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Review
. 2012 Sep;13(9):651-8.
doi: 10.1038/nrn3301. Epub 2012 Aug 1.

The many paths to fear

Cornelius T Gross  1 , Newton Sabino Canteras
Affiliations
Review

The many paths to fear

Cornelius T Gross et al. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2012 Sep.

Abstract

Fear is an emotion that has powerful effects on behaviour and physiology across animal species. It is accepted that the amygdala has a central role in processing fear. However, it is less widely appreciated that distinct amygdala outputs and downstream circuits are involved in different types of fear. Data show that fear of painful stimuli, predators and aggressive members of the same species are processed in independent neural circuits that involve the amygdala and downstream hypothalamic and brainstem circuits. Here, we discuss data supporting multiple fear pathways and the implications of this distributed system for understanding and treating fear.

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