Inhibition of Fear by Learned Safety Signals: A Mini-Symposium Review

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: John P. Christianson, University of Colorado; Anushka B. P. Fernando, University of Cambridge; Andrew Kazama, Emory University; Tanja Jovanovic, Emory University; Linnaea E. Ostroff, New York University; Susan Sangha, University of California San Francisco
• Language: English
• Date: 2012-10-10
• Publisher: Society for Neuroscience
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2012 the authors.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3340-12.2012
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Neuroscience Nursing
• ISSN: 0888-0395
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 41
• Start Page: 14118
• End Page: 14124
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grants MH093412, MH070129, MH092576, MH47840 MH088985, MH58846, MH086947, and MH083583; the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression; Medical Research Council Case Studentship; the Wellcome Trust; the State of California for Medical Research on Alcohol and Substance Abuse through the University of California at San Francisco to Dr. Patricia H. Janak; Yerkes Base Grant RR-00165; and National Center for Research Resources Grant P51RR165, currently supported by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/Grant OD P51OD11132.
• Keywords: Science & Technology; FEATURE-NEGATIVE DISCRIMINATION; POTENTIATED STARTLE PARADIGM; POSTTRAUMATIC-STRESS-DISORDER; ORBITOFRONTAL CORTEX; INESCAPABLE SHOCK; AVERSIVE STIMULI; Neurosciences; Neurosciences & Neurology; CONDITIONED INHIBITION; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; SENSORY INSULAR CORTEX; MEDIAL PREFRONTAL CORTEX; BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA
• Research Categories: Psychology, Behavioral; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Safety signals are learned cues that predict the nonoccurrenceofanaversive event. As such, safety signals are potent inhibitorsof fear and stress responses. Investigations of safety signal learning have increased over the last few years due in part to the finding that traumatized persons are unable to use safety cues to inhibit fear, making it a clinically relevant phenotype. The goal of this review is to present recent advances relating to the neural and behavioral mechanisms of safety learning, and expression in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans.