Extinction Of Fear Conditioning: Relevance Of Recent Findings For The Treatment Of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Extinction is the learned inhibition of the expression of previously acquired memories. It is particularly useful for the treatment of fear motivated disorders, particularly PTSD. It relies on the interlinked electrophysiological and molecular activity of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the hippocampus, the lateral or basolateral amygdala and the entorhinal cortex. For some memories it may involve in addition other brain sites, like the insular cortex.