Functional MRI of human Pavlovian fear conditioning: patterns of activation as a function of learning. Neuroreport 1999 Nov 26;10(17):3665-70
Date
01/05/2000Pubmed ID
10619663DOI
10.1097/00001756-199911260-00037Scopus ID
2-s2.0-0033607606 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 73 CitationsAbstract
fMRI was used to study human brain activity during Pavlovian fear conditioning. Subjects were exposed to lights that either signaled painful electrical stimulation (CS+), or that did not serve as a warning signal (CS-). Unique patterns of activation developed within anterior cingulate and visual cortices as learning progressed. Training with the CS+ increased active tissue volume and shifted the timing of peak fMRI signal toward CS onset within the anterior cingulate. Within the visual cortex, active tissue volume increased with repeated CS+ presentations, while cross-correlation between the functional time course and CS- presentations decreased. This study demonstrates plasticity of anterior cingulate and visual cortices as a function of learning, and implicates these regions as components of a functional circuit activated in human fear conditioning.
Author List
Knight DC, Smith CN, Stein EA, Helmstetter FJAuthor
Fred Helmstetter PhD Professor in the Psychology / Neuroscience department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultBrain Mapping
Conditioning, Classical
Cues
Electric Stimulation
Fear
Female
Gyrus Cinguli
Humans
Learning
Light
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Neuronal Plasticity
Photic Stimulation
Visual Cortex
