Mechanisms of Emotional Memory

描述（由申请人提供）：大量证据表明杏仁核，特别是其侧核（LA），是学习和储存有关威胁或有害生活事件信息的可塑性的关键部位。大多数关于这种学习和记忆形式的知识都来自经典或巴甫洛夫恐惧条件反射的研究。K05奖的候选人对杏仁核在恐惧条件反射中的作用的研究做出了重大贡献。他的职业规划包括在几个领域进行额外的培训，这将使他能够在这个主题上从事新的工作。具体来说，他寻求在分子神经科学和人脑功能成像方面的培训，并希望对恐惧/焦虑障碍有更深入的了解。他已经组建了一个国际合作团队，他们将指导他在这些领域的培训。将进行四组研究，每组研究代表一个受资助的研究领域。第一个项目试图更详细地了解恐惧条件反射背后的神经系统，并确定这个基本回路如何与涉及心理和行为功能的认知控制系统相互作用。第二个项目解决了关于恐惧条件反射背后的细胞和分子机制的问题，并试图了解更多有关受体机制、信号通路、基因和蛋白质的信息。接下来的两个项目使用功能成像（fMRI）来检查正常人的恐惧机制（项目3）和焦虑症患者的病理性恐惧（项目4）。总之，这些研究应该在系统、细胞和分子水平上揭示关于恐惧学习和记忆的神经基础的新信息，并应该更好地理解实验动物的恐惧机制与正常人和焦虑症患者的大脑机制之间的关系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Considerable evidence points to the amygdala, and specifically its lateral nucleus (LA), as a key site of the plasticity underlying the learning and storage of information about threatening or harmful life events. Most of what is known about this form of learning and memory has come from studies of classical or Pavlovian fear conditioning. The candidate for this K05 Award has contributed significantly to this body of work on the role of the amygdala in fear conditioning. His career plans include additional training in several areas that will allow him to pursue new lines of work on this topic. Specifically, he seeks training in molecular neuroscience and functional imaging of the human brain, and also hopes to achieve a deeper understanding of fear/anxiety disorders. He has assembled an international team of collaborators who will guide his training in these areas. Four sets of studies will be performed, each of which represents a funded area of research. The first project attempts to understand in greater detail the neural system underlying fear conditioning, and to determine how this basic circuitry interacts with systems involved in cognitive control over mental and behavioral functions. The second project addresses questions about the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie fear conditioning and attempts to learn more about the receptor mechanisms, signaling pathways, genes, and proteins involved. The next two projects use functional imaging (fMRI) to examine the mechanisms of fear in normal humans (project 3) pathological fear in patients with anxiety disorders (project 4). Together, these studies should reveal new information about the neural basis of fear learning and memory at the systems, cellular and molecular levels, and should provide a better understanding of how fear mechanisms in experimental animals relate to brain mechanisms in normal humans and patients with anxiety disorders.