Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 3 complete abstracts (514 words), 9 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
The affective response to an actual current external danger which subsides with the elimination of the threatening condition.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Fears; Threat Cues; Cue, Threat; Threat Cue; Threat Sensitivity; Sensitivity, Threat; Threat Sensitivities.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Emotions
- Narrower topics
- Panic
- See also
- Phobic Disorders
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 45,456 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Fear” (counts retrieved 2026-10-31). 12,503 of them (27.5%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is 2010-2019 with 14,607 records.
Reviews account for 3,563 records (7.8%) and meta-analyses for 317. Randomized controlled trials number 2,046 (4.5%) as a share of all records on the topic.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 9,868 |
| 2000-2009 | 8,478 |
| 2010-2019 | 14,607 |
| 2020 onward | 12,503 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 3,563 | 7.8% |
| Meta-analyses | 317 | 0.7% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 2,046 | 4.5% |
Method: PubMed query "Fear"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-31.
Reading the evidence in psychiatry and psychology
Research on mental health and behaviour relies on questionnaires, interviews and rating scales rather than physical measurements, so how a condition was defined and measured shapes every result. Many studies are observational or small, placebo responses can be large, and findings in one group or culture may not carry over to another. Nothing on this page is advice about diagnosis or treatment; anyone worried about their mental health should talk to a qualified clinician. Check how outcomes were measured, who took part and how long they were followed.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human cerebellum and ventral tegmental area interact during extinction of learned fear | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 5 | cc by PMID 42439193 · DOI · PMC13363218 |
| A Direct Auditory Subcortical Route to the Amygdala Associated with Fear in Humans | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 4 | cc by PMID 41839572 · DOI · PMC13086246 |
| Fear conditioning biases olfactory sensory neuron frequencies across generations | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 4 | cc by PMID 41979323 · DOI · PMC13078775 |
Human cerebellum and ventral tegmental area interact during extinction of learned fear [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- The key elements for fear extinction learning are unexpected omissions of expected aversive events, which are considered to be rewarding.
- Closing excerpt
- These results suggest that an interaction between the cerebellum and VTA should be incorporated into the existing model of the fear extinction network.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (142 words)
The key elements for fear extinction learning are unexpected omissions of expected aversive events, which are considered to be rewarding. Given its reception of reward information, we tested the hypothesis that the cerebellum contributes to reward-like prediction error processing driving extinction learning via its connections with the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Forty-three young and healthy participants performed a three-day fear conditioning paradigm in a 7T MR scanner. The cerebellum and VTA were active during unexpected omissions of aversive unconditioned stimuli in the initial extinction trials and in other learning phases, in line with the proposed role of prediction-error processing. Increased functional connectivity was observed between the cerebellum and VTA, indicating that they are functionally coupled during fear extinction learning. These results suggest that an interaction between the cerebellum and VTA should be incorporated into the existing model of the fear extinction network.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42439193 · DOI · PMC13363218
A Direct Auditory Subcortical Route to the Amygdala Associated with Fear in Humans [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Rapid and efficient fear processing is essential for survival.
- Closing excerpt
- These findings provide previously unreported evidence for an auditory colliculo-geniculo-amygdala "low road" in humans, aligning with evolutionarily conserved pathways for fear described in nonhuman species.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (208 words)
Rapid and efficient fear processing is essential for survival. In vision, this function is supported by a well-characterized subcortical pathway consisting of direct projections from the pulvinar of the thalamus to the amygdala in the human brain. In contrast, the existence of an analogous shortcut for fear in audition has been demonstrated in nonhuman animals but remains unconfirmed in humans. To address this question, we used probabilistic streamline tractography and fixel-based analysis on diffusion-weighted images from Human Connectome Project participants of either sex to reconstruct candidate auditory subcortical pathways and examine their associations with affective and auditory behavioral measures. Our findings revealed a robust white matter tract connecting the inferior colliculus to basolateral amygdala via the medial geniculate body (MGB) of the thalamus. Remarkably, higher fiber density in this tract was associated with better hearing ability in noise and increased self-reported fearfulness, supporting its role in auditory and affective function. Conversely, a control analysis of the core thalamocortical pathway from ventral MGB to primary auditory cortex, representing the main route for auditory processing, was associated with auditory ability but not with affective measures. These findings provide previously unreported evidence for an auditory colliculo-geniculo-amygdala "low road" in humans, aligning with evolutionarily conserved pathways for fear described in nonhuman species.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41839572 · DOI · PMC13086246
Fear conditioning biases olfactory sensory neuron frequencies across generations [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- The main olfactory epithelium initiates the process of odor encoding.
- Closing excerpt
- Thus, we reveal intergenerational regulation of olfactory epithelium composition in response to olfactory fear conditioning, providing insight into the heritability of acquired phenotypes.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (164 words)
The main olfactory epithelium initiates the process of odor encoding. Recent studies have demonstrated intergenerationally inherited changes in the olfactory system in response to fear conditioning, resulting in increases in olfactory sensory neuron frequencies and altered responses to odors. We investigated changes in the cellular composition of the olfactory epithelium in response to an aversive stimulus. Here, we achieve volumetric cellular resolution to demonstrate that olfactory fear conditioning increases the number of odor-encoding neurons in mice that experience odor-shock conditioning (F0), as well as their unconditioned offspring (F1). We demonstrate that the increase in F0 is due, in part, to the biasing of the stem cell layer of the main olfactory epithelium. A detailed analysis of F1 behavior revealed subtle odor-specific differences between the offspring of unconditioned and conditioned parents, despite the absence of an active aversion to the conditioned odor. Thus, we reveal intergenerational regulation of olfactory epithelium composition in response to olfactory fear conditioning, providing insight into the heritability of acquired phenotypes.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41979323 · DOI · PMC13078775
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article A meta-analysis of fear appeals: implications for effective public health campaigns [4]
- Research article Updated meta-analysis of classical fear conditioning in the anxiety disorders [5]
- Research article Neural signatures of human fear conditioning: an updated and extended meta-analysis of fMRI studies [6]
- Research article A meta-analysis of risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents [7]
- Research article Deficits in facial affect recognition among antisocial populations: a meta-analysis [8]
- Research article Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories [9]
References
- Nio E, Pais Pereira P, Diekmann N, Petrenko M, Doubliez A, Ernst TM, et al.. Human cerebellum and ventral tegmental area interact during extinction of learned fear. . 2026. PMID 42439193 · DOI · PMC13363218
- Kosteletou-Kassotaki E, Cinca-Tomás MT, Varriano F, Soria G, Prats-Galino A, Domínguez-Borràs J. A Direct Auditory Subcortical Route to the Amygdala Associated with Fear in Humans. . 2026. PMID 41839572 · DOI · PMC13086246
- Liff CW, Ayman YR, Jaeger ECB, Cardeiro A, Lee HS, Kim A, et al.. Fear conditioning biases olfactory sensory neuron frequencies across generations. . 2026. PMID 41979323 · DOI · PMC13078775
- Witte K, Allen M. A meta-analysis of fear appeals: implications for effective public health campaigns. Health Educ Behav. 2000. PMID 11009129 · DOI
- Duits P, Cath DC, Lissek S, Hox JJ, Hamm AO, Engelhard IM, et al.. Updated meta-analysis of classical fear conditioning in the anxiety disorders. Depress Anxiety. 2015. PMID 25703487 · DOI
- Fullana MA, Harrison BJ, Soriano-Mas C, Vervliet B, Cardoner N, Àvila-Parcet A, et al.. Neural signatures of human fear conditioning: an updated and extended meta-analysis of fMRI studies. Mol Psychiatry. 2016. PMID 26122585 · DOI
- Trickey D, Siddaway AP, Meiser-Stedman R, Serpell L, Field AP. A meta-analysis of risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder in children and adolescents. Clin Psychol Rev. 2012. PMID 22245560 · DOI
- Marsh AA, Blair RJ. Deficits in facial affect recognition among antisocial populations: a meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008. PMID 17915324 · DOI · PMC2255599
- Tannenbaum MB, Hepler J, Zimmerman RS, Saul L, Jacobs S, Wilson K, et al.. Appealing to fear: A meta-analysis of fear appeal effectiveness and theories. Psychol Bull. 2015. PMID 26501228 · DOI · PMC5789790
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-11-04; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-11-04.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.