Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29195911›Full record

ReviewNeuroscience letters2019

The central extended amygdala in fear and anxiety: Closing the gap between mechanistic and neuroimaging research.

Andrew S Fox, Alexander J Shackman

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Neuroscience letters, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 128 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
128citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

128 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Trial
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Respiratory-Limbic Coupling via a Thalamic Circuit Alleviates Anxiety.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Noninvasive Suppression of Responses to Threat Using Focused Ultrasonic Waves.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Fear, anxiety, and the extended amygdala-bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. A Shared Threat-Anticipation Circuit Is Dynamically Engaged at Different Moments by Certain and Uncertain Threat.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025
    Article

68 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Andrew S FoxDepartment of Psychology and University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States; California National Primate Research Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, United States. Electronic address: dfox@ucdavis.edu.
Alexander J ShackmanDepartment of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States; Neuroscience and Cognitive Science Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, United States; Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland,College Park, MD 20742, United States. Electronic address: shackman@umd.edu.

Funding

National Institute on Aging (NIA) ColonyP51OD011107 · OD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI Simon J. Atkinson · 2012 to 2026
$191.5M
TRAINING PROGRAM IN EMOTION RESEARCHT32MH018931 · NIMH · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · PI Richard J Davidson · 1989 to 2026
$11.6M
Prospective Determination of Neurobehavioral Risk for the Development of Emotion DisordersR01MH107444 · NIMH · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI SHACKMAN, ALEXANDER JOSEPH · 2016 to 2020
$3.4M
The Role of Anxiety-Related Brain Circuits in Tobacco Dependence and WithdrawalR21DA040717 · NIDA · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI SHACKMAN, ALEXANDER JOSEPH · 2016 to 2017
$418k
NIDA NIH HHS R21 DA040717NIH HHS P51 OD011107NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH107444NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH018931
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Anxiety disorders impose a staggering burden on public health, underscoring the need to develop a deeper understanding of the distributed neural circuits underlying extreme fear and anxiety. Recent work highlights the importance of the central extended amygdala, including the central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce) and neighboring bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST). Anatomical data indicate that the Ce and BST form a tightly interconnected unit, where different kinds of threat-relevant information can be integrated to assemble states of fear and anxiety. Neuroimaging studies show that the Ce and BST are engaged by a broad spectrum of potentially threat-relevant cues. Mechanistic work demonstrates that the Ce and BST are critically involved in organizing defensive responses to a wide range of threats. Studies in rodents have begun to reveal the specific molecules, cells, and microcircuits within the central extended amygdala that underlie signs of fear and anxiety, but the relevance of these tantalizing discoveries to human experience and disease remains unclear. Using a combination of focal perturbations and whole-brain imaging, a new generation of nonhuman primate studies is beginning to close this gap. This work opens the door to discovering the mechanisms underlying neuroimaging measures linked to pathological fear and anxiety, to understanding how the Ce and BST interact with one another and with distal brain regions to govern defensive responses to threat, and to developing improved intervention strategies.

Indexed as

AnimalsAnxietyBrain MappingCentral Amygdaloid NucleusFearHumansModels, AnimalModels, NeurologicalNeural PathwaysNeuroimagingPrefrontal CortexPrimatesSeptal NucleiAffective neuroscienceAnxiety disordersBST/BNSTEmotionIndividual differencesNeuroimagingNonhuman primate

Identifiers

PMID29195911
PMCPMC5976525

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.