Neural pattern similarity predicts long-term fear memory

Although certain changes in the brain may reflect fear learning, there are no known markers that indicate whether an aversive experience will develop into fear memory. We examined the moment-to-moment dynamics of human fear learning by applying multi-voxel pattern analysis to single-trial blood oxygen level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging data. We found that the long-term behavioral expression of fear memory could be predicted from neural patterns at the time of learning.