Stimulus-invariant auditory cortex threat encoding during fear conditioning with simple and complex sounds

Abstract

Learning to predict threat depends on amygdala plasticity and does not require auditory cortex (ACX) when threat predictors (conditioned stimuli, CS) are simple sine tones. However, ACX is required in rodents to learn from some naturally occurring CS. Yet, the precise function of ACX, and whether it differs for different CS types, is unknown. Here, we address how ACX encodes threat predictions during human fear conditioning using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with multivariate pattern analysis. As in previous rodent wor Show more