Stimulus-specific enhancement of fear extinction during slow-wave sleep.
Sleep can strengthen memory for emotional information, but whether emotional memories can be specifically targeted and modified during sleep is unknown. In human subjects who underwent olfactory contextual fear conditioning, re-exposure to the odorant context in slow-wave sleep promoted stimulus-specific fear extinction, with parallel reductions of hippocampal activity and reorganization of amygdala ensemble patterns. Thus, fear extinction may be selectively enhanced during sleep, even without re-exposure to the feared stimulus itself.
Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Katherina K
KK
Hauner
James D
JD
Howard
Christina
C
Zelano
Jay A
JA
Gottfried
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology; D004597:Electroshock / Q000009:adverse effects; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009812:Odorants; D010100:Oxygen; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D014851:Wakefulness; D055815:Young Adult
D010100:Oxygen