London, Sep 19 (IANS) Have you ever wondered why we sometimes 'freeze' when we are frightened or under strong emotional stress? This may be because the response to anxiety may include not only the parts of the brain which deal with emotions, as has been long understood, but also movement control centres in the brain. At the ages of 14-15 they were tested again to see if signs of social anxiety had developed.The researchers also used functional MRI brain scans to test how the teenage brains responded to angry facial expressions. "Surprisingly, we also found this produced inhibition of some motor areas of the brain, the premotor cortex. This is an area which 'prepares the body for action', and for specific movements," she noted.The findings were presented at the ongoing European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) conference in Vienna, Austria.--IANSgb/vm

Source: Economic Times September 19, 2016 07:52 UTC