Mechanisms of Pavlovian fear conditioning: has the engram been located?
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.
Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Aidekman Research Center, Rutgers State University, 197 University Avenue, Newark, NJ 07102, USA. pare@axon.rutgers.edu
Denis
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Paré
D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology