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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and related fear disorders involve a conditioned fear response to stimuli associated with the trauma. Extinguishing conditioned fear involves reactivating the conditioned response so that it is in a labile state and can be overwritten by a neutral conditioned response. To learn more about brain mechanisms of conditioned fear and targets to enhance extinction, researchers examined results from an imaging study of 58 people conducted at a mean of 54 days after experiencing a DSM-IV-TR criterion A trauma.
The participants underwent functional MRI scanning during a response inhibition task. Less hippocampal activation on the response inhibition task predicted worse PTSD symptoms 3 and 6 months after the trau…