ArticleBiological psychiatry2018
Prefrontal Cortex Stimulation Enhances Fear Extinction Memory in Humans.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05544110 (Study on the Effect and Mechanism of Individualized and Precise Location Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), which is not on this map. Cited by 74 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Study on the Effect and Mechanism of Individualized and Precise Location Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder
Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 149 citations in OpenAlex.
- Noninvasive brain stimulation combined with evidence-based psychotherapy for psychiatric disorders: A meta-analysis of optimal implementation parameters.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Pooled it
- Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Neuropathic Pain and Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Neural plasticity · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review on the Effect of Transcranial Direct Current and Magnetic Stimulation on Fear Memory and Extinction.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Functional neuroimaging of fatty acid amide hydrolase inhibition in posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized clinical trial.Translational psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Intermittent theta burst stimulation over the left prefrontal cortex: no additional effect for virtual reality exposure therapy in acrophobia-a randomized trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation targeting the medial prefrontal cortex modulates functional connectivity and enhances safety learning in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Results from two pilot studies.Depression and anxiety · 2022Trial
- Augmentation of fear extinction by theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex in humans.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2021Trial
- Cortical oxygenation during exposure therapy - in situ fNIRS measurements in arachnophobia.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2020Trial
- A Critical Time Window of Neocortex Modulation for Remote Fear Memory in Rats and Humans.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Optogenetic stimulation of the infralimbic cortex prior to fear extinction learning rescues deficits in a preclinical model of comorbid PTSD and AUD.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Conative inference as a mechanism of allostatic resilience: wanting to be and being to want.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- The emergence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in preclinical Alzheimer's disease: An emotion regulation perspective.Neuron · 2026Review
- Noninvasive brain stimulation combined with evidence-based psychotherapy for psychiatric disorders: A meta-analysis of optimal implementation parameters.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- A systematic review of spontaneous recovery in human fear conditioning.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- Innovating transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder: Zapping away the bad memory.Fundamental research · 2025Review
- Expedition for new symptom-specific TMS targets: Protocol for the first randomized causal circuit mapping trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2025Article
- Neuroplasticity in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.Revista de neurologia · 2025Review
- Inefficacy of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease Patients with Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesias: Results from a Pilot Study.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Ready for translation: non-invasive auricular vagus nerve stimulation inhibits psychophysiological indices of stimulus-specific fear and facilitates responding to repeated exposure in phobic individuals.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Current State of the Neuroscience of Fear Extinction and Its Relevance to Anxiety Disorders.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAnimal fear conditioning studies have illuminated neuronal mechanisms of learned associations between sensory stimuli and fear responses. In rats, brief electrical stimulation of the infralimbic cortex has been shown to reduce conditioned freezing during recall of extinction memory. Here, we translated this finding to humans with magnetic resonance imaging-navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
methodsSubjects (N = 28) were aversively conditioned to two different cues (day 1). During extinction learning (day 2), TMS was paired with one of the conditioned cues but not the other. TMS parameters were similar to those used in rat infralimbic cortex: brief pulse trains (300 ms at 20 Hz) starting 100 ms after cue onset, total of four trains (28 TMS pulses). TMS was applied to one of two targets in the left frontal cortex, one functionally connected (target 1) and the other unconnected (target 2, control) with a human homologue of infralimbic cortex in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Skin conductance responses were used as an index of conditioned fear.
resultsDuring extinction recall (day 3), the cue paired with TMS to target 1 showed significantly reduced skin conductance responses, whereas TMS to target 2 had no effect. Further, we built group-level maps that weighted TMS-induced electric fields and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging connectivity estimates with fear level. These maps revealed distinct cortical regions and large-scale networks associated with reduced versus increased fear.
conclusionsThe results showed that spatiotemporally focused TMS may enhance extinction learning and/or consolidation of extinction memory and suggested novel cortical areas and large-scale networks for targeting in future studies.
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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.