Fig. 3: Spontaneous calcium activity in the RE encodes defensive state transitions in shock-paired contexts.

A Average freezing behavior during habituation (n = 9), context extinction (n = 9), and context extinction retrieval (n = 7). B, F, J Representative traces of RE activity during habituation, context extinction, and context retrieval, respectively, with freezing epochs denoted by blue shades. C, D Average RE activity during the initiation and termination of non-fear-related immobility during habituation (n = 6), compared to averaged RE activity during the initiation and termination of fear-related freezing behavior during context extinction (n = 9) (G, H) and retrieval (n = 7) (K, L). Average change in the RE activity during freezing initiation (E) and termination (I) across days (ns = 6, 9, and 7 for Hab, Ext, and Ret, respectively). M Example graphic of the third derivative of a smoothed photometry trace for determining the timepoint of RE activation relative to freezing termination. Average timepoint of RE activation (N), maximum slope (O), and amplitude of maximum slope of the first derivative (P) prior to freezing termination for extinction and retrieval (n = 9 for Ext, n = 7 for Ret). Q Average signal power during freezing and non-freezing epochs during context extinction and retrieval (n = 9 for Ext, n = 7 for Ret). Data are represented as mean ± SEM. Box plots range from the first and third quartiles with median as the middle line and whiskers showing min to max. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001.