Fig. 3: Role of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in recall of observational CFC memory in the observer chamber.

a, b Coronal section of mPFC immunohistochemistry in non-shock (left) or recall of observational CFC memory (right) at the recent (a) or remote (b) time point. SOM secondary motor area, ACAd, anterior cingulate area (dorsal subregion), PLC prelimbic cortex, ILC infralimbic cortex. c–f Percentages of Arc⁺ neurons in mPFC subregions SOM (c), ACAd (d), PLC (e), and ILC (f) in recall of observational CFC memory. g Effect of optogenetic inhibition of mPFC terminals in BLA in recall of observational CFC memory in observer chamber at the remote timepoint. h Coronal section of BLA immunohistochemistry after mPFC terminal inhibition in recall of observational CFC memory in observer chamber. i, j Effect of optogenetic terminal inhibition on recall of observational CFC memory in observer freezing levels (i) and percentages of Arc⁺ neurons in BLA (j). –; Light off. +; Light on. Light gray bar; eYFP/Light off. Light green bar; eArchT/Light off. Dark gray bar; eYFP/Light on. Dark green bar; eArchT/Light on. Two-way mixed ANOVA with Bonferroni test (c–f) and two-way between subjects ANOVA with Tukey test (i–j) were performed. *P < 0.05, and bars without asterisks did not reach significance (P > 0.05). Graphs are presented as box plots with minimum (lower whisker), 25th percentile (lower box bound), median (center), 75th percentile (upper box bound), and maximum (upper whisker) values indicated. Source data are provided as a Source data file.