Laboratory of Neurobiology, Cornell University Medical College.
J Cogn Neurosci. 1989 Summer;1(3):238-43. doi: 10.1162/jocn.1989.1.3.238.
Acquisition and extinction of fear responses conditioned to a visual stimulus were examined in rats with ablations of visual cortex. Visual cortex lesions did not interfere with acquisition, indicating that visual fear conditioning, like auditory fear conditioning, is mediated by sub-cortical, probably thalamo-amygdala, sensory pathways. In contrast to acquisition, extinction was greatly prolonged, if not prevented, by cortical ablation. This resistance to extinction of sub cortical emotional memories may explain certain aspects of emotional memory in man.
我们研究了损毁视觉皮层的大鼠对视觉刺激形成的条件性恐惧反应的获得和消退。视觉皮层损毁并不干扰条件性恐惧反应的获得，这表明视觉条件性恐惧反应与听觉条件性恐惧反应一样，是由皮层下的、可能是丘脑-杏仁核感觉通路上的神经结构介导的。与获得相反，如果损毁了大脑皮层，消退则会大大延长，甚至被阻止。这种对皮层下情绪记忆的消退的抵抗，可能解释了人类情绪记忆的某些方面。
