Defensive behaviors and c‐fos expression in the midbrain

Abstract Pavlovian fear conditioning serves as a valuable method for investigating species‐specific defensive reactions (SSDRs) such as freezing and flight responses. The present study examines the role of white noise under different experimental conditions. Given that white noise has been shown to elicit both conditional (associative) and unconditional (nonassociative) defensive responses, we compared the response to noise following three separate training conditions: shock‐only, white noise paired with shock, and context‐only. Results showed that baseline freezing level significantly changed across groups: Both the shock‐only group and the white noise paired with shock group froze more than the context‐only group on the test day. White noise evoked differential freezing between groups on day 2: The shock‐only group froze more than the context‐only group although both groups were never exposed to white noise during training. Further, an activity burst triggered by white noise was similar for the shock‐only and white noise paired with shock groups during testing, although shock‐only group was never exposed to white noise stimuli during training. This aligned with c‐fos data, indicating similar c‐fos activity levels across different periaqueductal gray (PAG) regions for both shock‐only and white noise paired with shock groups. However, the driving force behind c‐fos activation—whether freezing, activity burst, or a combination of both—remains uncertain, warranting further analysis to explore specific correlations between SSDRs and c‐fos activity within the PAG and related brain areas.