Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Fear Models in Animals and Humans

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Pediatric Anxiety Disorders

Part of the book series: Current Clinical Psychiatry ((CCPSY))

Abstract

While fear learning is an adaptive behavior critical to our survival, excessive fear can markedly impair one’s ability to function and is a central characteristic of anxiety disorders. In this chapter, we review research detailing the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning fear learning and regulation. We draw on research in both animal models and humans, highlighting developmental research whenever possible. In the first section we review the brain systems that support fear acquisition through both direct experience and social learning. In the second section, we focus on the various means by which learned fears can be lessened, including extinction, cognitive regulation strategies, actively coping with fear, and persistently inhibiting fear through reconsolidation. This basic fear-learning model provides a neuroscientific framework for understanding the role of Pavlovian fear learning in anxiety disorders and suggests potential approaches for treatment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Pavlov I. Conditioned reflexes: an investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex. London: Oxford University Press; 1927.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Maren S. Neurobiology of Pavlovian fear conditioning. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2001;24:897–931.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. LeDoux J. The amygdala. Curr Biol. 2007;17(20):868–74.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Amaral DG. Amygdalohippocampal and amygdalocortical projections in the primate brain. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1986;203:3–17.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. McDonald AJ, Mascagni F, Guo L. Projections of the medial and lateral prefrontal cortices to the amygdala: a Phaseolus vulgaris leucoagglutinin study in the rat. Neuroscience. 1996;71(1):55–75.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Price JL. Comparative aspects of amygdala connectivity. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2003;985:50–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Romanski LM, Clugnet MC, Bordi F, LeDoux JE. Somatosensory and auditory convergence in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala. Behav Neurosci. 1993;107(3):444–50.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Quirk GJ, Armony JL, LeDoux JE. Fear conditioning enhances different temporal components of tone-evoked spike trains in auditory cortex and lateral amygdala. Neuron. 1997;19(3):613–24.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Quirk GJ, Repa C, LeDoux JE. Fear conditioning enhances short-latency auditory responses of lateral amygdala neurons: parallel recordings in the freely behaving rat. Neuron. 1995;15(5):1029–39.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Price JL, Amaral DG. An autoradiographic study of the projections of the central nucleus of the monkey amygdala. J Neurosci. 1981;1(11):1242–59.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Davis M. The role of the amygdala in fear and anxiety. Annual review of neuroscience. 1992;15(1):353–75.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Repa JC, Muller J, Apergis J, Desrochers TM, Zhou Y, LeDoux JE. Two different lateral amygdala cell populations contribute to the initiation and storage of memory. Nat Neurosci. 2001;4(7):724–31.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Bouton M. Context and behavioral processes in extinction. Learn Mem. 2004;11:485–94.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Morgan MA, Romanski LM, LeDoux JE. Extinction of emotional learning: contribution of medial prefrontal cortex. Neurosci Lett. 1993;163(1):109–13.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Quirk G, Russo G, Barron J, Lebron K. The role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the recovery of extinguished fear. J Neurosci. 2000;20(16):6225–31.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Corcoran KA, Quirk GJ. Activity in prelimbic cortex is necessary for the expression of learned, but not innate, fears. J Neurosci. 2007;27(4):840–4.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Vidal-Gonzalez I, Vidal-Gonzalez B, Rauch S. Microstimulation reveals opposing influences of prelimbic and infralimbic cortex on the expression of conditioned fear. Learn Mem. 2006;13(6):728–33.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Burgos-Robles A, Vidal-Gonzalez I, Quirk GJ. Sustained conditioned responses in prelimbic prefrontal neurons are correlated with fear expression and extinction failure. J Neurosci. 2009;29(26):8474–82.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. McDonald AJ. Organization of amygdaloid projections to the prefrontal cortex and associated striatum in the rat. Neuroscience. 1991;44(1):1–14.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Öhman A, Mineka S. Fears, phobias, and preparedness: toward an evolved module of fear and fear learning. Psychol Rev. 2001;108(3):483–522.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Delgado M, Olsson A, Phelps E. Extending animal models of fear conditioning to humans. Biol Psychol. 2006;73(1):39–48.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Bechara A, Tranel D, Damasio H, Adolphs R, Rockland C, Damasio AR. Double dissociation of conditioning and declarative knowledge relative to the amygdala and hippocampus in humans. Science. 1995;269(5227):1115–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. LaBar KS, LeDoux JE, Spencer DD, Phelps EA. Impaired fear conditioning following unilateral temporal lobectomy in humans. J Neurosci. 1995;15(10):6846–55.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Büchel C, Morris J, Dolan RJ, Friston KJ. Brain systems mediating aversive conditioning: an event-related fMRI study. Neuron. 1998;20(5):947–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Cheng DT, Knight DC, Smith CN, Helmstetter FJ. Human amygdala activity during the expression of fear responses. Behav Neurosci. 2006;120(6):1187–95.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. LaBar K, Gatenby J, Gore J, LeDoux J. Human amygdala activation during conditioned fear acquisition and extinction: a mixed-trial fMRI study. Neuron. 1998;20(5):937–45.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Phelps E, Delgado M, Nearing K, LeDoux J. Extinction learning in humans: role of the amygdala and vmPFC. Neuron. 2004;43(6):897–905.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Milad M, Quirk G, Pitman R, Orr S, Fischl B. A role for the human dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in fear expression. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;62(10):1191–4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Glenn CR, Klein DN, Lissek S, Britton JC, Pine DS, Hajcak G. The development of fear learning and generalization in 8–13 year-olds. Dev Psychobiol. 2011;54(7):675–84.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Lau JY, Britton JC, Nelson EE, Angold A, Ernst M, Goldwin M, et al. Distinct neural signatures of threat learning in adolescents and adults. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2011;108(11):4500–5.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Lau JYF, Lissek S, Nelson EE, Lee Y, Roberson-Nay R, Poeth K, et al. Fear conditioning in adolescents with anxiety disorders: results from a novel experimental paradigm. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2009;47(1):94–102.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Eichenbaum, H, Cohen NJ. From conditioning to conscious recollection: Memory systems of the brain. Oxford University Press, USA. 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Kim JJ, Fanselow MS. Modality-specific retrograde amnesia of fear. Science. 1992;256(5057):675–7.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Rudy JW. Contextual conditioning and auditory cue conditioning dissociate during development. Behav Neurosci. 1993;107(5):887–91.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Pattwell SS, Bath KG, Casey BJ, Ninan I, Lee FS. From the cover: selective early-acquired fear memories undergo temporary suppression during adolescence. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2011;108(3):1182–7.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Milad MR, Orr SP, Pitman RK, Rauch SL. Context modulation of memory for fear extinction in humans. Psychophysiology. 2005;42(4):456–64.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Grillon C, Davis M. Fear-potentiated startle conditioning in humans: explicit and contextual cue conditioning following paired versus unpaired training. Psychophysiology. 1997;34(4):451–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Alvarez RP, Biggs A, Chen G, Pine DS, Grillon C. Contextual fear conditioning in humans: cortical-hippocampal and amygdala contributions. J Neurosci. 2008;28(24):6211–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Marschner A, Kalisch R, Vervliet B, Vansteenwegen D, Buchel C. Dissociable roles for the hippocampus and the amygdala in human cued versus context fear conditioning. J Neurosci. 2008;28(36):9030–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Rothbaum BO, Hodges LF. The use of virtual reality exposure in the treatment of anxiety disorders. Behav Modif. 1999;23(4):507–25.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Tröger C, Ewald H, Glotzbach E, Pauli P, Mühlberger A. Does pre-exposure inhibit fear context conditioning? Virtual Reality Study. 2012;119(6):709–19.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Huff NC, Hernandez JA, Fecteau ME, Zielinski DJ, Brady R, Labar KS. Revealing context-specific conditioned fear memories with full immersion virtual reality. Front Behav Neurosci. 2011;5:1–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Olsson A, Phelps E. Social learning of fear. Nat Neurosci. 2007;10(9):1095–102.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Hugdahl K, Öhman A. Effects of instruction on acquisition and extinction of electrodermal responses to fear-relevant stimuli. J Exp Psychol Hum Learn. 1977;3(5):608–18.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Olsson A, Phelps EA. Learned fear of “unseen” faces after Pavlovian, observational, and instructed fear. Psychol Sci. 2004;15(12):822–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Phelps EA, O’Connor KJ, Gatenby JC, Gore JC, Grillon C, Davis M. Activation of the left amygdala to a cognitive representation of fear. Nature Neurosci. 2001;4(4):437–41.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Funayama ES, Grillon C, Davis M, Phelps EA. A double dissociation in the affective modulation of startle in humans: effects of unilateral temporal lobectomy. J Cogn Neurosci. 2001;13(6):721–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. LaBar K, LeDoux JE. Fear and anxiety pathways. In: Moldin S, Rubenstein JL, editors. Understanding autism: from basic neuroscience to treatment. Boca Raton: CRC; 2006. p. 133–54.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  49. Olsson A, Nearing KI, Phelps EA. Learning fears by observing others: the neural systems of social fear transmission. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2007;2(1):3–11.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Amodio DM, Frith CD. Meeting of minds: the medial frontal cortex and social cognition. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2006;7(4):268–77.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Singer T. The neuronal basis and ontogeny of empathy and mind reading: review of literature and implications for future research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2006;30(6):855–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Herry C, Trifilieff P, Micheau J, Lüthi A, Mons N. Extinction of auditory fear conditioning requires MAPK/ERK activation in the basolateral amygdala. Eur J Neurosci. 2006;24(1):261–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Kim J, Lee S, Park H, Song B, Hong I, Geum D, et al. Blockade of amygdala metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 1 impairs fear extinction. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2007;355(1):188–93.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  54. Sotres-Bayon F, Bush DEA, Ledoux JE. Acquisition of fear extinction requires activation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors in the lateral amygdala. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2007;32(9):1929–40.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Chhatwal JP. Regulation of Gephyrin and GABAA receptor binding within the amygdala after fear acquisition and extinction. J Neurosci. 2005;25(2):502–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Chhatwal JP, Stanek-Rattiner L, Davis M, Ressler KJ. Amygdala BDNF signaling is required for consolidation but not encoding of extinction. Nat Neurosci. 2006;9(7):870–2.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Lin C-H, Yeh S-H, Lu H-Y, Gean P-W. The similarities and diversities of signal pathways leading to consolidation of conditioning and consolidation of extinction of fear memory. J Neurosci. 2003;23(23):8310–7.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  58. Markram K, Lopez Fernandez MA, Abrous DN, Sandi C. Amygdala upregulation of NCAM polysialylation induced by auditory fear conditioning is not required for memory formation, but plays a role in fear extinction. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2007;87(4):573–82.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  59. Quirk GJ, Mueller D. Neural mechanisms of extinction learning and retrieval. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2008;33(1):56–72.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Burgos-Robles A, Vidal-Gonzalez I, Santini E, Quirk GJ. Consolidation of fear extinction requires NMDA receptor-dependent bursting in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Neuron. 2007;53(6):871–80.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  61. Morgan MA, LeDoux JE. Differential contribution of dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex to the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear in rats. Behav Neurosci. 1995;109(4):681–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  62. Santini E, Ge H, Ren K, de Ortiz SP, Quirk GJ. Consolidation of fear extinction requires protein synthesis in the medial prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci. 2004;24(25):5704–10.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  63. Likhtik E, Popa D, Apergis-Schoute J, Fidacaro GA, Paré D. Amygdala intercalated neurons are required for expression of fear extinction. Nature. 2008;454(7204):642–5.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  64. Milad MR, Quirk GJ. Neurons in medial prefrontal cortex signal memory for fear extinction. Nature. 2002;420(6911):70–4.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Pare D. New vistas on amygdala networks in conditioned fear. J Neurophysiol. 2004;92(1):1–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Fanselow MS. Contextual fear, gestalt memories, and the hippocampus. Behav Brain Res. 2000;110(1–2):73–81.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  67. Ji J, Maren S. Electrolytic lesions of the dorsal hippocampus disrupt renewal of conditional fear after extinction. Learn Mem. 2005;12(3):270–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Sotres-Bayon F, Quirk GJ. Prefrontal control of fear: more than just extinction. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2010;20(2):231–5.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  69. Herry C, Ciocchi S, Senn V, Demmou L, Müller C, Lüthi A. Switching on and off fear by distinct neuronal circuits. Nature. 2008;454(7204):600–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  70. Yap CS, Richardson R. Extinction in the developing rat: an examination of renewal effects. Dev Psychobiol. 2007;49(6):565–75.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. Kim JH, Richardson R. A developmental dissociation in reinstatement of an extinguished fear response in rats. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2007;88(1):48–57.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  72. Gogolla N, Caroni P, Luthi A, Herry C. Perineuronal nets protect fear memories from erasure. Science. 2009;325(5945):1258–61.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  73. Kim JH, Hamlin AS, Richardson R. Fear extinction across development: the involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex as assessed by temporary inactivation and immunohistochemistry. J Neurosci. 2009;29(35):10802–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  74. Kim JH, Richardson R. The effect of temporary amygdala inactivation on extinction and reextinction of fear in the developing rat: unlearning as a potential mechanism for extinction early in development. J Neurosci. 2008;28(6):1282–90.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  75. Kim JH, Li S, Richardson R. Immunohistochemical analyses of long-term extinction of conditioned fear in adolescent rats. Cereb Cortex. 2011;21(3):530–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  76. McCallum J, Kim JH, Richardson R. Impaired extinction retention in adolescent rats: effects of d-cycloserine. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010;35(10):2134–42.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Kalisch R, Korenfeld E, Klaas S, Weiskopf N, Seymour B, Dolan R. Context-dependent human extinction memory is mediated by a ventromedial prefrontal and hippocampal network. J Neurosci. 2006;26(37):9503–11.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  78. Milad MR, Wright CI, Orr SP, Pitman RK, Quirk GJ, Rauch SL. Recall of fear extinction in humans activates the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in concert. Biol Psychiatry. 2007;62(5):446–54.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  79. Milad M, Quinn B, Pitman R, Orr S, Fischl B. Thickness of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in humans is correlated with extinction memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2005;102(30):10706–11.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  80. Hartley CA, Fischl B, Phelps EA. Brain structure correlates of individual differences in the acquisition and inhibition of conditioned fear. Cerebral Cortex. 2011;24:1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  81. LaBar KS, Phelps EA. Reinstatement of conditioned fear in humans is context dependent and impaired in amnesia. Behav Neurosci. 2005;119(3):677–86.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  82. Wilson A, Brooks DC, Bouton ME. The role of the rat hippocampal system in several effects of context in extinction. Behav Neurosci. 1995;109(5):828–36.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  83. Foa EB. Psychosocial therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2006;67:40–5.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  84. Berry AC, Rosenfield D, Smits JAJ. Extinction retention predicts improvement in social anxiety symptoms following exposure therapy. Depress Anxiety. 2009;26(1):22–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  85. Ressler KJ, Rothbaum BO, Tannenbaum L, Anderson P, Graap K, Zimand E, et al. Cognitive enhancers as adjuncts to psychotherapy: use of D-cycloserine in phobic individuals to facilitate extinction of fear. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2004;61(11):1136–44.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  86. Davis M, Ressler K, Rothbaum BO, Richardson R. Effects of D-cycloserine on extinction: translation from preclinical to clinical work. Biol Psychiatry. 2006;60(4):369–75.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  87. Milad MR, Quirk GJ. Fear extinction as a model for translational neuroscience: ten years of progress. Annu Rev Psychol. 2012;63:129–51.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  88. Gross J. The emerging field of emotion regulation: an integrative review. Rev Gen Psychol. 1998;2(3):271–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  89. Mauss I, Bunge S, Gross J. Automatic emotion regulation. Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2007;1(1):146–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  90. Frijda NH. The laws of emotion. Amer Psychologist. 1998;43(5):349.

    Google Scholar 

  91. Scherer KR. What are emotions? And how can they be measured? Soc Sci Inf. 2005;44(4):695–729.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  92. Ochsner K, Gross J. The cognitive control of emotion. Trends Cogn Sci. 2005;9(5):242–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  93. Ochsner K, Gross J. Cognitive emotion regulation: insights from social cognitive and affective neuroscience. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2008;17(2):153–8.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  94. Ochsner KN, Bunge SA, Gross JJ, Gabrieli JD. Rethinking feelings: an fMRI study of the cognitive regulation of emotion. J Cog Neurosci. 2002;14(8):1215–29.

    Google Scholar 

  95. Beauregard M, Levesque J, Bourgouin P. Neural correlates of conscious self-regulation of emotion. J Neurosci. 2001;21(18).

    Google Scholar 

  96. Sokol-Hessner P, Hsu M, Curley N, Delgado M, Camerer C, Phelps E. Thinking like a trader selectively reduces individuals’ loss aversion. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2009;106(13):5035–40.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  97. Sokol-Hessner P, Camerer CF, Phelps EA. Emotion regulation reduces loss aversion and decreases amygdala responses to losses. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2012;24:1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  98. Wager T, Davidson M, Hughes B, Lindquist M, Ochsner K. Prefrontal-subcortical pathways mediating successful emotion regulation. Neuron. 2008;59(6):1037–50.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  99. Barbas H. Connections underlying the synthesis of cognition, memory, and emotion in primate prefrontal cortices. Brain Res Bull. 2000;52(5):319–30.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  100. Urry HLRC, Johnstone T, Kalin NH, Thurow ME, Schaefer HS, Jackson CA, et al. Amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex are inversely coupled during regulation of negative affect and predict the diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion among older adults. J Neurosci. 2006;26(16):4415–25.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  101. Ghashghaei H, Hilgetag C, Barbas H. Sequence of information processing for emotions based on the anatomic dialogue between prefrontal cortex and amygdala. NeuroImage. 2007;34(3):905–23.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  102. Delgado M, Nearing K, LeDoux J, Phelps E. Neural circuitry underlying the regulation of conditioned fear and its relation to extinction. Neuron. 2008;59(5):829–38.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  103. Amstadter A. Emotion regulation and anxiety disorders. J Anxiety Disord. 2008;22(2):211–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  104. Cisler JM, Olatunji BO, Feldner MT, Forsyth JP. Emotion regulation and the anxiety disorders: an integrative review. J Psychopathol Behav Assess. 2010;32(1):68–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  105. Goldin PR, Manber T, Hakimi S, Canli T, Gross JJ. Neural bases of social anxiety disorder: emotional reactivity and cognitive regulation during social and physical threat. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66(2):170–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  106. Goldin PR, Manber-Ball T, Werner K, Heimberg R, Gross JJ. Neural mechanisms of cognitive reappraisal of negative self-beliefs in social anxiety disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2009;66(12):1091–9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  107. Allen LB MR, Barlow DH. Emotional disorders: a unified protocol. In: DH B, editor. Clinical handbook of psychological disorders. 4th ed. New York: Guilford; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  108. Bryant RA, Felmingham K, Kemp A, Das P, Hughes G, Peduto A, et al. Amygdala and ventral anterior cingulate activation predicts treatment response to cognitive behaviour therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychol Med. 2008;38(4):1–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  109. Kim MJ, Whalen PJ. The structural integrity of an amygdala-prefrontal pathway predicts trait anxiety. J Neurosci. 2009;29(37):11614–8.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  110. Baratta MV, Christianson JP, Gomez DM, Zarza CM, Amat J, Masini CV, Maier SF. Controllable versus uncontrollable stressors bi-directionally modulate conditioned but not innate fear. Neuroscience. 2007;146(4):1495.

    Google Scholar 

  111. Maier SF, Watkins LR. Role of the medial prefrontal cortex in coping and resilience. Brain Res. 2010;1355:52–60.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  112. Amorapanth P, LeDoux J, Nader K. Different lateral amygdala outputs mediate reactions and actions elicited by a fear-arousing stimulus. Nat Neurosci. 2000;3:74–9.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  113. Everitt BJ, Parkinson JA, Olmstead MC, Arroyo M, Robledo P, Robbins TW. Associative processes in addiction and reward. The role of amygdala-ventral striatal subsystems. Annals NY Acad Sci. 1999;877:412–38.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  114. Lázaro-Muñoz G, LeDoux JE, Cain CK. Sidman instrumental avoidance initially depends on lateral and basal amygdala and is constrained by central amygdala-mediated pavlovian processes. Biol Psychiatry. 2010;67(12):1120–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  115. Amat J, Baratta MV, Paul E, Bland ST, Watkins LR, Maier SF. Medial prefrontal cortex determines how stressor controllability affects behavior and dorsal raphe nucleus. Nature Neurosci. 2005;8(3):365–71.

    Google Scholar 

  116. Baratta MV, Lucero TR, Amat J, Watkins LR, Maier SF. Role of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex in mediating behavioral control-induced reduction of later conditioned fear. Learn Mem. 2008;15(2):84–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  117. Amat J, Paul E, Zarza C, Watkins L, Maier S. Previous experience with behavioral control over stress blocks the behavioral and dorsal raphe nucleus activating effects of later uncontrollable stress: role of the ventral medial prefrontal cortex. J Neurosci. 2006;26(51):13264–72.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  118. Baratta MV, Zarza CM, Gomez DM, Campeau S, Watkins LR, Maier SF. Selective activation of dorsal raphe nucleus-projecting neurons in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex by controllable stress. Eur J Neurosci. 2009;30(6):1111–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  119. Cain C, LeDoux J. Escape from fear: a detailed behavioral analysis of two atypical responses reinforced by CS termination. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process. 2007;33(4):451–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  120. Delgado MR. Avoiding negative outcomes: tracking the mechanisms of avoidance learning in humans during fear conditioning. Front Behav Neurosci. 2009;3:1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  121. Coppens CM, De Boer SF, Koolhaas JM. Coping styles and behavioural flexibility: towards underlying mechanisms. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2010;365(1560):4021–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  122. Gozzi A, Jain A, Giovanelli A, Bertollini C, Crestan V, Schwarz AJ, et al. A neural switch for active and passive fear. Neuron. 2010;67(4):656–66.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  123. Nader K, Schafe GE, Le Doux JE. Fear memories require protein synthesis in the amygdala for reconsolidation after retrieval. Nature. 2000;406(6797):722–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  124. Alberini CM. Mechanisms of memory stabilization: are consolidation and reconsolidation similar or distinct processes? Trends Neurosci. 2005;28(1):51–6.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  125. Debiec J, LeDoux JE. Disruption of reconsolidation but not consolidation of auditory fear conditioning by noradrenergic blockade in the amygdala. Neuroscience. 2004;129(2):267–72.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  126. McGaugh JL. Memory—a century of consolidation. Science. 2000;287(5451):248–51.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  127. Brunet A, Orr SP, Tremblay J, Robertson K, Nader K, Pitman RK. Effect of post-retrieval propranolol on psychophysiologic responding during subsequent script-driven traumatic imagery in post-traumatic stress disorder. J Psychiatr Res. 2008;42(6):503–6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  128. Schiller D, Phelps EA. Does reconsolidation occur in humans? Front Behav Neurosci. 2011;5:1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  129. Soeter M, Kindt M. Dissociating response systems: erasing fear from memory. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2010;94(1):30–41.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  130. Muravieva EV, Alberini CM. Limited efficacy of propranolol on the reconsolidation of fear memories. Learn Mem. 2010;17(6):306–13.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  131. Walker MP, Brakefield T, Hobson JA, Stickgold R. Dissociable stages of human memory consolidation and reconsolidation. Nature. 2003;425(6958):616–20.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  132. Clem RL, Huganir RL. Calcium-permeable AMPA receptor dynamics mediate fear memory erasure. Science. 2010;330(6007):1108–12.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  133. Monfils M-H, Cowansage KK, Klann E, Ledoux JE. Extinction-reconsolidation boundaries: key to persistent attenuation of fear memories. Science. 2009;324(5929):951–5.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  134. Schiller D, Monfils M-H, Raio CM, Johnson DC, Ledoux JE, Phelps EA. Preventing the return of fear in humans using reconsolidation update mechanisms. Nature. 2009;463(7277):49–53.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  135. Milad MR, Pitman RK, Ellis CB, Gold AL, Shin LM, Lasko NB, et al. Neurobiological basis of failure to recall extinction memory in posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2009;66(12):1075–82.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  136. Hartley CA, Phelps EA. Changing fear: the neurocircuitry of emotion regulation. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2009;35(1):136–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  137. Schiller D, Delgado MR. Overlapping neural systems mediating extinction, reversal and regulation of fear. Trends Cogn Sci. 2010;14(6):267–76. Epub 2010 May 20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  138. Mineka S, Zinbarg R. A contemporary learning theory perspective on the etiology of anxiety disorders: it’s not what you thought it was. Am Psychol. 2006;61(1):10–26.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  139. Hartley CA, Phelps EA. Anxiety and decision-making. Biol Psychiatry. 2012;72(2):113–8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Catherine A. Hartley

  2. Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Departments of Psychology and Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Elizabeth A. Phelps

Authors
  1. Catherine A. Hartley
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elizabeth A. Phelps
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth A. Phelps .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Education and Training, Kennedy Krieger Institute, 3901 Greenspring Avenue, Baltimore, 21211, Maryland, USA

    Roma A. Vasa

  2. Fordham University, East Fordham Road 441, Bronx, 10458, New York, USA

    Amy Krain Roy

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Hartley, C.A., Phelps, E.A. (2013). Fear Models in Animals and Humans. In: Vasa, R., Roy, A. (eds) Pediatric Anxiety Disorders. Current Clinical Psychiatry. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6599-7_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6599-7_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6598-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6599-7

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation