Prefrontal Oscillations during Recall of Conditioned and Extinguished Fear in Humans

• DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3427-13.2014
• Publication Date: 2014-05-21T17:05:00Z
• Authors: Erik M. Mueller; Christian Panitz; Christiane Hermann; Diego A. Pizzagalli
• Keywords: Ventromedial prefrontal cortex; Infralimbic cortex; Extinction (optical mineralogy)

Human neuroimaging studies indicate that the anterior midcingulate cortex (AMC) and ventromedial prefrontal (vmPFC) play important roles in expression extinction of fear, respectively. Electrophysiological rodent further oscillatory neuronal activity homolog regions (i.e., prelimbic infralimbic cortices) changes during fear recall. Whether similar processes occur humans remains largely unexplored. By assessing scalp surface EEG conjunction with LORETA source estimation CS-related theta gamma activity, we tested whether a priori defined ROIs human AMC vmPFC similarly modulate their recall, To this end, 42 healthy individuals underwent differential conditioning/differential protocol Recall Test on next day. In Test, nonextinguished versus extinguished stimuli evoked an increased (CS(+) vs CS(-)) response regard to skin conductance AMC-localized power. Conversely, vmPFC-localized Finally, who failed show suppressed CS(+) also otherwise observed alterations power CS(+). These results is associated whereas successful recall relates activity. The present work thereby bridges findings from prior electrophysiological research indicates valuable tool for future research.