State-dependent encoding of exploratory behaviour in the amygdala.

The behaviour of an animal is determined by metabolic, emotional and social factors. Depending on its state, an animal will focus on avoiding threats, foraging for food or on social interactions, and will display the appropriate behavioural repertoire. Moreover, survival and reproduction depend on the ability of an animal to adapt to changes in the environment by prioritizing the appropriate state.

Adaptive disinhibitory gating by VIP interneurons permits associative learning.

Learning drives behavioral adaptations necessary for survival. While plasticity of excitatory projection neurons during associative learning has been extensively studied, little is known about the contributions of local interneurons. Using fear conditioning as a model for associative learning, we found that behaviorally relevant, salient stimuli cause learning by tapping into a local microcircuit consisting of precisely connected subtypes of inhibitory interneurons.

Amygdala ensembles encode behavioral states.

Internal states, including affective or homeostatic states, are important behavioral motivators. The amygdala regulates motivated behaviors, yet how distinct states are represented in amygdala circuits is unknown. By longitudinally imaging neural calcium dynamics in freely moving mice across different environments, we identified opponent changes in activity levels of two major, nonoverlapping populations of basal amygdala principal neurons.