Resting Amygdala and Medial Prefrontal Metabolism Predicts Functional Activation of the Fear Extinction Circuit

• DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10121780
• Publication Date: 2012-02-07T15:36:26Z
• Authors: Clas Linnman; Mohamed A. Zeidan; Sharon C. Furtak; Roger K. Pitman; Gregory J. Quirk; Mohammed R. Milad
• Keywords: Ventromedial prefrontal cortex; Infralimbic cortex; Posterior cingulate; Extinction (optical mineralogy); Cingulate cortex

Objective: Individual differences in a person's ability to control fear have been linked activation the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal and amygdala. This study investigated whether functional variance this network can be predicted by resting metabolism these same regions. Method: The authors measured brain healthy volunteers with positron emission tomography using [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose. was followed 2-day conditioning extinction training paradigm MRI measure during recall. used skin conductance response index conditioned responding, they amygdala, cortex predict responses Results: During training, amygdala positively negatively cortex. In contrast, recall, addition, expression (as response) Conclusions: Resting neuronal reactivity changes associated recall of memory.