HomeNeuroscience & BiophysicsFear Extinction Circuit Simulator

Fear Extinction Circuit Simulator

Interactive 3D model of the amygdala–vmPFC fear-extinction circuit: run acquisition and extinction trials, switch context or advance time, and watch renewal, spontaneous recovery and reinstatement emerge from real Rescorla-Wagner synaptic-plasticity equations.

Neuroscience & Biophysics3DAdvanced60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version
trauma-recovery ↗ Open standalone

This simulation models the neural circuit behind trauma recovery and exposure therapy: the tug-of-war between the amygdala's fear memory and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex's competing extinction memory. Run acquisition trials to condition a fear response, then run extinction trials to suppress it — and watch how switching context, letting time pass, or a single stressful "reinstatement" event can bring the fear response back, exactly as it does in real relapse after therapy. Every number on screen is driven by the Rescorla–Wagner learning rule applied to two separate, competing synaptic traces, and the 3D scene renders the actual amygdala–vmPFC–hippocampus pathway with live excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter pulses.

⚙ Under the hood

Interactive 3D model of the amygdala–vmPFC fear-extinction circuit: run acquisition and extinction trials, switch context or let time pass, and watch renewal, spontaneous recovery and reinstatement emerge from real Rescorla-Wagner synaptic-plasticity equations.

neuroscienceamygdalafear-extinctiontraumasynaptic-plasticitypsychology

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install

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