The music from the movie “Jaws” is a sound that many people have learned to associate with a fear of sharks. Just hearing the music can cause the sensation of this fear to surface, but neuroscientists do not have a full understanding of how that process works.
Now an adult mouse model reveals that changes in lattice-like structures in the brain known as perineuronal nets are necessary to “capture” an auditory fear association and “haul” it in as a longer-term memory. The journal Neuron published the findings by scientists at Emory University and McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School affiliate.
The findings could aid research into how to help combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“We’ve identified a new mechanism — involving the regulation of perineuronal nets in an adult auditory cortex — that contributes to learning an association between an auditory warning and a fearful event,” says Robert Liu, a senior author of the study and an Emory biologist focused on how the brain perceives and processes sound. “It’s surprising,” he adds, “because it was previously thought that these perineuronal nets did not change in an adult brain.”
Another novel finding by the researchers: It’s not just activity in the auditory cortex during a fear-inducing experience associated with sound, but after the experience that is important for the consolidation of the memory.
Fluorescent tagging shows the perineuronal nets (in red) surrounding neurons (in green) of mice. Emory researchers identified a role these nets play in "capturing" an auditory fear association.