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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Ex Vivo Optogenetic Dissection of Fear Circuits in Brain Slices
Published on: April 5, 2016
Adaptive shifts in amygdala-hippocampal theta coupling govern aversive learning and extinction
Saurabh Sonkusare1,2,3, Qiong Ding4,5, Christopher Weirich4
1Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. sonkusaresaurabh@gmail.com.
Abstract:
Adaptive behaviour relies on the flexible encoding and suppression of aversive associations often underpinned by amygdala-hippocampal interactions. Yet the spectral and directional dynamics underlying these interactions in humans remain poorly understood. Using intracranial EEG recordings from the amygdala and the hippocampus acquired during a two-day aversive learning and extinction task, we identified frequency-specific shifts: amygdala theta (3-8 Hz) and gamma (30-45 Hz) power increased during conditioning and decreased during extinction, while hippocampal alpha and gamma activity gave way to theta and gamma during extinction. Directional phase connectivity, results showed frequency-specific reversals: amygdala-to-hippocampus dominance at 3-5 Hz and hippocampus-to-amygdala predominance at 6-8 Hz, a reconfiguration validated by computational modelling. These findings uncover distinct theta sub-bands coordinating dynamic, bidirectional communication in the human amygdala-hippocampal circuit, elucidating a neural mechanism for the flexible regulation of emotional memory.
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