Inhibition of fear by learned safety signals: a mini-symposium review.
Safety signals are learned cues that predict the nonoccurrence of an aversive event. As such, safety signals are potent inhibitors of fear and stress responses. Investigations of safety signal learning have increased over the last few years due in part to the finding that traumatized persons are unable to use safety cues to inhibit fear, making it a clinically relevant phenotype. The goal of this review is to present recent advances relating to the neural and behavioral mechanisms of safety learning, and expression in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0345, USA. john.christianson@colorado.edu
John P
JP
Christianson
Anushka B P
AB
Fernando
Andy M
AM
Kazama
Tanja
T
Jovanovic
Linnaea E
LE
Ostroff
Susan
S
Sangha
D000818:Animals; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012449:Safety