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Updated: May 8, 2026
11:17
Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear
Published on: August 24, 2012
Orbitofrontal cortex inactivation impairs between- but not within-session Pavlovian extinction: an associative
Marios C Panayi1, Simon Killcross1
1School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Australia.
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
|August 20, 2013
Summary
Disrupting the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in rats impaired extinction learning by blocking outcome expectancies. This suggests the OFC is crucial for learning based on expected outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Behavioral Science
Background:
- The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is hypothesized as the neural basis for Pavlovian outcome expectancies.
- Extinction learning in Pavlovian procedures is theorized to arise from discrepancies between expected and actual outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if disrupting OFC function before extinction training impairs extinction learning.
- To determine the role of the OFC in representing outcome expectancies essential for learning.
Main Methods:
- Long Evans rats received infusions of saline or muscimol targeting the lateral OFC.
- Extinction behavior was assessed across multiple Pavlovian appetitive extinction sessions.
- Muscimol infusions were administered either before extinction sessions or immediately after to differentiate effects on learning versus consolidation.
Main Results:
- Muscimol infusions into the OFC disrupted between-session extinction behavior.
- No disruption of within-session extinction behavior was observed.
- Muscimol administration after sessions did not affect extinction, ruling out a role in memory consolidation.
Conclusions:
- The OFC plays a critical role in representing outcome expectancies necessary for effective extinction learning.
- Disruption of OFC function specifically impairs the learning process related to expected outcomes.
- Findings support the involvement of the OFC in associative learning theories dependent on outcome expectancies.
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