The ventromedial prefrontal cortex in response to threat omission is associated with subsequent explicit safety memory.

ABSTRACT: In order to memorize and discriminate threatening and safe stimuli, the processing of the actual absence of threat seems crucial. Here, we measured brain activity with fMRI in response to both threat conditioned stimuli and their outcomes by combining threat learning with a subsequent memory paradigm. Participants (N = 38) repeatedly saw a variety of faces, half of which (CS+) were associated with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) and half of which were not (CS-). When an association was later remembered, the hippocampus had been more active (than when forgotten). However, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex predicted subsequent memory specifically during safe associations (CS- and US omission responses) and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during outcomes in general (US and US

SUBMITTER: Wiemer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10979006 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature