Fear memories, Pavlov’s dog and brain plasticity – how do these work together?

I am going to talk about molecular mechanisms and behavioral outcomes of fear memories in a broader context of brain plasticity. I make emphasis on the latest scientific advances. Those concepts may be explained in a simple way for a broad audience or at a higher level of detail – for psychologists, clinicians and pharma.

We all are affected by our fear memories throughout our life. Fear memories represent a subtype of classical conditioning (often pictured as Pavlov’s dog) – a behavioral and physiological concept that was introduced by Ivan Pavlov and became highly influential in psychology over the XXth century. It still remains largely a mystery – how long-lasting memories are formed and stored in our brain.

Recent technical developments in neuroscience led to a significantly new level of understanding of the fear learning mechanisms. In our studies we use superresolution microscopy in order to see synapses – neuronal contacts that are thought to store memories in humans and laboratory animals. Combination of this and several other approaches opens the perspective to reveal the brain mechanisms involved in psychiatric disorders, brain aging and some crucial types of human behavior.