Signaled active avoidance (SigAA) is the key experimental procedure for studying the acquisition of instrumental responses toward conditioned threat cues. Traditional analytic approaches (e.g., general linear model) often obfuscate important individual differences, although individual differences in learned responses characterize both animal and…

Over the last decade, there has been much excitement about the use of optogenetic tools to test whether specific cells, regions, and projection pathways are necessary or sufficient for initiating, sustaining, or altering behavior. However, the use of such tools can result in side effects that can complicate experimental design or interpretation.…