NEUROBIOLOGY OF PAVLOVIAN FEAR CONDITIONING

• Abstract Learning the relationships between aversive events and the environmental

stimuli that predict such events is essential to the survival of organisms throughout

the animal kingdom. Pavlovian fear conditioning is an exemplar of this form of learning

that is exhibited by both rats and humans. Recent years have seen an incredible surge in

interest in the neurobiology of fear conditioning. Neural circuits underlying fear conditioning

have been mapped, synaptic plasticity in these circuits has been identified,

and biochemical and genetic manipulations are beginning to unravel the molecular

machinery responsible for the storage of fear memories. These advances represent an

important step in understanding the neural substrates of a rapidly acquired and adaptive

form of associative learning and memory in mammals.

https://sites.oxy.edu/clint/physio/article/Neurobiologyofpavlovianfearconditioning.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20220526041806/https://sites.oxy.edu/clint/physio/article/Neurobiologyofpavlovianfearconditioning.pdf