Animal fear conditioning studies have illuminated neuronal mechanisms of learned associations between sensory stimuli and fear responses. In rats, brief electrical stimulation of the infralimbic cortex has been shown to reduce conditioned freezing during recall of extinction memory. Here, we translated this finding to humans with magnetic resonance imaging-navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
Subjects (N = 28) were aversively conditioned to two different cues (day 1). During extinction learning (day 2), TMS was paired with one of the conditioned cues but not the other. TMS parameters were similar to those used in rat infralimbic cortex: brief pulse trains (300 ms at 20 Hz) starting 100 ms after cue onset, total of four trains (28 TMS pulses). TMS was applied to one of two targets in the left frontal cortex, one functionally connected (target 1) and the other unconnected (target 2, control) with a human homologue of infralimbic cortex in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Skin conductance responses were used as an index of conditioned fear.
During extinction recall (day 3), the cue paired with TMS to target 1 showed significantly reduced skin conductance responses, whereas TMS to target 2 had no effect. Further, we built group-level maps that weighted TMS-induced electric fields and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging connectivity estimates with fear level. These maps revealed distinct cortical regions and large-scale networks associated with reduced versus increased fear.
The results showed that spatiotemporally focused TMS may enhance extinction learning and/or consolidation of extinction memory and suggested novel cortical areas and large-scale networks for targeting in future studies.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 May 2026.
All research outputs
#10,715,116
of 32,770,949 outputs
Outputs from Biological Psychiatry
#3,941
of 7,731 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#132,293
of 365,923 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Biological Psychiatry
#48
of 71 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,770,949 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 66th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,731 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 18.4. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 365,923 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 71 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
