edu\/brainlab\/new-brainlab-publication-on-a-direct-auditory-pathway-to-the-amygdala-linked-to-fear\/","title":{"rendered":"New Brainlab publication on a direct auditory pathway to the amygdala linked to fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study from the Brainlab has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience<\/em><\/a>, as part of Emmanouela Kosteletou<\/a>\u2019s PhD research within the ERC project HumanSUBthreat<\/a>, led by Judith Dom\u00ednguez Borr\u00e0s<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The article, entitled \u2018A direct auditory subcortical route to the amygdala associated with fear in humans<\/em>\u2019<\/em>, provides the first evidence in humans for a direct subcortical auditory pathway linking the inferior colliculus to the amygdala via the medial geniculate body, with a functional association to fear<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Using advanced diffusion MRI and tractography in 200 participants from the Human Connectome Project, the study identifies a robust colliculo-thalamo-amygdala pathway linked to both hearing ability in noise<\/strong> and self-reported fearfulness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Importantly, this pathway differs from the classical cortical auditory route, pointing to a fast subcortical mechanism that may enable the brain to rapidly<\/strong> detect and respond to threatening sounds<\/strong>, even before full conscious processing.<\/p>\n

These findings align with animal research and suggest that humans may share an evolutionarily conserved auditory \u201clow road\u201d for fear<\/strong>, extending current models of subcortical emotion beyond the visual domain. While a visual subcortical \u201clow road\u201d to the amygdala has been extensively described in humans, evidence for an equivalent auditory pathway had so far been limited to non-human animals. This study provides the first evidence that such a pathway may also exist in the human brain.<\/p>\n

In the long term, this work may help to understand how alterations in subcortical affective circuitry contribute to anxiety and fear-related disorders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

Article on Journal of Neuroscience:\u00a0 https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1523\/JNEUROSCI.1431-25.2026<\/a><\/p>\n

See press release by the Society of Neuroscience in https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/news\/2026-03-brain-pathway-people-quickly-scary.html<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study from the Brainlab has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience, as part of Emmanouela Kosteletou\u2019s PhD research within the ERC project HumanSUBthreat, led by Judith Dom\u00ednguez Borr\u00e0s. The article, entitled \u2018A direct auditory subcortical route to the amygdala associated with fear in humans\u2019, provides the first evidence in humans for a direct subcortical auditory pathway linking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Brainlab publication on a direct auditory pathway to the amygdala linked to fear - Brainlab<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ub.edu\/brainlab\/new-brainlab-publication-on-a-direct-auditory-pathway-to-the-amygdala-linked-to-fear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Brainlab publication on a direct auditory pathway to the amygdala linked to fear - Brainlab\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new study from the Brainlab has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience, as part of Emmanouela Kosteletou\u2019s PhD research within the ERC project HumanSUBthreat, led by Judith Dom\u00ednguez Borr\u00e0s. 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