Ricolearning not to fear.....

 what are the neural circuits?

Learning to fear dangers in the environment is adaptive and important for survival.  Neural circuits involving the amygdala and related structures are critical for fear learning in many species.  In humans, phobias and anxiety disorders can develop when the fear learning system malfunctions.  A better understanding of fear circuits may lead to improved treatments for anxiety disorders.

Once we learn to be afraid of something, how do we learn to stop being afraid when danger is no longer present?  An important experimental model of fear learning is Pavlovian fear conditioning, in which a neutral stimulus (such as a tone) is paired with a mild shock in rats.  Repeated presentations of the tone in the absence of the shock causes conditioned fear responses to extinguish.  Rather than erase fear associations, extinction is thought to involve new learning.  Our laboratory is devoted to understanding the neural basis of extinction learning, using a variety of techniques.  Our findings suggest that the medial prefrontal cortex acts together with the amygdala to consolidate and store extinction memory.

last updated: Tuesday, April 10, 2007