Context conditioning and extinction in humans: differential contribution of the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Lang, Simone; Kröll, A.; Lipinski, S.; Wessa, Michèle; Ridder, Stephanie; Christmann, Christoph; Schad, Lothar R.; Flor, Herta

doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2009.06624.x

Cited by 158 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…Both the amygdala and the hippocampus are mandatory for such contextual conditioning, as demonstrated by animal studies revealing deficits in the acquisition of conditioned anxiety when the hippocampus and/or the amygdala were lesioned before context conditioning (Fanselow 2010;Maren et al 2013;Bannerman et al 2014). Corroborating these results, we and others found greater hippocampal activation triggered by CTX+ when compared with CTX2 (Marschner et al 2008;Lang et al 2009;Andreatta et al 2015b) in humans. The amygdala provides the neuronal underpinnings for the conditioned anxiety response, while the hippocampus seems to encode context-related information (Fanselow 2010) and together with the amygdala fosters the context-US association (Richter-Levin 2004;Maren et al 2013).…”

supporting

confidence: 84%

“…Amygdala activation (Marschner et al 2008;Lang et al 2009;Andreatta et al 2015b) and startle potentiation (Grillon et al 2006;Glotzbach-Schoon et al 2013a) have been found in both CS+ and CTX+ (the context associated with the US) when compared with CS2 or CTX2 (the context not associated with the US, i.e., safe). However, a context is much more complex than a discrete cue and due to this complexity, context conditioning requires additional processes and brain structures (Fanselow 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of context preexposure and delay until anxiety retrieval on generalization of contextual anxiety

et al. 2016

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Animal studies suggest that time delay between acquisition and retrieval of contextual anxiety increases generalization. Moreover, such generalization is prevented by preexposure to the context (CTX), presumably due to an improved representation of such context. We investigated whether preexposure and time-passing modulate generalization of contextual anxiety, in humans. On Day 1, 42 participants (preexposure group) explored two virtual offices, while 41 participants (no-preexposure group) explored a virtual stadium. On Day 2 (24 h later), all participants learned to associate one office (CTX+) with unpredictable unconditioned stimuli (USs), and another office (CTX2) with safety. On Day 3, either 24 h (recent test) or 2 wk (remote test) later, participants revisited CTX2 and CTX+ without USs, as well as a generalization context (G-CTX). Results revealed successfully conditioned anxiety and anxiety generalization for ratings (G-CTX was as aversive as CTX+ was), while safety generalization was found for startle responses (G-CTX elicited startle attenuation as CTX2 did). Time between learning and testing enhanced generalization as reflected by comparable startle responses to all three offices in the remote test. Contextual preexposure facilitated extinction of explicit conditioned anxiety assessed with ratings. These results suggest that memory trace of a context degrades with passage of time in humans like in animals and, consequently, anxiety generalization enhances. After context preexposure, high cognitive processes seem to be crucially involved in facilitating extinction (or safety) learning.

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supporting

confidence: 84%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of context preexposure and delay until anxiety retrieval on generalization of contextual anxiety

et al. 2016

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“…Several frontal areas (orbitofrontal cortex, lateral prefrontal cortex, superior orbital sulcus) seem to be involved in predictions, using the context to update the encoding and retrieval of episodic learning. [33][34][35][36] Animal studies provide direct evidence for this hypothesis. Prefrontal neurons show rapid frontal adaptation to contextdependent behavioral significance in short-term context paradigms.…”

Section: A Neuroanatomic Pathway: the Socialmentioning

confidence: 93%

Contextual social cognition and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia

Ibáñez¹,

Manes²

2012

Neurology

296

260

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The significance of social situations is commonly context-embedded. Although the role of context has been extensively studied in basic sensory processing or simple stimulus-response settings, its relevance for social cognition is unknown. We propose the social context network model (SCNM), a fronto-insular-temporal network responsible for processing social contextual effects. The SCNM may 1) update the context and use it to make predictions, 2) coordinate internal and external milieus, and 3) consolidate context-target associative learning. We suggest the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) as a specific disorder in which the reported deficits in social cognition (e.g., facial recognition, empathy, decisionmaking, figurative language, theory of mind) can be described as context impairments due to deficits in the SCNM. Disruption of orbitofrontal-amygdala circuit, as well as the frontal, temporal, and insular atrophy in bVFTD, suggests a relationship between context-sensitive social cognition and SCNM. In considering context as an intrinsic part of social cognition, we highlight the need for a situated cognition approach in social cognition research as opposed to an abstract, universal, and decontextualized approach. The assessment of context-dependent social cognition paradigms, the SCNM, and their possible application to neuropsychiatric disorders may provide new insight into bvFTD and other related frontal disorders. Context-dependence effects are pervasive in everyday cognition. When we perceive objects and colors, we always perceive these among other objects and colors. We listen and speak within other word streams, and every atom of meaning emerges from a background of meanings. We perceive facial emotion together with body language, the prosody, and cues from the situation, all of them merged to understand the precise emotional significance. Acting appropriately in social interactions requires the interpretation of explicit and implicit contextual clues that orient our responses toward being polite, to make a joke or point out an irony, to say or not say something. Cognitive science and neuroscience research have evidenced context-dependence effects in similar domains of visual perception, 1-3 emotion, 4 -7 language, 8 -14 and social cognition 15,16 in both normal and neuropsychiatric conditions. But what is context? Simply put, a contextual factor (X) is something that has an effect on a cognitive event and can be determined by observing how that event is affected when X is changed.17 However, this basic definition seems to miss the essence of contextual effects, which is best illustrated with a simple optical illusion. The Ebbinghaus illusion (figure 1A) depicts 2 identical central circles, surrounded by rings of circles. Despite the fact that they are the same size, one circle is perceived as small and the other as big. The contextual information available (the surrounding circles) creates the perception that the center circles are different sizes. Context seems to be more than...

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“…54 This is in contrast to the posterior hippocampus, which plays a role in fear memory 55,56 and possibly trait anxiety. 57 The proposed function of the anterior hippocampus in anxiety-like behaviours is to modulate input to the amygdala, which is a central component of emotionally coded memory.…”

Section: Anterior Hippocampus Contribution To Anxietymentioning

confidence: 96%

The hippocampi of children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome have localized anterior alterations that predict severity of anxiety

Scott

Goodrich-Hunsaker

Kalish

et al. 2016

jpn

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Context conditioning and extinction in humans: differential contribution of the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Cited by 158 publications

References 73 publications

Effects of context preexposure and delay until anxiety retrieval on generalization of contextual anxiety

Effects of context preexposure and delay until anxiety retrieval on generalization of contextual anxiety

Contextual social cognition and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia

The hippocampi of children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome have localized anterior alterations that predict severity of anxiety

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