Facilitation of fear learning by prior and subsequent fear conditioning

Lee, Jessica; Russo, Amanda S; Parsons, Ryan G.

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2018.03.008

Cited by 7 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 49 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Shock reactivity was measured as described prior (Lee, Russo, & Parsons, 2018), and was defined as the peak change in force that occurred 500 msec during the shock period. Shock reactivity was compared between groups using a two-tailed independent sample’s T test.…”

Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gonadal hormone fluctuations do not affect the expression or extinction of fear-potentiated startle in female rats.

Voulo¹,

Parsons²

2019

Behavioral Neuroscience

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Prior studies suggest that levels of ovarian hormones may affect learning and memory in rats, including studies of fear conditioning and extinction. We previously showed that female rats show reduced retention of extinction compared to males when measuring fear-potentiated startle, but not when measuring freezing behavior. One commonly reported observation in studies of freezing behavior is that rats with increased levels of estradiol during extinction learning show better retention of extinction than rats given extinction training when levels of estradiol are low. Here, we tested the hypothesis that fear extinction retention in a fear-potentiated startle paradigm in females is influenced by levels gonadal hormones, which we had not accounted for in our original report. We used the fear-potentiated startle paradigm to test if extinction learning was affected by estrous phase, ovariectomy, or acute systemic injections of estradiol in ovariectomized rats. We report that neither the expression nor extinction of fear-potentiated startle differed in rats given extinction training in proestrus compared to those in metestrus. Removal of the ovaries had no effect on fear acquisition or extinction learning as assessed by fear-potentiated startle. Finally, systemic injections of estradiol given to ovariectomized rats before extinction training had no effect on the expression of fear or the retention of extinction. Our findings suggest that the effect of female gonadal hormones on fear conditioning and extinction may depend on the measure of fear employed or by the parameters used to study fear learning.

show abstract

Section: Data Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gonadal hormone fluctuations do not affect the expression or extinction of fear-potentiated startle in female rats.

Voulo¹,

Parsons²

2019

Behavioral Neuroscience

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Prior studies have showed that fear learning can facilitate future learning when additional training is given at later time points (Rashid et al, 2016; Lee et al, 2018). Such facilitation effects are observed even when an amount of training is given that is subthreshold for producing LTM (Parsons and Davis, 2012), as is the case here.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In one of these paradigms, a single pairing of light and mild shock that was not able to support memory formation alone, was able to prime subsequent learning such that a second identical trial presented an hour to several days later resulted in a robust fear memory (Parsons and Davis, 2012). Recent studies have reported that standard auditory fear conditioning is able to enhance later fear learning, even when the subsequent conditioning is not identical to the prior training (Rashid et al, 2016; Lee et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subthreshold Fear Conditioning Produces a Rapidly Developing Neural Mechanism that Primes Subsequent Learning

Cole

Lee

Davis

et al. 2019

eNeuro

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Learning results in various forms of neuronal plasticity that provide a lasting representation of past events, and understanding the mechanisms supporting lasting memories has been a primary pursuit of the neurobiological study of memory. However, learning also alters the capacity for future learning, an observation that likely reflects its adaptive significance. In the laboratory, we can study this essential property of memory by assessing how prior experience alters the capacity for subsequent learning. Previous studies have indicated that while a single weak fear conditioning trial is insufficient to support long-term memory (LTM), it can facilitate future learning such that another trial delivered within a protracted time window results in a robust memory. Here, we sought to determine whether or not manipulating neural activity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) using designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADDs) during or after the initial learning trial would affect the ability of the initial trial to facilitate subsequent learning. Our results show that inhibiting the BLA in rats prior to the first trial prevented the ability of that trial to facilitate learning when a second trial was presented the next day. Inhibition of the BLA immediately after the first trial using DREADDs was not effective, nor was pharmacological inhibition of protein kinase A (PKA) or the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). These findings indicate that the neural mechanisms that permit an initial subthreshold fear conditioning trial to alter later learning develop rapidly and do not appear to require a typical post-learning consolidation period.

show abstract

“…When feeling fear, participants in one study were found to be more focused on the target stimulation while ignoring distractions from non-target stimuli (Finucane, 2011). A high level of alertness not only allows people to focus on threatening targets, but also plays a crucial role in facilitating memorization (e.g., Lee et al, 2018; Raber et al, 2019). In another study, participants who had been stressed were found to be more resilient to misinformation and performed more accurately in recall tasks than the control group (Hoscheidt et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Examination of Memory Performance in a Fearful Virtual Reality Gaming Context

2023

Simulation & Gaming

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The emotion of fear bears a survival significance enabling animals to be highly vigilant in contexts of uncertainty. Expectedly, not all information available in the environment can be processed. Given that a major goal is to get rid of the source of fear in a fearful situation, the current study therefore hypothesized that information relating to the fear source would be better attended to and recalled than contextual information, which was validated by comparing participants’ recall of different types of information presented in a fearful VR gaming context. Methodology Fifty-four participants were divided into two groups and finished a specific segment of a VR game with different fear levels. Results No significant difference in recall performance on the questions about the appearance of the fear source and the questions about the interaction with the source was observed between the fear and less-fear groups. Yet, contextual information was better recalled than information related to the fear source in both groups. Regardless of whether the contextual information was provided beforehand or not, participants still tended to focus primarily on the environment in the gameplay. Also, the immersiveness of the gameplay was positively related to participants’ fear level. Discussion The tendency of attending to contextual information was speculated to be unconditional, in line with the risk calculation observed in prey when situated in less familiar contexts. It was suggested to further validate the present primarily findings by adopting VR headset with eye-tracking function in future studies. Lastly, an understanding of fear’s effect on memorization might also provide some information for developing future survival horror games.

show abstract

Facilitation of fear learning by prior and subsequent fear conditioning

Cited by 7 publications

References 49 publications

Gonadal hormone fluctuations do not affect the expression or extinction of fear-potentiated startle in female rats.

Gonadal hormone fluctuations do not affect the expression or extinction of fear-potentiated startle in female rats.

Subthreshold Fear Conditioning Produces a Rapidly Developing Neural Mechanism that Primes Subsequent Learning

An Examination of Memory Performance in a Fearful Virtual Reality Gaming Context

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About