Fig. 1.

Schematic for experiment. (A) Trials consisted of separate encoding, retention and response intervals. Low and sort trials contained five-letter encoding arrays, while high trials contained eight-letter arrays. On low and high trials, subjects retained the letters in the original order, while on sort trials, subjects rearranged the letters in alphabetical order. (B) Trials were presented during alternating periods of safety and threat. During the safe periods, subjects could not receive a shock. During the threat periods, subjects were informed that they could receive a shock at any time. Trials were shuffled quasi-randomly so that an equal number of each trial type was presented in each block. (C) Regions of interest for the left (pink) and right (green) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). An association test for the term ‘dlPFC’ on the site neurosynth.org (Yarkoni et al., 2011) was used to generate the bilateral mask.