The context pre-exposure facilitation effect (CPFE) is a modified form of standard contextual fear conditioning that dissociates learning about the context during a preexposure phase from learning the context-shock association during an immediate shock training phase conducted on separate days. Fear conditioning in the CPFE is an associative process in which only animals that are preexposed to ...

BACKGROUND Binge drinking is prevalent during adolescence and may have effects on the adult brain and behavior. The present study investigated whether adolescent intermittent ethanol exposure alters adult risky choice and prefrontal dopaminergic and forebrain cholinergic neuronal marker levels in male Wistar rats. METHODS Adolescent (postnatal day 28-53) rats were administered 5 g/kg of 25% (...

Mental health disorders involving altered reward, emotionality, and anxiety are thought to result from the interaction of individual predisposition (genetic factors) and personal experience (environmental factors), although the mechanisms that contribute to an individual's vulnerability to these disorders remain poorly understood. We used an animal model of individual variation [inbred high-res...

Background and Purpose Anxiety disorders pose one of the biggest threats to mental health worldwide, yet current therapeutics have been mostly ineffective due issues with relapse, efficacy toxicity medications. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising therapy for treatment-resistant psychiatric including anxiety, but very little known about effects deep on fear memories. Experimental Approac...