A amígdala participa dos processos de aprendizagem e memória de natureza emocional, incluindo os comportamentos aversivos. Essa estrutura compreende vários núcleos que estabelecem diferentes conexões com outras estruturas do sistema nervoso. Seu núcleo basal (BA) é um dos principais alvos amigdalares de informações processadas pelo hipocampo. Evidências apontam que o hipocampo seria responsável pela aprendizagem contextual, construindo uma representação integrada dos diferentes estímulos do ambiente numa representação única, denominada representação configuracional do contexto, que inclui também representações do espaço. Congruente com essa hodologia, lesões seletivas do BA resultam em prejuízos comportamentais similares aos encontrados após lesão hipocampal. Por exemplo, ratos com lesão no BA exibem deficiências na tarefa de medo condicionado ao contexto, mas não ao som, indicando que essa região está envolvida no processo de condicionamento aversivo contextual. Porém, não está claro se esse prejuízo decorre da participação do BA na aquisição e/ou evocação e expressão do medo contextual. Os objetivos do presente estudo incluíram avaliar, por meio da inativação reversível do BA, (1) se ele é necessário na aquisição do condicionamento aversivo ao som e/ou ao contexto e (2) qual a natureza da sua participação no condicionamento aversivo ao contexto, isto é, se é necessário para a construção do contexto, para sua associação com o estímulo aversivo e/ou para a evocação da memória e expressão das respostas condicionadas. Num primeiro experimento, muscimol foi infundido no BA antes do treinamento na tarefa de condicionamento aversivo concorrente ao som e ao contexto, e os testes de medo condicionado ao som e ao contexto foram realizados separadamente, na ausência de muscimol. Como esperado, os resultados revelaram prejuízo de desempenho na tarefa de medo condicionado ao contexto, mas não na tarefa de medo condicionado ao som. Num segundo experimento, muscimol foi infundido, em grupos independentes de animais, antes de cada fase da variante do condicionamento aversivo ao contexto que envolve facilitação pela pré-exposição ao contexto, a qual permite distinguir entre a construção configuracional do contexto (fase 1), sua associação com o estímulo aversivo (fase 2) e posterior evocação e expressão do medo condicionado (fase 3). Resultados mostraram que somente os ratos que receberam muscimol antes da fase 2, mas não os que receberam muscimol antes das fases 1 e 3, apresentaram prejuízo de desempenho na tarefa de medo condicionado ao contexto. No conjunto, esses resultados indicam que o BA participa do condicionamento aversivo ao contexto sendo imprescindível no processo de associação da representação configuracional do contexto com o estímulo aversivo, mas não nos processos de construção da representação sobre o contexto e nem de evocação da memória e expressão das respostas condicionadas de medo / The amygdala is involved in emotional learning and memory, including fear conditioning. This brain structure includes several nuclei with distinct hodology. The basal nucleus (BA) receives processed information from the hippocampal formation. Evidence indicates that the hippocampus integrates environmental stimuli in a single representation thus rendering it involved in contextual (including spatial) learning and memory. Congruent with this hodological evidence, selective damage to the BA results in behavioral impairments similar to those found after hippocampal damage. For instance, rats with BA damage exhibit performance impairments in contextual, but not auditory, fear conditioning tasks. However, it is not clear to which extent this disruption is related to the BA involvement in either acquisition of contextual fear or retrieval of memory and fear expression, or both. This study aimed at investigating, by way of reversible inactivation of the BA, (1) its involvement in acquisition of auditory and contextual fear conditioning, and (2) the nature of its participation in contextual fear conditioning, that is, if it is necessary for building a representation about the context, for associating the context with the aversive stimulus and/or for memory retrieval and expression of contextual fear conditioning. In the first experiment, muscimol was infused into the BA before training in a concurrent auditory and contextual fear conditioning task, and testing for auditory and contextual fear conditioning was run separately in the absence of muscimol. As expected, results revealed disruption of performance in the contextual, but not in the auditory, conditioning task. In the second experiment, muscimol was infused into the BA, in independent groups of animals, before each of the three phases of a contextual fear conditioning variant that involves context pre-exposure facilitation, thus allowing to evaluate if functional reversible inactivation of the BA interfered with (1) building an integrated representation of the environment (the context), (2) its association with the aversive stimulus, and/or (3) memory retrieval and expression of fear conditioning. Results showed that muscimol infusion into BA before phase 2, but not phases 1 and 3, impaired performance in the contextual fear conditioning task. Together, these results indicate that a functional BA is required for acquisition of contextual fear conditioning in order to establish an association between the context and the aversive stimulus, but not for building a context neither for memory retrieval and expression of fear conditioned responses

In anticipation of a future social interaction, socially anxious individuals (SAIs) may imagine themselves appearing stupid or foolish and predict and exaggerate the probability and costs of conveying these undesirable social images both on oneself (e.g., “I will feel stupid”) and on others impressions of oneself (e.g., “Others will think I’m stupid”). However, there is a paucity of research examining the latter bias; moreover, research regarding SAIs estimates of the probability and costs of conveying a positive impression (e.g., “I will feel smart”) has typically been neglected. Thus, the a novel questionnaire was created in order to develop a more comprehensive model of SAIs estimates of probability and costs. We expected that positive and negative, self- and other-related judgments will represent four distinct, latent constructs that will be related to trait social anxiety indirectly through fears of positive and negative evaluation per the evolutionary model of social anxiety. Structural equation modeling was used to test study hypotheses. The final sample included four hounded and seventy-four college students (307 males and 167 females). Results generally supported study hypotheses. After minor theoretically justified modifications, the hypothesized model provided good fit to the data, χ2(94) = 151.78, CFI = .99, TLI = .99, RMSEA = .04. All social appraisals (or judgments) with the exception of other-negative appraisals were indirectly related to social anxiety through fears of positive and negative evaluation. Contrary to expectations, other-positive appraisals were negatively related to fear of negative evaluation and other-negative appraisals were uncorrelated with fear of positive evaluation, providing partial incremental validity of the novel questionnaire used in this study. Results provide preliminary evidence that suggests future research should extend evaluation of SAIs anticipatory social appraisals beyond negative, self-related social impact. Implications, limitations, and future directions of the research are be discussed.

Eleven experiments examined two late-developing learning and memory systems in rats: fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and the contextual regulation of latent inhibition and extinction. The first study was based on three previous developmental findings on FPS: (1) FPS to an odour CS emerges at postnatal day (PN) 23; Rats conditioned at PN16 to an odour CS express freezing but not FPS when tested at PN23, and (3) FPS to an odour CS trained at PN16 is activated if rats are also trained to a difference odour at PN23 (Yap, Stapinski, & Richardson, 2005). Yap et al. (2005) hypothesised that the activation effect only occurs if rats are given training to the second odour at an age when FPS has emerged. Study 1 assessed this hypothesis and trained the second odour CS at either PN23 or PN20. Contrary to expectations, the results of this study showed the activation effect for both groups of rats. Surprisingly, the results also revealed a significant FPS effect to the odour CS trained at PN20. Subsequent experiments examined this unexpected result, and found that learning to odour 1 at PN16 facilitated the age of onset for FPS at PN20. The results of Study 1 are discussed in relation to past findings on enrichment, cumulative learning, and neurobiological models of conditioned fear. The second section of this thesis (Studies 2 and 3) examined the context-specificity of two memory interference paradigms, latent inhibition and extinction, in developing rats. The studies found that both phenomena were context-specific at PN23-25 but not at PN16-18. Moreover, the results suggest that the context-specificity of both latent inhibition depended on the age of the rat during the second phase of training, but not their age during the first phase of training or their age at test. The implications of these findings for theoretical and neural models of learning, as well as the occurrence of latent inhibition and extinction during development are discussed.

The present thesis examined extinction of conditioned fear in the developing rat. In the adult rat, the hippocampus is thought to be important for the context-specificity of extinction. Because the hippocampus is a late-maturing structure, it was hypothesised that context-modulation of extinction may be different across development. The first series of experiments investigated reinstatement of extinguished fear in the developing rat (Chapter 2). The results showed that P24 rats exhibited context-specific reinstatement. On the other hand, P17 rats did not exhibit reinstatement of extinguished fear following a US reminder treatment. The failure to see reinstatement in P17 rats was not due to the reminder treatment being ineffective in these rats because the same treatment alleviated spontaneous forgetting in rat this age. The second series of experiments then examined the renewal effect and GABAergic involvement in extinction in P24 and P17 rats (Chapter 3). It was observed that P24 rats displayed renewal whereas P17 rats did not. Also, pre-test injection of FG7142 recovered extinguished fear in P24 rats but not in P17 rats, even across a range of doses. This failure to see any FG7142 effect on extinction in P17 rats was not due to the lack of responsiveness to this drug in these rats because FG7142 was found to be effective in alleviating spontaneous forgetting in rats this age. The third series of experiments then examined the effect of temporary inactivation of the amygdala on extinction and re-extinction in the developing rat (Chapter 4). It was observed that extinction retention is impaired in both P24 and P17 rats if the amygdala is inactivated during extinction training. Interestingly, when a CS that had been previously extinguished and then re-trained was re-extinguished, re-extinction was amygdala-independent if initial extinction occurred at 24 days of age but amygdala-dependent if initial extinction occurred at 17 days of age. That is, amygdala involvement in re-extinction was dissociated across development. Taken together, these experiments provide strong evidence for fundamental differences in mechanisms underlying fear extinction across development. The implications of the findings were discussed in light of the theoretical and neural models of extinction.

The overall aim of this thesis was to examine what experiencing childbirth-related fear may imply for women and for men. The thesis compromises four studies with the following specific aims: I) to investigate the extent and level of childbirth-related fear in women and men, and to identify and compare experiential factors associated with childbirth-related fear in relation to level of fear. II) To describe the contents of childbirth-related fear in women and men, and to investigate whether the contents differed in relation to level of fear. III) To illuminate experiences of intense childbirth-related fear from the perspective of the women, and IV) of the men themselves. The studies were carried out using a combination of postal questionnaires and open interviews. The questionnaire was answered by 410 (74%) women and 329 (60%) men who prior to the study had had a baby at Norrlands university hospital, Sweden. Twenty women and 20 men who in the questionnaire had assessed their fear related to childbirth as intense were interviewed about what this experience had meant to them. The questionnaires were analyzed by factor analyses and quantitative content analysis. When analyzing the open interviews an approach based on the similarity-difference method in Grounded Theory were used. The results showed that the large majority of women (80%) and men (72%) had some experiences of fear related to childbirth. For 94 (23%) women and 43 (13%) men the fear was defined as intense. Among the factors identified as being involved in the experience of childbirth-related fear, 'exposedness and inferiority' had the greatest explanatory power in women, while 'communicative difficulties' had the greatest power in men. The contents of fear were fairly similar in both women and men, but the relative importance fo the fear categories differed. Among women fears related to 'the labour and delivery process' were ranked highest, while the uppermost category among the men were fears related to 'the health and life of the baby'. The comparison of the contents in relation to level of fear revealed that fears related to 'own capabilities and reactions' were significantly more common in women with experiences of intense fear than in women with mild to moderate fear. Among the men fears related to 'the health and life of the baby' and 'the health and life of the woman' were significantly more common in men with intense fear than in men with mild to moderate fear. In addition the open interviews indicated that socially constructed norms and beliefs about being happy and expectant influenced the women's perceptions of themselves and of what is considered as appropriate to feel and talk about during pregnancy. Many women judged themselves as different and inferior to others because of their fear, and described difficulties in expressing their fears due to expectations or experiences of not being taken seriously, being neglected or given misguided consolation. For the interviewed men, wishes to contribute and not causing trouble for the woman, as well as strives to adhere to prevailing norms about "masculinity" impled difficulties to disclose and talk about the fear, and look for support.

Äldres rädsla för att bli utsatt för brott är ett relativt outforskat område. Aktuell forskning om äldres rädsla sammanställs genom statistik för hur många äldre som känner rädsla, men det fattas ett berättande perspektiv där man lyfter fram vad de äldre har att säga om sina erfarenheter och upplevelser av rädsla för att bli utsatt för brott. Syftet för denna studie är att undersöka vad äldre personer har att säga om fenomenet rädsla för att bli utsatt för brott och ta reda på hur det ser ut och påverkar deras vardag.Studien har en fenomenologisk ansats med livsvärldsteorin som utgångspunkt. Datainsamlingen har skett genom öppna intervjuer. Resultatet visar att fenomenet äldres rädsla för att bli utsatt för brott visar sig som att vara riskanalytiskt medveten. Detta framgår i följande konstituenter: (i) att utveckla strategier för eventuell utsatthet av brott, (ii) upplevelse av oro, (iii) upplevelse av rädsla, (iv) rationellt tänkande kring brott och (v) tidigare erfarenheter av utsatthet för brott. Dessa konstituenter bildar fenomenet som i sin tur är den upplevelse som visar sig i informanternas livsvärldar.De kunskaper som studien bidrar med kan användas för fortsatt arbete med förebyggande åtgärder för brott relaterat till äldre och för att göra de äldres känsla av sin tillvaro tryggare. / Elderly people's fear of becoming a victim of crime is a relatively unexplored area. Current research on elderly people’s fear is compiled by statistics on how many elderly people who feel fear. A narrative perspective where one highlights what the elderly people have to say about their experience for fear of becoming a victim of crime is missing. The purpose of this study is to analyze what elderly people have to say about the phenomenon “fear of becoming a victim of crime” and ascertain how it looks and how it affects their everyday life.The study has a phenomenological approach with life-world theory as a starting point. The data collection was made through open interviews. The results show that the phenomenon “elderly peoples fear of becoming a victim of crime” proves to be a risk analytical conscious. This is shown in the following constituents: (i) to develop strategies for eventual exploitation of crime, (ii) the experience of anxiety, (iii) the experience of fear, (iv) rational thinking about crimes and (v) the previous experience of victimization. These constituents are forming the phenomenon, which in turn is the experience that is reflected in the informant’s life worlds.The knowledge this study contributes with can be used for continued work with prevention of crimes related to the elderly and to make their sense of their lives safer.

The mechanisms underlying cannabinoid impairment of fear memory is not clear. This study investigated the effects of the synthetic cannabinoid HU210 and the endocannabinoid hydrolysis inhibitor JZL 195 on fear memory following contextual fear conditioning (CFC; an animal model of fear). The long-term depression (LTD)-blocking peptide Tat-GluR2 was utilized to investigate whether the expression of cannabinoid-induced LTD (CB-LTD) is required for the cannabinoid impairment of acquisition and consolidation of contextual fear memory. HU210 reduced freezing throughout the test phase of the acquisition protocol, which was not affected by pre-administration of Tat-GluR2. High and moderate doses of HU210 reduced freezing during the first and last half, respectively, of the test phase of the consolidation protocol, which was prevented by pre-treatment with Tat-GluR2. HU210 did not affect freezing during the test phase of the retrieval protocol. Thus, these results suggest that HU210 impairs acquisition and consolidation, but not retrieval of contextual fear memory, and that in vivo CB-LTD expression is required for HU210 impairment of the consolidation, but not acquisition, of contextual fear memory. We also observed that HU210 and JZL 195 do not facilitate the acquisition of contextual fear memory extinction.

Thesis (M.S.)--North Carolina State University, 2003. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Dec. 8, 2005). Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-103).

This thesis draws primarily upon the work of Furedi (2001; 2002) and his notion of a culture of fear to explore contemporary parenting and childhood from a social psychological perspective. Furedi argues that contemporary society is dominated by a sense of anxiety which is ubiquitous and free-floating (2007) and it is arguable that this fear is particularly easily attached to issues around childhood as children are considered increasingly vulnerable - giving rise to the phenomenon of paranoid parents (Furedi, 2002). While these and related issues have been explored elsewhere in the social sciences (e.g. Jackson & Scott, 2000; Katz, 2008; Valentine, 1996) there has yet to be a study from a social psychological perspective which would seek to understand how these fears are articulated, constructed and managed in relational interaction. The first stage of analysis is a content analysis of newspaper articles, providing partial information about the socio-cultural backdrop of the study. This is complemented by focus group data from both parents and children (aged 12-13) which is analysed using strategies and tools drawn from discursive psychology (Edwards & Potter, 1992). This approach allows for an examination of how participants construct fears, anxieties and concerns that exist in and around modern parenting and childhood. Themes that emerged from this analysis include a focus on the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, a fear of hypothetical dangers, and a catalogue of potential risks. These concerns are also worked up in the participants talk as related to wider social changes (such as an increase in crime and changes in family structure) and connected with a nostalgia for a past which is constructed as safer, simpler and more liberated; even the children display a fondness for this utopian childhood. Hence the study begins to develop an empirical understanding of how aspects of a culture of fear may be worked up in relation to contemporary parenting and childhood, and so points toward some of its possible psychological implications.

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) and its dopaminergic (DA) mesocorticolimbic projections are thought to be essential in the brain’s reward neurocircuitry. In humans and animal experimental subjects, mild electrical VTA stimulation increases dopamine levels and can induce euphoria. Paradoxically, aversive stimuli activate VTA neurons and forebrain DA activity, and excessive electrical stimulation of the VTA exaggerates fearfulness. Research suggests that experimental manipulation of either the amygdala or the VTA has similar effects on the acquisition and expression of Pavlovian conditioned fear. Recently it was demonstrated that electrical stimulation of the amygdala produced fear extinction deficits in rats. Fear extinction involves the progressive dissipation of conditioned fear responses by repeated non-reinforced exposure to a conditioned stimulus (CS). Maladaptive states of fear in fear-related anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) or specific phobias are thought to reflect fear extinction learning deficits. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of intra-VTA stimulation on fear extinction learning. Using fear-potentiated startle as a behavioural index of conditioned fear, it was found that 120 VTA stimulations paired or unpaired with non-reinforced CS presentations impaired the extinction of conditioned fear. This effect was not apparent in rats that received electrical stimulation of the substantia nigra (SN), suggesting that not all midbrain regions respond similarly. Electrical stimulation parameters did not have aversive affects because rats failed to show fear conditioning when electrical VTA stimulation was used as the unconditioned stimulus. Also, VTA stimulation did not alter conditioned fear expression in non-extinguished animals. Based on the results it is suggested that VTA activation disinhibited conditioned fear responding. Therefore, VTA neuronal excitation by aversive stimuli may play a role in fear-related anxiety disorders thought to reflect extinction learning deficits.