The DOI matches its Crossref record; 51 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Role of the medial prefrontal cortex in coping and resilience
Open accessAbstract
The degree of behavioral control that an organism has over an aversive event is well known to modulate the behavioral and neurochemical consequences of exposure to the event. Here we review recent research that suggests that the experience of control over a potent stressor alters how the organism responds to future aversive events as well as to the stressor being controlled. More specifically, subjects that have experienced control show blunted behavioral and neurochemical responses to subsequent stressors occurring days to months later. Indeed, these subjects respond as if a later uncontrollable stressor is actually controllable. Further, we review research indicating that the stress resistance induced by control depends on control-induced activation of ventral medial prefrontal cortical (vmPFC) inhibitory control over brainstem and limbic structures. Furthermore, there appears to be plasticity in these circuits such that the experience of control alters the vmPFC in such a way that later uncontrollable stressors now activate the vmPFC circuitry, leading to inhibition of stress-responsive limbic and brainstem structures, i.e., stressor resistance. This controllability-induced proactive stressor resistance generalizes across very different stressors and may be involved in determining individual difference in reactions to traumatic events.
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“vmPFC inactivation abolishes all these benefits of control without affecting the learning of escape responses per se.”
From Ventromedial prefrontal–subcortical systems and the generation of affective meaning (2012) · cites this paper as [42]
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“Control speeds subsequent escape learning [40] and slows subsequent fear conditioning [41], reduces threat-related serotonin responses in the dorsal raphe to novel contexts [40], and buffers the animals against later adverse effects of inescapable shock [42].”
From Ventromedial prefrontal–subcortical systems and the generation of affective meaning (2012) · cites this paper as [42]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Maier, S. F., & Watkins, L. R.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Corresponding author
- Maier, Steven F.
- Venue
- Brain Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-10
- Volume
- 1355
- Pages
- 52-60
- ISSN
- 0006-8993 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2967290
- OpenAlex
- W1999655743
- Cited by
- 292
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 23 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 7.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- Locations
- Brain Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (MH50479)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- medial prefrontal cortex, stress resilience, perceived control, coping, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, inhibitory control, brainstem, limbic system, neuroplasticity, individual differences, trauma, aversive events
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Animals, Brain Stem, Humans, Limbic System, Neural Inhibition, Neural Pathways, Neuronal Plasticity, Stress, Psychological, Prefrontal Cortex, Resilience, Psychological
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