Trial reportNeurobiology of learning and memory2014
Cannabinoid modulation of prefrontal-limbic activation during fear extinction learning and recall in humans.
Trial report in Neurobiology of learning and memory, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 76 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of cannabinoids in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders among children and adolescents: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Functional brain changes after alternative pharmacological interventions in posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review of clinical trials.Brain and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Methodological Considerations for the Use of Single Prolonged Stress and Fear Extinction Retention in Rodents.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Dose-related reductions in prefrontal recruitment during cognitive reappraisal following oral delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in posttraumatic stress disorder.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Dose-dependent effect of acute THC on extinction memory recall and fear renewal: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.Psychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Cannabinoid modulation of corticolimbic activation during extinction learning and fear renewal in adults with posttraumatic stress disorder.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2023Trial
- Cannabinoid modulation of brain activation during volitional regulation of negative affect in trauma-exposed adults.Neuropharmacology · 2022Trial
- Exercise-induced increases in Anandamide and BDNF during extinction consolidation contribute to reduced threat following reinstatement: Preliminary evidence from a randomized controlled trial.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Trial
- Acute effects of cannabinoids on symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A human laboratory study.Depression and anxiety · 2020Trial
- Cannabinoid modulation of corticolimbic activation to threat in trauma-exposed adults: a preliminary study.Psychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Effects of acute Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on next-day extinction recall is mediated by post-extinction resting-state brain dynamics.Neuropharmacology · 2018Trial
- Cannabinoid Modulation of Frontolimbic Activation and Connectivity During Volitional Regulation of Negative Affect.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- Shorter sleep duration predicts altered next-day physiologic, behavioral, and corticolimbic responses during fear extinction recall in youth.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2026Article
- Acute and chronic cannabis vapor exposure produces immediate and delayed impacts on phases of fear learning in a sex specific manner.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- A systematic review of spontaneous recovery in human fear conditioning.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- Randomized trial of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) versus placebo to augment the effects of prolonged exposure therapy on fear extinction learning in post-traumatic stress disorder: Study rationale and protocol.Contemporary clinical trials · 2026Article
- Understanding the Role of Endocannabinoids in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Pharmacological diacylglycerol lipase inhibition impairs contextual fear extinction in mice.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Article
- Aerobic exercise in the treatment of PTSD: An examination of preclinical and clinical laboratory findings, potential mechanisms, clinical implications, and future directions.Journal of anxiety disorders · 2023Review
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Pre-extinction administration of Δ9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC) facilitates recall of extinction in healthy humans, and evidence from animal studies suggest that this likely occurs via enhancement of the cannabinoid system within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and hippocampus (HIPP), brain structures critical to fear extinction. However, the effect of cannabinoids on the underlying neural circuitry of extinction memory recall in humans has not been demonstrated. We conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subjects design (N=14/group) coupled with a standard Pavlovian fear extinction paradigm and an acute pharmacological challenge with oral dronabinol (synthetic THC) in healthy adult volunteers. We examined the effects of THC on vmPFC and HIPP activation when tested for recall of extinction learning 24 h after extinction learning. Compared to subjects who received placebo, participants who received THC showed increased vmPFC and HIPP activation to a previously extinguished conditioned stimulus (CS+E) during extinction memory recall. This study provides the first evidence that pre-extinction administration of THC modulates prefrontal-limbic circuits during fear extinction in humans and prompts future investigation to test if cannabinoid agonists can rescue or correct the impaired behavioral and neural function during extinction recall in patients with PTSD. Ultimately, the cannabinoid system may serve as a promising target for innovative intervention strategies (e.g. pharmacological enhancement of exposure-based therapy) in PTSD and other fear learning-related disorders.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.