Interpreting patterns of brain activation in human fear conditioning with an attentional-associative learning model.

Full Abstract

J. E. Dunsmoor, P. A. Bandettini, and D. C. Knight conducted a neuroimaging study of human fear conditioning and analyzed brain activity under various pairing rates between a conditioned and an unconditioned stimulus. Computer simulations with an attentional-associative model introduced by N. A. Schmajuk, Y. W. Lam, and J. A. Gray (1996) show that activity in the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex is well described by a variable representing the prediction of the unconditioned stimulus, whereas activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and insula is well captured by a variable coding the attentional-modulated representation of conditioned stimuli. In addition, the model explains how those variables control behavior and provides a clear framework in which those variables play important roles in the description of numerous classical conditioning paradigms. Also, the model offers a number of predictions related to stimulus novelty for future neuroimaging studies of associative learning. 2009 APA, all rights reserved

Author information

Author/s: Dunsmoor, Joseph (J); Schmajuk, Nestor (N);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Behavioral neuroscience (Behav Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Aug; vol 123 (issue 4) : pp 851-5

Dates: Created 2009/07/28; Completed 2009/11/06;

PMID: 19634945, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.