14Persistent neural activity has been described in cortical, hippocampal, and motor networks as 15 mediating short-term working memory of transiently encountered stimuli 1-4 . Internal emotion states 16 such as fear also exhibit persistence following exposure to an inciting stimulus 5,6 , but such 17 persistence is typically attributed to circulating stress hormones 7-9 ; whether persistent neural activity 18 also plays a role has not been established. SF1 + /Nr5a1 + neurons in the dorsomedial and central 19 subdivision of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHdm/c) are necessary for innate and learned 20 defensive responses to predators 10-13 . Optogenetic activation of VMHdm SF1 neurons elicits defensive 21 behaviors that can outlast stimulation 11,14 , suggesting it induces a persistent internal state of fear or 22 anxiety. Here we show that VMHdm SF1 neurons exhibit persistent activity lasting tens of seconds, in 23 response to naturalistic threatening stimuli. This persistent activity was correlated with, and 24 required for, persistent thigmotaxic (anxiety-like) behavior in an open-field assay. Microendoscopic 25 imaging of VMHdm SF1 neurons revealed that persistence reflects dynamic temporal changes in 26 population activity, rather than simply synchronous, slow decay of simultaneously activated 27 neurons. Unexpectedly, distinct but overlapping VMHdm SF1 subpopulations were persistently 28 activated by different classes of threatening stimuli. Computational modeling suggested that 29 recurrent neural networks (RNNs) incorporating slow excitation and a modest degree of 30 neurochemical or spatial bias can account for persistent activity that maintains stimulus identity, 31 without invoking genetically determined "labeled lines" 15 . Our results provide causal evidence that 32 persistent neural activity, in addition to well-established neuroendocrine mechanisms, can 33 contribute to the ability of emotion states to outlast their inciting stimuli, and suggest a mechanism 34 3 that could prevent over-generalization of defensive responses without the need to evolve hardwired 35 circuits specific for each type of threat. (267 words) 36 Main Text 37We performed fiber photometry 16 in VMHdm SF1 neurons expressing GCaMP6s 17 in freely behaving mice 38 during a 10s presentation of a predator (an anesthetized rat 18 ) ( Fig. 1a-c). We observed a rapid 39 increase in the bulk calcium signal at the onset of rat presentation ( Fig. 1d, e). Remarkably, this activity 40 persisted for over a minute following rat removal, decaying exponentially with time constant τdecay = 41 26.7±2.2 seconds ( Fig. 1d-e, h-i; Supplemental Video 1). In contrast, a toy rat presented in the same 42 manner produced a far weaker and less persistent response ( Fig. 1d, e). 43 To better control the timing and location of stimulus presentation, we repeated this experiment 44 using a head-fixed preparation. The magnitude, decay constants and specificity of VMHdm SF1 persistent 45 responses were comparable to those measured in freely behaving mice ( Fig...