AUTHOR=Hakim Marziah , Battle Andrew R. , Belmer Arnauld , Bartlett Selena E. , Johnson Luke R. , Chehrehasa Fatemeh TITLE=Pavlovian Olfactory Fear Conditioning: Its Neural Circuity and Importance for Understanding Clinical Fear-Based Disorders JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience VOLUME=12 YEAR=2019 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2019.00221 DOI=10.3389/fnmol.2019.00221 ISSN=1662-5099 ABSTRACT=

Odors have proven to be the most resilient trigger for memories of high emotional saliency. Fear associated olfactory memories pose a detrimental threat of potentially transforming into severe mental illness such as fear and anxiety-related disorders. Many studies have deliberated on auditory, visual and general contextual fear memory (CFC) processes; however, fewer studies have investigated mechanisms of olfactory fear memory. Evidence strongly suggests that the neuroanatomical representation of olfactory fear memory differs from that of auditory and visual fear memory. The aim of this review article is to revisit the literature regarding the understanding of the neurobiological process of fear conditioning and to illustrate the circuitry of olfactory fear memory.