Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 39, Issue 17, Pages 3264-3276Publisher
SOC NEUROSCIENCE
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2713-18.2019
Keywords
extinction; fMRI; inhibitory learning; Pavlovian conditioning; ventromedial prefrontal cortex
Categories
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [R01 MH097085, K99R00 MH106719]
- H2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship
- Branco Weiss Fellowship, Society in Science
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Standard fear extinction relies on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to form a new memory given the omission of threat. Using fMRI in humans, we investigated whether replacing threat with novel neutral outcomes (instead of just omitting threat) facilitates extinction by engaging the vmPFC more effectively than standard extinction. Computational modeling of associability (indexing surprise strength and dynamically modulating learning rates) characterized skin conductance responses and vmPFC activity during novelty-facilitated but not standard extinction. Subjects who showed faster within-session updating of associability during novelty-facilitated extinction also expressed better extinction retention the next day, as expressed through skin conductance responses. Finally, separable patterns of connectivity between the amygdala and ventral versus dorsal mPFC characterized retrieval of novelty-facilitated versus standard extinction memories, respectively. These results indicate that replacing threat with novel outcomes stimulates vmPFC involvement on extinction trials, leading to a more durable long-term extinction memory.
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