Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33199738›Full record

ReviewScientific reports2020

Revisiting potential associations between brain morphology, fear acquisition and extinction through new data and a literature review.

Mana R Ehlers, Janne Nold, Manuel Kuhn, Maren Klingelhöfer-Jens, Tina B Lonsdorf

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–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

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Lasting effects of oral contraceptives on fear responses to a safe context.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Fear-potentiated startle reveals diminished threat extinction in pathological anxiety.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2023
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
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

5 authors.

Mana R EhlersDepartment of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, W34, 20246, Hamburg, Germany. ma.ehlers@uke.de.ORCID 0000-0002-1316-3787
Janne NoldDepartment of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, W34, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-7305-0779
Manuel KuhnDepartment of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, W34, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1483-1318
Maren Klingelhöfer-JensDepartment of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, W34, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5393-7871
Tina B LonsdorfDepartment of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, W34, 20246, Hamburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-1501-4846

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Inter-individual differences in defensive responding are widely established but their morphological correlates in humans have not been investigated exhaustively. Previous studies reported associations with cortical thickness of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and medial orbitofrontal cortex as well as amygdala volume in fear conditioning studies. However, these associations are partly inconsistent and often derived from small samples. The current study aimed to replicate previously reported associations between physiological and subjective measures of fear acquisition and extinction and brain morphology. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 107 healthy adults who completed a differential cued fear conditioning paradigm with 24 h delayed extinction while skin conductance response (SCR) and fear ratings were recorded. Cortical thickness and subcortical volume were obtained using the software Freesurfer. Results obtained by traditional null hypothesis significance testing and Bayesians statistics do not support structural brain-behavior relationships: Neither differential SCR nor fear ratings during fear acquisition or extinction training could be predicted by cortical thickness or subcortical volume in regions previously reported. In summary, the current pre-registered study does not corroborate associations between brain morphology and inter-individual differences in defensive responding but differences in experimental design and analyses approaches compared to previous work should be acknowledged.

Indexed as

Extinction, PsychologicalAdolescentAdultAmygdalaAnxietyBrainBrain MappingCerebral CortexFearFemaleHealthy VolunteersHumansIndividualityLongitudinal StudiesMaleMental Recall

Identifiers

PMID33199738
PMCPMC7670460

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.