According to the reports, scientists have unraveled the neural mechanisms in the brain that are linked with "courage."

The study provides fascinating insight into what happens in the brain when an individual voluntarily performs an action opposite to that promoted by ongoing fear.

The results, in fact, may even lead to new treatment strategies for those who exhibit a failure to overcome their fear.

Although there is a substantial body of research examining brain mechanisms associated with fear, far less is known about the brain mechanisms associated with courage, defined here as action in the face of ongoing fear.

Senior study author, Dr. Yadin Dudai from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, explained, "By gauging properly defined actions of either overcoming fear or succumbing to it in an acute controllable fearful situation, one can render certain neural substrates of courage amenable to investigation in a brain research laboratory setting."

To study the neural mechanisms associated with moments of real-life courage, the researchers devised an experimental paradigm where participants had to choose whether to advance an object closer or farther away from them while their brain was scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

According to Dudai, "Our results propose an account for brain processes and mechanisms supporting an intriguing aspect of human behavior, the ability to carry out a voluntary action opposite to that promoted by ongoing fear, namely courage."

He further added, "Specifically, our findings delineate the importance of maintaining high sgACC activity in successful efforts to overcome ongoing fear and point to the possibility of manipulating sgACC activity in therapeutic intervention in disorders involving a failure to overcome fear." (With Inputs from Agencies)