In nature, animals display defensive behaviors that reflect the spatiotemporal distance of
threats. Laboratory-based paradigms that elicit specific defensive responses in rodents have …

Research on defensive behaviour in mammals has in recent years focused on elicited
reactions; however, organisms also make active choices when responding to danger. We …

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) plays essential roles in behaviors motivated by stimuli with
either positive or negative valence, but how it processes motivationally opposing information …

When faced with threat, the survival of an organism is contingent upon the selection of
appropriate active or passive behavioural responses,,. Freezing is an evolutionarily …

How do our brains determine whether something is good or bad? How is this computational
goal implemented in biological systems? Given the critical importance of valence processing …

Highlights•Central amygdala circuits mediate defensive and appetitive responses.•Central
amygdala circuit activity is controlled by local inhibitory interactions.•Central amygdala …

Pain perception is essential for survival and can be amplified or suppressed by
expectations, experiences, and context. The neural mechanisms underlying bidirectional …

An important tenet of learning and memory is the notion of a molecular switch that promotes
the formation of long-term memory,,–. The regulation of proteostasis is a critical and rate …

The central nucleus of the amygdala (CEA) is a brain region that integrates external and
internal sensory information and executes innate and adaptive behaviors through distinct …

With concurrent global epidemics of chronic pain and opioid use disorders, there is a critical
need to identify, target and manipulate specific cell populations expressing the mu-opioid …