Prefrontal projections to the bed nuclei of the stria terminalis modulate the specificity of aversive memories.

Generalizing aversive memories helps organisms avoid danger, whereas discriminating between dissimilar situations promotes opportunistic behaviors. We identified a novel pathway that controls the contextual specificity of memory consolidation of inhibitory avoidance learning. Optogenetic inhibition of the rostral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)-to-anteroventral bed nuclei of the stria terminalis (avBST) pathway after a single footshock exacerbated stress hormonal output, and 2 d later promoted generalization to a novel context.