Anticipatory prefrontal cortex activity underlies stress-induced changes in Pavlovian fear conditioning

Excessive stress exposure often leads to emotional dysfunction, characterized by disruptions in healthy emotional learning, expression, and regulation processes. A prefrontal cortex (PFC)-amygdala circuit appears to underlie these important emotional processes. However, limited human neuroimaging research has investigated whether these brain regions underlie the altered emotional function that develops with stress. Therefore, the present study...