Contextual-Fear and Theta-Rhythm
The brain’s defensive system detects danger signals and organises physiological and behavioural responses, preparing the individual to flight or flee. A defensive (fear) memory is formed by classical conditioning to distinct cues, contexts, or a combination of a cue in a context, for example, an angry dog barking loudly behind ones back in a narrow alley next to a grocery store. Binding the danger cues with their specific context make memories flexible and adaptive. Poorly encoded context leads to unprecise memories, related to maladaptive behaviour and psychopathology. Interactions of neurons generate rhythmic activity, which synchronises information processing in different brain regions, thus helping to form the associations between aversive information and its context.
In this project, we will develop an experimental task to alter rhythmic brain activity non-invasively and causallymodulate the quality of contextual fear memory. If successful, the technique may open new accessible, cheap, and non-invasive ways to modify a context-fear memory, with potential clinical application.
The project helps establish collaboration between labs at Osnabrück University and University of Glasgow, whose expertise is in fear memory and episodic memory, respectively. The project allows both labs to gain deeper understanding about the role of rhythmic brain activity across different memory systems.
Clouter, A., Shapiro, K. L., & Hanslmayr, S. (2017). Theta Phase Synchronization Is the Glue that Binds Human Associative Memory. Current Biology, 27(20), 3143-3148.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.001
Plog, E., Antov, M. I., Bierwirth, P., Keil, A., & Stockhorst, U. (2022). Phase-Synchronized Stimulus Presentation Augments Contingency Knowledge and Affective Evaluation in a Fear-Conditioning Task. eNeuro, 9(1), ENEURO.0538-20.2021. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0538-20.2021
