Sex differences in fear extinction

Despite the exponential increase in fear research during the last years, few studies have included female subjects in their design. The need to include females arises from the knowledge gap of mechanistic processes underlying the behavioral and neural differences observed in fear extinction. Moreove...

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Published inNeuroscience and biobehavioral reviews Vol. 103; pp. 81 - 108
Main Authors Velasco, E.R., Florido, A., Milad, M.R., Andero, R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2019
Subjects
Animals
Brain - physiology
Extinction
Extinction, Psychological - physiology
Fear
Fear - physiology
Female
Human
Humans
Male
Rodent
Sex
Sex Characteristics
Human
Fear
Extinction
Sex
Male
Female
Rodent
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Summary:Despite the exponential increase in fear research during the last years, few studies have included female subjects in their design. The need to include females arises from the knowledge gap of mechanistic processes underlying the behavioral and neural differences observed in fear extinction. Moreover, the exact contribution of sex and hormones in relation to learning and behavior is still largely unknown. Insights from this field could be beneficial as fear-related disorders are twice as prevalent in women compared to men. Here, we review an up-to-date summary of animal and human studies in adulthood that report sex differences in fear extinction from a structural and functional approach. Furthermore, we describe how these factors could contribute to the observed sex differences in fear extinction during normal and pathological conditions.
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ISSN:0149-7634
1873-7528
1873-7528
DOI:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.05.020