Fear Profiles
Project Description
The FEAR PROFILES projects suggests a paradigm shift in fear and anxiety research by focusing on individual differences—often overlooked as residual variance—as key to advancing mechanistic understanding. We use systematic, multi-method studies combining established experimental paradigms with a wide array of methods (fMRI, psychophysiology, VR, freezing platform) designed specifically to detect and analyze individual differences. This approach aims to identify distinct subgroups (“fear profiles”) and trajectories based on behavioral, neurobiological, and physiological responses, which are then further characterized through deep and digital phenotyping. Ultimately, our work aims to refine models of fear and anxiety, improve research methods on individual variability, and pave the way for targeted, mechanism-based interventions to better address anxiety disorders.
