Sensory cortical disinhibition is required for long-term fear memory in humans
- 1Stony Brook University
Abstract
The transformation of transient threats into enduring memories is fundamental to survival, yet how the human brain constructs long-term fear memory remains elusive. Early sensory cortex, traditionally viewed as a passive feature analyzer, is increasingly recognized as an active participant in fear processing. Here, using a multimodal approach combining high-definition -frequency transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD -tACS) with simultaneous EEG-fMRI and transformer-based neural decoding, we tracked fear memory development across early formation, consolidation, and long-term retention stages (assessed at 15 min, 24 h, and 7 days post-conditioning). Spatiotemporal memory representations were evident at all three time points, beginning at an early sensory stage (40-60 ms post-stimulus). Conditioning potentiated occipital -oscillation desynchronization (a marker of visual cortical disinhibition), which predicted the strength of subsequent long-term memory traces. Critically, targeted -tACS over early visual cortex induced V1/V2 inhibition, abolished conditioning-potentiated desynchronization, and selectively disrupted fear-memory consolidation and retention while leaving initial acquisition intact. These findings establish sensory cortical disinhibition as a necessary mechanism for long-term fear memory in humans and identify early sensory cortex as a causal node for interventions targeting persistent maladaptive fear.
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BibTeX
@misc{brown2026sensory,
title = {{Sensory cortical disinhibition is required for long-term fear memory in humans}},
author = {J. A. Brown and Y. Ma and Y. Wang and J. J. Massa and P. K.-H. Cheng and C. Chen and M. Ding and N. B. Schmidt and M. R. Milad and J. C. Soares and R. J. Dolan and C. You and W. Li},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.28.745592},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.28.745592v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sensory cortical disinhibition is required for long-term fear memory in humans
AU - J. A. Brown
AU - Y. Ma
AU - Y. Wang
AU - J. J. Massa
AU - P. K.-H. Cheng
AU - C. Chen
AU - M. Ding
AU - N. B. Schmidt
AU - M. R. Milad
AU - J. C. Soares
AU - R. J. Dolan
AU - C. You
AU - W. Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/28
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.28.745592
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.28.745592v1
AB - The transformation of transient threats into enduring memories is fundamental to survival, yet how the human brain constructs long-term fear memory remains elusive. Early sensory cortex, traditionally viewed as a passive feature analyzer, is increasingly recognized as an active participant in fear processing. Here, using a multimodal approach combining high-definition -frequency transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD -tACS) with simultaneous EEG-fMRI and transformer-based neural decoding, we tracked fear memory development across early formation, consolidation, and long-term retention stages (assessed at 15 min, 24 h, and 7 days post-conditioning). Spatiotemporal memory representations were evident at all three time points, beginning at an early sensory stage (40-60 ms post-stimulus). Conditioning potentiated occipital -oscillation desynchronization (a marker of visual cortical disinhibition), which predicted the strength of subsequent long-term memory traces. Critically, targeted -tACS over early visual cortex induced V1/V2 inhibition, abolished conditioning-potentiated desynchronization, and selectively disrupted fear-memory consolidation and retention while leaving initial acquisition intact. These findings establish sensory cortical disinhibition as a necessary mechanism for long-term fear memory in humans and identify early sensory cortex as a causal node for interventions targeting persistent maladaptive fear.
ER -