Neural Basis of Contextual Fear Conditioning

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When exposed to a painful or threatening stimulus, our brains form neural associations that link the painful or threatening stimulus to other innocuous environmental cues that are present and that might later serve as warning signals. The process of forming such associations is referred to as fear conditioning. Some of the innocuous cues that get conditioned are in the foreground and are closely associated with the pain or threat, whereas others are in the background. The neural system underlying the conditioning of fear responses to specific foreground cues, such as a tone paired with footshock, is well understood and involve the amygdala. However, until recently, little was known about how fear reactions come to be coupled to background or contextual stimuli. In recent studies Dr. LeDoux found that lesions of hippocampus or amygdala interfered with contextual conditioning. The purpose of the proposed studies is to use state-of-the-art anatomical, physiological, and behavioral methods to understand how neural interactions between amygdala and hippocampus might contribute to contextual fear conditioning. Specifically, Dr. LeDoux will explore the anatomical connections (afferents and efferents) underlying the contribution of the hippocampal formation to contextual fear conditioning. These studies are likely to be important in understanding a host of complex emotional learning phenomena.*** //