Neurobehavioural Effects of Fear Conditioning: Linking Freezing Behaviour to Prefrontal EEG Patterns - Figure 1

Fear conditioning is known to modulate emotional and cognitive domains, often reflected in changes in exploratory, affective, and memory-related behaviours. To evaluate these effects, animals underwent behavioural testing using the Elevated Plus Maze, Forced Swim Test, Open Field Test, and Novel Object Recognition task.

In the Elevated Plus Maze (EPM), conditioned rats showed a marked reduction in the time spent in the open arms following conditioning (EPM1 M = 29.40, SD = 13.59; EPM2 M = 16.97, SD = 8.07), indicating heightened anxiety levels (p = 0.00, 95% CI [5.74, 19.12]) (see Figure 1).