Neurobehavioural Effects of Fear Conditioning: Linking Freezing Behaviour to Prefrontal EEG Patterns - Figure 3

In order to investigate the neural processes associated with the behavioural effects of fear conditioning, we analysed the prefrontal EEG activity across several conditions, with a focus on broadband oscillatory power (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma). Comparisons were made between unstimulated and post-stimulation periods, between the left and right prefrontal hemispheres, and between freezing and non-freezing behavioural states. No significant differences were found in broadband power when comparing the unstimulated and post-stimulation conditions in the experimental group. P-values ranged from 0.16 to 0.35 across all frequency bands, showing that the aversive stimulus did not induce a detectable global change in prefrontal oscillatory activity (see Figure 3). This absence of widespread cortical change is consistent with previous research indicating that acute fear conditioning may not consistently result in generalised EEG alterations, but rather in state-dependent or regionally specific modulation (Mochizuki et al., 2025).