Researchers have identified the in-vivo dynamics of synapses that underlie fear memory formation and extinction in the living brain.
Remote fear memories, or memories of trauma formed in the distant past, are stored in the connections between neurons in the prefrontal cortex.
The sensory cortex, not the amygdala, is responsible for storing fear memories from past experiences, a new study reports.
Brain cells snap DNA in more places and in more cell types than previously realized in order to express genes for learning and memory.
The ability to extinguish fear memories may rely on the flexibility of a person's DNA.
Newly identified 'extinction neurons' in the hippocampus suppress fearful memories when activated, and allow the memories to return when deactivated. The findings may provide new treatment avenues for PTSD, phobias, and anxiety.
Findings could lead to the development of new treatments to reduce the effects of PTSD, researchers say.
Before a rat avoids a place of which they hold fearful memories, the brain recalls memories of the physical location where the event occurred, researchers report.
Combining artificial intelligence and neuroimaging, researchers have devised a way of unconsciously removing a fear memory from the brain.
Researchers report noradrenaline and Hebbian plasticity work in tandem to form memories of fearful events.
