ArticleeLife2019
Ventrolateral periaqueductal gray neurons prioritize threat probability over fear output.
Article in eLife, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.
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Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Optogenetic stimulation of Purkinje cells in the cerebellar vermis disrupts innate freezing behaviors and is highly aversive.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Periaqueductal Gray Selectively Supports Reversal Learning During a Flexible Discrimination Task in Mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Prediction error coding as the computational basis for nocifensive and nocifensive-like behaviors.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Short-term synaptic dynamics in the ventrolateral and dorsomedial periaqueductal gray.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Preoptic area influences sleep-related seizures in a genetic epilepsy mouse model.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2025Article
- Assessing the role of BNST GABA neurons in backward conditioned suppression.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2025Article
- Article
- The Spiraling Cognitive-Emotional Brain: Combinatorial, Reciprocal, and Reentrant Macro-organization.Journal of cognitive neuroscience · 2024Article
- How can ethology inform the neuroscience of fear, aggression and dominance?Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2024Review
- Behavioral and neural correlates of diverse conditioned fear responses in male and female rats.Neurobiology of stress · 2024Article
- Adrenergic C1 neurons enhance anxiety via projections to PAG.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Behavioral and neural correlates of diverse conditioned fear responses in male and female rats.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Translational approaches to the neurobiological study of conditional discrimination and inhibition: Implications for psychiatric disease.Behavioral neuroscience · 2024Review
- Article
- Sex-specific threat responding and neuronal engagement in carbon dioxide associated fear and extinction: Noradrenergic involvement in female mice.Neurobiology of stress · 2024Article
- Conditioned inhibition of fear and reward in male and female rats.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2024Article
- Noncortical cognition: integration of information for close-proximity behavioral problem-solving.Current opinion in behavioral sciences · 2024Article
- Separation of Channels Subserving Approach and Avoidance/Escape at the Level of the Basal Ganglia and Related Brainstem Structures.Current neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- PAC1 receptor modulation of freezing and flight behavior in periaqueductal gray.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Faced with potential harm, individuals must estimate the probability of threat and initiate an appropriate fear response. In the prevailing view, threat probability estimates are relayed to the ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (vlPAG) to organize fear output. A straightforward prediction is that vlPAG single-unit activity reflects fear output, invariant of threat probability. We recorded vlPAG single-unit activity in male, Long Evans rats undergoing fear discrimination. Three 10 s auditory cues predicted unique foot shock probabilities: danger (p=1.00), uncertainty (p=0.375) and safety (p=0.00). Fear output was measured by suppression of reward seeking over the entire cue and in one-second cue intervals. Cued fear non-linearly scaled to threat probability and cue-responsive vlPAG single-units scaled their firing on one of two timescales: at onset or ramping toward shock delivery. VlPAG onset activity reflected threat probability, invariant of fear output, while ramping activity reflected both signals with threat probability prioritized.
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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.