Fear Conditioning is a type of learning in which an association is established between a negative unpleasant event and a harmless stimulus. This leads to a fear of the harmless stimulus. This process is largely mediated by the amygdala, which is a brain region involved in emotions and stress reactions. Fear conditioning can be utilized in several ways to understand different aspects of learning and memory.
This video presents an overview of the principles behind fear conditioning, discusses the equipment and a generalized procedure used for this type of experiment. Finally, we’ll review some real world applications of fear conditioning in behavioral neuroscience research today.
Procedure
Fear conditioning is a type of learning in which an association is established between a negative, unpleasant event, and a harmless stimulus, thereby leading to a fear of the harmless stimulus. Throughout the animal kingdom, fear of other animals, people, and objects is learned through fear conditioning. The process is largely mediated by the amygdala, a brain region involved in emotions and stress reactions. This video will present an overview of the principles of fear conditioning, the general procedure of a fe…