Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel; The Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center (IBBR), University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2018 Oct;52:149-155. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2018.06.006. Epub 2018 Aug 16.
Animals constantly evaluate their environment in order to avoid potential threats and obtain reward in the form of food, shelter and social interactions. In order to appropriately respond to sensory cues from the environment, the brain needs to form and store multiple cue-outcome associations. These can then be used to form predictions of the valence of sounds, smells and other sensory inputs arising from the surroundings. However, these associations must be subject to constant update, as the environment can rapidly change. Failing to adapt to such change can be detrimental to survival. Several systems in the mammalian brain have evolved to perform these important behavioral functions. Among these systems, the amygdala and prefrontal cortex are prominent players. Although the amygdala has been shown to form strong cue-outcome associations, the prefrontal cortex is essential for modifying these associations through extinction and reversal learning, and synaptic plasticity occurring in the strong reciprocal connections between these structures is thought to underlie both adaptive and maladaptive learning. Here we review the synaptic organization of the amygdala-prefrontal circuit, and summarize the physiological and behavioral evidence for its involvement in appetitive and aversive learning.
动物不断地评估它们的环境，以避免潜在的威胁，并以食物、住所和社会互动的形式获得奖励。为了适当地对环境中的感觉线索做出反应，大脑需要形成和存储多个线索-结果关联。这些关联随后可用于预测来自周围环境的声音、气味和其他感觉输入的效价。然而，这些关联必须不断更新，因为环境可能会迅速变化。无法适应这种变化可能对生存不利。哺乳动物大脑中的几个系统已经进化到执行这些重要的行为功能。在这些系统中，杏仁核和前额叶皮层是主要的参与者。尽管杏仁核已被证明可以形成强烈的线索-结果关联，但前额叶皮层对于通过消退和反转学习来修改这些关联至关重要，并且在这些结构之间的强烈相互连接中发生的突触可塑性被认为是适应性和不良性学习的基础。在这里，我们回顾了杏仁核-前额叶回路的突触组织，并总结了其参与奖赏和厌恶性学习的生理和行为证据。
