Mechanisms of Pavlovian fear conditioning: has the engram been located?
Abstract
Uncertainty persists as to whether the amygdala is a crucial site of plasticity for classically conditioned fear or merely a sensory relay to structures generating fear responses. A recent Nature study suggests that associative synaptic changes take place in neurons of the amygdala during fear conditioning, and that these changes require dopamine-mediated modulation. Nevertheless, these findings do not prove that the amygdala is a sufficient site of plasticity for fear memory.
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It is widely believed that LA plasticity underlying fear learning occurs as a result of a Hebbian mechanism whereby the shock US directly depolarizes LA pyramidal cells that are concurrently activated by weaker CS inputs, resulting in potentiation of the CS input synapses.
“It is widely believed that LA plasticity underlying fear learning occurs as a result of a Hebbian mechanism whereby the shock US directly depolarizes LA pyramidal cells that are concurrently activated by weaker CS inputs, resulting in potentiation of the CS input synapses (5, 6, 9, 31).”
From Optical activation of lateral amygdala pyramidal cells instructs associative fear learning (2010) · cites this paper as [31]
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- Authors
- Paré, D.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Corresponding author
- Paré, Denis
- ORCID
- Paré, Denis
- Venue
- Trends in Neurosciences
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-09
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 436-437
- ISSN
- 0166-2236 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1981181589
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Trends in Neurosciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- fear conditioning, amygdala, fear memory, synaptic plasticity, dopamine, engram, associative learning, fear memory consolidation
- MeSH terms
- Amygdala, Animals, Conditioning, Psychological, Fear, Neuronal Plasticity
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