Hippocampal Processing of Ambiguity Enhances Fear Memory Journal Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Despite the ubiquitous use of Pavlovian fear conditioning as a model for fear learning, the highly predictable conditions used in the laboratory do not resemble real-world conditions, in which dangerous situations can lead to unpleasant outcomes in unpredictable ways. In the current experiments, we varied the timing of aversive events after predictive cues in rodents and discovered that temporal ambiguity of aversive events greatly enhances fear. During fear conditioning with unpredictably timed aversive events, pharmacological inactivation of the dorsal hippocampus or optogenetic silencing of cornu ammonis 1 cells during aversive negative prediction errors prevented this enhancement of fear without affecting fear learning for predictable events. Dorsal hippocampal inactivation also prevented ambiguity-related enhancement of fear during auditory fear conditioning under a partial-reinforcement schedule. These results reveal that information about the timing and occurrence of aversive events is rapidly acquired and that unexpectedly timed or omitted aversive events generate hippocampal signals to enhance fear learning.

publication date

  • February 1, 2017

has restriction

  • green

Date in CU Experts

  • September 16, 2019 11:46 AM

Full Author List

  • Amadi U; Lim SH; Liu E; Baratta MV; Goosens KA

author count

  • 5

Other Profiles

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0956-7976

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1467-9280

Additional Document Info

start page

  • 143

end page

  • 161

volume

  • 28

issue

  • 2