Anxiety is a mental health condition millions of people around the world experience every day but not something that can necessarily be “seen”—until now.
In a first-of-its-kind study, scientists at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K. have developed a brain-scanning method that visualizes anxiety, with the goal of improving how it is understood, diagnosed and treated.
The research maps the biological journey of anxiety in the brain when people are faced with a “no-win” situation,” like having to choose between two bad options. This is known as “avoid–avoid conflict” and is thought to more closely reflect realistic anxiety situations, creating measurable responses in the brain that researchers can now study, according to the team.
In contrast, traditional anxiety research has focused on “approach–avoid” conflict, which weighs up something good against something not quite as good.
“Anxiety shows up in many different ways in the brain, and our research focused on situations involving a no-win conflict—where every option feels negative. We adapted an existing task and were the first to look at how the brain responds to this kind of conflict in real time,” paper author and neuropsychologist Benjamin Stocker told Newsweek.
“So, it’s the first time we’ve been able to see how more complex, anxiety-related decision-making plays out in the brain.”
The study included 40 young adults aged 18–24, who completed a newly coded video-game-like task involving using a joystick to avoid threatening objects on a screen. Sometimes it was easy (low conflict) and other times it put players in the more impossible situation of choosing between two bad outcomes (high conflict).
Researchers measured the participants’ brain activity using EEG (electroencephalography), as the first one to integrate it with an “avoid–avoid” scenario.
“EEG is a painless and non-invasive, yet highly effective measure of recording the electrics of the brain,” explained Stocker.
During “no-win” situations, the subject’s brains showed a specific pattern of activity, with the right side of the brain’s frontal area becoming more active in what’s called theta waves, according to the findings. Other brain areas also lit up depending on how stressful or manageable the situation was.
The researchers believe that these patterns might be, in essence, a signature for anxiety-related conflict.
“Our methods allow us to not only show what brain regions are working during the processing of anxiety, but also how these regions are communicating. What we find is that no-win processing is not done by a sole brain region, but in fact a cohesive effort between many parts of the brain,” said Stocker.
The results were “statistically strong,” with effect sizes considered large by typical standards, highlighting a clear difference in brain activity between high-conflict and low-conflict situations.
“The current process for diagnosing and treating anxiety can be long and often relies on trial and error with medication—and for some people, nothing seems to work perfectly. By understanding how the brain responds during anxious, no-win situations, we can start identifying the underlying patterns that make decision-making so difficult,” Stocker emphasized.
“That opens the door to non-drug approaches, such as brain-based training or psychological therapies that target these patterns directly. For example, one day we might be able to help someone recognize when their brain is stuck in an anxious loop and retrain that response before it becomes overwhelming. This form of treatment is rather novel, but a prime example of just what can be done with EEG and neural patterns of anxiety.”
Stocker acknowledged potential limitations include considering individual differences, needing to carefully test technology and device-based approaches for reliability and biomarkers not always showing up as clearly for every person compared to at a group level.
“While this kind of research brings us closer to more objective ways of identifying anxiety, it is unlikely to replace clinical judgement. It would work best as an additional tool to support diagnosis, helping to validate what clinicians already observe rather than being the only measure,” he added.
“However, future research we are conducting does consider the individual variation we see amongst the brain and aims to tackle this point.”
Stocker explained they next plan to validate their findings against the effects of anxiety-reducing medications and in larger and more diverse group samples.
“In the longer term, once these patterns are well established, they could help identify who might benefit most from particular treatments or even be used to track whether a therapy is working. Additionally, it could be that a small EEG is used in a mental health clinic, or General Practice [or primary care physician], where the anxiety pattern could be used to validate a doctor’s/specialist’s diagnosis as an aid,” he said.
“While that is still some way off, this research brings us a step closer to more personalised and precise approaches to understanding and managing anxiety.”
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Reference
Stocker, B., Moore, R., & Lockhart, T. (2025). EEG theta and alpha biomarkers during an avoid-avoid conflict task: Links to anxiety. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.113237