Role of Human Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Learning and Recall of Enhanced Extinction
3264 • The Journal of Neuroscience, April 24, 2019 • 39(17):3264–3276 Behavioral/Cognitive Role of Human Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex in Learning and Recall of Enhanced Extinction X Joseph E. Dunsmoor,1 XMarijn C.W. Kroes,2 XJian Li,3 X Nathaniel D. Daw,4 Helen B. Simpson,5,6 and X Elizabeth A. Phelps7 1Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, 2Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 3School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behaviour and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China, 4Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, Peking University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, 5Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, 6New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York 10032, and 7Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Standard fear extinction relies on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to form a new memory given the omission of threat. Using fMRI in humans, we investigated whether replacing threat with novel neutral outcomes (instead of just omitting threat) facilitates extinction by engaging the vmPFC more effectively than standard extinction. Computational modeling of associability (indexing surprise strength and dynamically modulating learning rates) characterized skin conductance responses and vmPFC activity during novelty- facilitated but not standard extinction. Subjects who showed faster within-session updating of associability during novelty-facilitated extinction also expressed better extinction retention the next day, as expressed through skin conductance responses. Finally, separable patterns of connectivity between the amygdala and ventral versus dorsal mPFC characterized retrieval of novelty-facilitated versus standard extinction memories, respectively.
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