Human fear conditioning: From neuroscience to the clinic.
Fullana MAAdult Psychiatry and Psychology Department, Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic, Barcelona, Spain; Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: mafullana@clinic.cat.
Dunsmoor JEDepartment of Psychiatry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Schruers KRJDepartment of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, the Netherlands; Department of Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Belgium.
Savage HSMelbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne & Melbourne Health, Victoria, Australia.
Bach DRWellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK; Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Harrison BJMelbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne & Melbourne Health, Victoria, Australia.
English
Both clinicians and neuroscientists have been long interested in the topic of fear conditioning, with recent advances in neuroscience, in particular, igniting a shared interest in further translation between these domains. Here, we review some historical aspects of this relationship and the progress that has been made in translating the neuroscientific study of fear conditioning to the conceptualization and treatment of mental disorders, especially anxiety-related disorders. We also address some conceptual and methodological challenges faced by this research, and offer some suggestions to support future progress in the field.