Limbic system development underlies the emergence of classical fear conditioning during the third and fourth weeks of life in the rat

• Published in: Behavioral neuroscience Vol. 130; no. 2; p. 212
• Main Authors: Deal, Alex L, Erickson, Kristen J, Shiers, Stephanie I, Burman, Michael A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.04.2016
• Subjects: Acoustic Stimulation; Amygdala - physiology; Animals; Anxiety - physiopathology; Association Learning - physiology; Conditioning, Classical - physiology; Fear - physiology; Female; Genes, Immediate-Early; Hippocampus; Limbic System - growth & development; Limbic System - physiology; Male; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos - metabolism; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley

Classical fear conditioning creates an association between an aversive stimulus and a neutral stimulus. Although the requisite neural circuitry is well understood in mature organisms, the development of these circuits is less well studied. The current experiments examine the ontogeny of fear conditi...