Fig. 6.

(A) RMTg area lesions markedly reduced freezing to a conditioned auditory tone. (B) Lesions reduced unconditioned freezing to the predator odor trimethylthiazoline (TMT), while increasing defensive treading/burying to a similar degree (B). Lesions did not affect locomotor activity during a 10 minute baseline period before odor presentation, but abolished subsequent odor-induced locomotor suppression (C). RMTg lesioned rats placed on a elevated plus maze made an equal number of entries into open versus closed arms (D), unlike controls which strongly avoided open arm entries. Notably, lesioned animals still spent less time in the open arms, indicating preservation of escape behavior, despite impairment of avoidance.