Molecular Mechanisms of Threat Learning in the Lateral Nucleus of the Amygdala

Sears, Robert M.; Schiff, Hillary C.; LeDoux, Joseph E.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-420170-5.00010-6

Cited by 45 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 280 publications

(337 reference statements)

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“…That said, the theoretically more important finding is perhaps that orienting to threat was still modulated by top-down control (see comparison between Experiment 1 and 2). This shows that orienting to threat is not encapsulated from top-down control (LeDoux, 1996;Öhman & Mineka, 2001) but instead requires a model that takes both the (subjective) threat value of stimuli and their task relevance into account, and allows top-down modulation of threatening stimuli (e.g., competitive interaction model; Mathews & Mackintosh, 1998;Desimone & Duncan, 1995;Pessoa & Adolphs, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, if a visual scene contained both a potentially poisonous spider and a harmless butterfly, orienting attention to the spider would facilitate its processing and allow us to take appropriate actions. According to evolutionary models of threat processing, such prioritized processing of potential threats is largely stimulus-driven and reliant on a fast, subcortical pathway that is unaffected by cognitive influences such as current task goals or intentions (LeDoux, 1996;Öhman & Mineka, 2001).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…For instance, according to LeDoux' (1996) account, it is plausible that only the initial rapid orienting response would be determined by subcortical processes that are encapsulated from cognitive top-down control (Low Road; also see Luo et al, 2010). By contrast, maintaining or disengaging attention commences at a later stage and could be influenced by topdown goals, because potential threats are eventually also cognitively evaluated in the cortex (High Road; see also Carrasco, 2011, for a similar view).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Threat captures attention, but not automatically: Top-down goals modulate attentional orienting to threat distractors

Vromen

Lipp

Remington

et al. 2016

Atten Percept Psychophys

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The rapid orienting of attention to potential threats has been proposed to proceed outside of top-down control. However, paradigms that have been used to investigate this have struggled to separate the rapid orienting of attention (i.e. capture) from the later disengagement of focal attention that may be subject to top-down control. Consequently, it remains unclear whether and to what extent orienting to threat is contingent on top-down goals. The current study manipulated the goal-relevance of threat distractors (spiders), whilst a strict top-down attentional set was encouraged by presenting the saliently colored target and the threat distracter simultaneously for a limited time. The goal-relevance of threatening distractors was manipulated by including a spider amongst the possible target stimuli (Experiment 1: spider/cat targets) or excluding it (Experiment 2: bird/fish targets). Orienting and disengagement were disentangled by cueing attention away from or towards the threat prior to its onset. The results indicated that the threatening spider distractors elicited rapid orienting of attention when spiders were potentially goalrelevant (Experiment 1) but did so much less when they were irrelevant to the task goal (Experiment 2). Delayed disengagement from the threat distractors was even more strongly contingent on the task goal and occurred only when a spider was a possible target. These results highlight the role of top-down goals in attentional orienting to and disengagement from threat.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Threat captures attention, but not automatically: Top-down goals modulate attentional orienting to threat distractors

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Lipp

Remington

et al. 2016

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…There was a dispute in the late 1990s about whether the BLA was involved (165) or not (640) in memory consolidation of CFC. Most current accounts favor the view that LTP in auditory afferents to the LA are critically involved in this (295,296,448,591), but still many recent studies endorse the view of a crucial cognitive involvement of the BLA in the making of conditioned fear (102, 189), and others favor the idea that the BLA processes the storage of IA in parallel to the hippocampus (63, 107, 273, 291) (see below).…”

Section: The Brain Synaptic Plasticity Processes Underlying Fear Lmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…95, issue 2, published in 2011), and two recent short but very informative reviews by Kandel (301,302). Studies on the LA have been less numerous than those on hippocampus, but nevertheless they suggest a general picture not very different from that of the hippocampus (140,294,591). In both brain areas the molecular basis of memory making is very similar to that described for NMDA receptor-dependent LTP (265, 657; for references on invertebrate work, see Ref.…”

Section: A Molecular Changes In Cellular Memory Consolidationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fear Memory

Izquierdo

Furini

Myskiw

2016

Physiological Reviews

383

259

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Fear memory is the best-studied form of memory. It was thoroughly investigated in the past 60 years mostly using two classical conditioning procedures (contextual fear conditioning and fear conditioning to a tone) and one instrumental procedure (one-trial inhibitory avoidance). Fear memory is formed in the hippocampus (contextual conditioning and inhibitory avoidance), in the basolateral amygdala (inhibitory avoidance), and in the lateral amygdala (conditioning to a tone). The circuitry involves, in addition, the pre-and infralimbic ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the central amygdala subnuclei, and the dentate gyrus. Fear learning models, notably inhibitory avoidance, have also been very useful for the analysis of the biochemical mechanisms of memory consolidation as a whole. These studies have capitalized on in vitro observations on long-term potentiation and other kinds of plasticity. The effect of a very large number of drugs on fear learning has been intensively studied, often as a prelude to the investigation of effects on anxiety. The extinction of fear learning involves to an extent a reversal of the flow of information in the mentioned structures and is used in the therapy of posttraumatic stress disorder and fear memories in general.

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Dysfunctional or hyperfunctional? The amygdala in posttraumatic stress disorder is the bull in the evolutionary China shop

Diamond

Zoladz

2015

J of Neuroscience Research

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Our motivation in writing this Review arose not only from the great value in contributing to this special issue of the Journal of Neuroscience Research but also from the desire to express our opinion that the description of the amygdala as "dysfunctional" in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might not be appropriate. We acknowledge that excessive activation of the amygdala contributes to the cluster of PTSD symptoms, including hypervigilance, intrusive memories, and impaired sleep, that underlies the devastating mental and physical outcomes in trauma victims. The issue that we address is whether the symptoms of PTSD represent an impaired (dysfunctional) or sensitized (hyperfunctional) amygdala status. We propose that the amygdala in PTSD is hyperfunctional rather than dysfunctional in recognition of the fact that the individual has already survived one life-threatening attack and that another may be forthcoming. We therefore consider PTSD to be a state in which the amygdala is functioning optimally if the goal is to ensure a person's survival. The misery caused by a hyperfunctional amygdala in PTSD is the cost of inheriting an evolutionarily primitive mechanism that considers survival more important than the quality of one's life.

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Molecular Mechanisms of Threat Learning in the Lateral Nucleus of the Amygdala

Cited by 45 publications

References 280 publications

Threat captures attention, but not automatically: Top-down goals modulate attentional orienting to threat distractors

Threat captures attention, but not automatically: Top-down goals modulate attentional orienting to threat distractors

Fear Memory

Dysfunctional or hyperfunctional? The amygdala in posttraumatic stress disorder is the bull in the evolutionary China shop

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