The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is the first site in the amygdala where the plasticity underlying fear conditioning could occur. We simultaneously recorded from multiple LA neurons in freely moving rats during fear conditioning trials in which tones were paired with foot shocks. Conditioning significantly increased the magnitude of tone-elicited responses (often within the first several trials), converted unresponsive cells into tone-responsive ones, and altered functional couplings between LA neurons. The effects of conditioning were greatest on the shortest latency (less than 15 ms) components of the tone-elicited responses, consistent with the hypothesis that direct projections from the auditory thalamus to LA are an important link in the circuitry through which rapid behavioral responses are controlled in the presence of conditioned fear stimuli.

Single-cell activity was recorded in the dorsal subnucleus of the lateral amygdala (LAd) of freely behaving rats during Pavlovian fear conditioning, to determine the relationship between neuronal activity and behavioral learning. Neuronal responses elicited by the conditioned stimulus typically increased before behavioral fear was evident, supporting the hypothesis that neural changes in LAd account for the conditioning of behavior. Furthermore, two types of these rapidly modified cells were found. Some, located in the dorsal tip of LAd, exhibited short-latency responses (<20 ms) that were only transiently changed. A second class of cells, most commonly found in ventral regions of LAd, had longer latency responses, but maintained enhanced responding throughout training and even through extinction. These anatomically distinct cells in LAd may be differentially involved in the initiation of learning and long-term memory storage.

Recent evidence from cerebellum-dependent motor learning and amygdala-dependent fear conditioning indicates that, despite being mediated by different brain systems, these forms of learning might use a similar sequence of events to form new memories. In each case, learning seems to induce changes in two different groups of neurons. Changes in the first class of cells are induced very rapidly during the initial stages of learning, whereas changes in the second class of cells develop more slowly and are resistant to extinction. So, anatomically distinct cell populations might contribute differentially to the initial encoding and the long-term storage of memory in these two systems.