P617. Identification of the Neural Ensembles Underlying Fear Generalization in Mice

Abstract

A major feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is fear generalization, which occurs when a fearful response of a past experience generalizes to novel situations. The representation of a fear memory is thought to be encoded in the fear memory trace or engram, which is the neural ensemble active during fear encoding whose reactivation by the original stimulus results in memory retrieval. It is not known if the fear engram is inappropriately reactivated in safe contexts during fear generalization.