Topic: threat learning

The neuromodulator dopamine has qualities of a prediction error in temporal difference (TD) models of reward learning. However, the neuromodulatory substrates of threat prediction errors have remained elusive. Norepinephrine (NE) is released by surprise and uncertainty, and causal manipulations demonstrate a role for NE in threat learning. Thus, we hypothesized that NE encodes a threat prediction error signal, and compared NE release measurements in mice undergoing threat learning with predictions of TD learning. NE release scales with the strength of fear associations and threat imminence. Ho

Background: This study explores how threat learning contributes to the development of fear and anxiety. We aim to determine if observed responses indicate a general novelty marker, are solely linked to arousal, and are influenced by valence. Adopting the transdiagnostic RDoC approach, this study focuses on acute and sustained threat within negative valence systems.Aims: Utilizing a modified Threat Conditioning and Extinction Task (TCET), we examined fear memory traces in healthy over three phases (preconditioning, conditioning, extinction). The study involved subjective ratings of faces associ

Down-regulating emotional overreactions toward threats is fundamental for developing treatments for anxiety and post-traumatic disorders. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is critical for top-down modulatory processes, and despite previous studies adopting repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) over this region provided encouraging results in enhancing extinction, no studies have hitherto explored the effects of stimulating the medial anterior PFC (aPFC, encompassing the Brodmann area 10) on threat memory and generalization. In this study, we aimed to test an rTMS procedure over the aPF

Learning to identify and appropriately react to stimuli that predict threat is crucial for survival. Pavlovian fear conditioning is widely used to investigate the neuronal mechanisms of threat learning. In this study, we used fibre photometry calcium imaging in freely moving male and female mice to determine activity dynamics in nucleus accumbens (NAc), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and ventral hippocampus (vHip) during a Pavlovian fear conditioning task in which one auditory cue was paired with foot shock (CS+) and another remained unreinforced (CS-). Both cues elicited increased activity