The amygdala encodes specific sensory features of an aversive reinforcer.

Jacek Debiec (1) , Lorenzo Diaz-Mataix (2) , David E. A. Bush (1) , Valérie Doyère (3, 4) , Joseph E. Ledoux (5)

1 W.M. Keck Foundation Laboratory of Neurobiology, Center for Neural Science
2 W.M. Keck Foundation Laboratory of Neurobiology, Center for Neural Science
3 CNPS - Centre de Neurosciences Paris-Sud
4 NAMC - Neurobiologie de l'apprentissage, de la mémoire et de la communication
5 Emotional Brain Institute, Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research

Studies of reconsolidation, in which retrieved memories are altered and restored, offer an approach for exploring the associative structure of fear memory. We found that exposure to the unconditioned stimulus initiates an unconditioned stimulus-specific reconsolidation of learned fear in rats that depended on the amygdala. Thus, specific features of the unconditioned stimulus appear to be encoded in the amygdala as part of fear memories stored there.

Domaines: Neurosciences [q-bio.NC]

Jacek Debiec, Lorenzo Diaz-Mataix, David E. A. Bush, Valérie Doyère, Joseph E. Ledoux. The amygdala encodes specific sensory features of an aversive reinforcer.. Nature Neuroscience, 2010, 13 (5), pp.536-537. ⟨10.1038/nn.2520⟩. ⟨hal-00634626⟩