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Extinction is a process that diminishes the memory of a learned behaviour. This may occur by unlearning the original memory association that produces the behaviour or by learning a new association that inhibits it.
Dopamine may help strengthen fear-inhibitory extinction memories through influences on the prefrontal cortex. Here, the authors replicate their previous finding that prefrontal reactivations are predictive of extinction memory retrieval but do not replicate the enhancing effects of L-DOPA.
The neuropeptide oxytocin has a vital role in many mammalian social behaviours. Here, Menon and Neumann provide a comprehensive review of the rodent neuronal circuits in which oxytocin acts to regulate the processing of social cues in order to reinforce reproductive and non-reproductive social behaviours.
Fear is actively maintained in balance in mice by the insular cortex, which gates extinction learning according to an animal’s fear level using interoceptive signals related to fear expression that are sent to the brain via the vagus nerve.
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is attributed with various functions during valuation, affect regulation and social cognition. Nature Neuroscience asked a moderator to lead researchers in a dialogue on shared and distinct viewpoints of this region's roles.
