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Updated: Oct 31, 2025

Ex Vivo Optogenetic Dissection of Fear Circuits in Brain Slices
Published on: April 5, 2016
Mechanisms of higher-order learning in the amygdala
Dilara Gostolupce1, Mihaela D Iordanova1, Belinda P P Lay1
1Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Abstract:
Adaptive behaviour is under the potent control of environmental cues. Such cues can acquire value by virtue of their associations with outcomes of motivational significance, be they appetitive or aversive. There are at least two ways through which an environmental cue can acquire value, through first-order and higher-order conditioning. In first-order conditioning, a neutral cue is directly paired with an outcome of motivational significance. In higher-order conditioning, a cue is indirectly associated with motivational events via a directly conditioned first-order stimulus. The present article reviews some of the associations that support learning in first- and higher-order conditioning, as well as the role of the BLA and the molecular mechanisms involved in these two types of learning.
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