Topic: Defensive brain states

Defensive brain states, such as fear and anxiety, evolved as mediators of multidimensional reactions to threat, which encompass integrated autonomic, behavioral and endocrine responses. Multiple interconnected brain structures have been involved in defensive reactions, in particular the midbrain’s periaqueductal gray (PAG), the amygdala, and different cortical areas such as the auditory and prefrontal cortices, together processing information at multiple levels of the neuraxis. Several roles pertaining to higher-order threat processing have been assigned to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC),