Psychology Commons^™

Apoaequorin Differentially Modulates Fear Conditioning In Adult And Aged Rats, Vanessa Ehlers

Theses and Dissertations

Normal aging is associated with a number of changes in behavioral and cellular function, and is often linked to increased susceptibility to cognitive impairment. The hippocampus has been widely implicated in learning and memory, and many forms of learning that are hippocampus-dependent (e.g. trace fear conditioning) are impaired in aged animals. A proposed contributor to aging-related cognitive impairment is aging-related calcium (Ca2+) dysregulation. This dysregulation is thought to result from changes in specific Ca2+-regulatory mechanisms, including abnormal Ca2+ ion channel activity or expression, as well as reduced Ca2+-binding protein (CaBP) expression, which is associated with cognitive and synaptic impairment. Previous …

Neural Plasticity Of Extinction: Relations With Anxiety And Extinction Retention, Emily Louise Belleau

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

NEURAL PLASTICITY OF EXTINCTION LEARNING: RELATIONS WITH ANXIETY AND EXTINCTION RETENTION

by

Emily L. Belleau

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2016

Under the Supervision of Associate Professor Christine Larson

Anxiety is a significant public health problem characterized by substantial psychological, physical, and economic burden. A key feature of anxiety is the inability to regulate fear. Aberrant extinction of conditioned fear is one prominent model of the etiology of anxiety disorders. Previous studies have shown that the neural circuitry underlying anxiety pathology overlaps with that mediating fear extinction learning. Recently, more precise pathways supporting the expression (CMA-aMCC) and inhibition (BLA-vmPFC) of …