Study Probes Brain Activity in Survivors of Paris Terror Attacks

Those who had developed PTSD appear to be less able to suppress unwanted memories—traumatic or not—suggesting a role for the general ability to control memory recall in the disorder.

Written byJef Akst

| 6 min read

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ABOVE: People in Paris placed flowers to commemorate victims of the terror attacks in November 2015.
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November 13, 2015, will be remembered in France and around the world as the day that Paris fell under attack by a group of terrorists. More than 130 people died. Many others survived to carry on lives in the wake of this categorically traumatic experience. “When you listen to the reports . . . of the survivors, it was shocking,” says Karen Ersche, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge. “It was gruesome. It was worse than a horror film.”

The head of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the time, Alain Fuchs, wrote a letter imploring researchers to respond to the attacks with science. After reading the letter, cognitive neuroscientist Pierre Gagnepain felt moved to do something. Although he didn’t study post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), his work was ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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