KARYN M. MYERS, PHD
- Harvard title(s): Research Fellow in Psychiatry
- McLean title(s): Postdoctoral Fellow
- Email: kmyers@mclean.harvard.edu
- Telephone: (617) 855-2067
- Fax: (617) 855-2023
- Office Address: Behavioral Genetics Laboratory, MRC 001
- Degree(s): Karyn received her B.A. in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College in 1998, her M.S. in Psychology from Yale University in 2001, and her Ph.D. in Psychology from Emory University in 2004.
- Bio: Karyn is interested in the neurobiological mechanisms of inhibition and extinction of negative affective states, including conditioned fear and conditioned aversive motivation associated with opiate withdrawal. In her doctoral work she developed a paradigm for the study of conditioned inhibition of fear in rodents, which has since been adapted for use in nonhuman primates as well as humans. She also examined the behavioral, pharmacological, and molecular mechanisms of fear extinction. At the Behavioral Genetics Laboratory Karyn is studying extinction of conditioned place aversion in morphine-dependent rats. Her work has been supported by a Kirchstein National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health.
- Publications:
- Myers KM, Toufexis DJ, Winslow JT, Jovanovic T, Norrholm SD, Duncan EJ, Davis M (in press) Measurement of fear inhibition in rats, monkeys, and humans with or without PTSD using the AX+, BX- paradigm. In: Phelps EA et al. (eds) The Human Amygdala.
- Myers KM, Davis M (in press) Extinction of fear: animal studies to clinical interventions. In: Blanchard R et al. (eds) Handbook of Behavioral Neuroscience.
- Davis M, Myers KM (in press) Pharmacology of fear extinction. In Squire L et al. (eds) The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience.
- Myers, KM, Davis M (2007) Mechanisms of fear extinction. Mol Psychiatry 12: 120-50
- Toufexis DJ, Myers KM, Bowser ME, Davis M (2007) Estrogen disrupts the inhibition of fear in female rats, possibly through antagonistic effects of estrogen receptor alpha (ERĪ±) and ERĪ². J Neurosci 27: 9729-35
- Norrholm SD, Jovanovic T, Vervliet B, Myers KM, Davis M, Rothbaum BO, Duncan EJ (2006) Conditioned fear extinction and reinstatement in a human fear-potentiated startle paradigm. Learn Mem 13: 681-5
- Jovanovic T, Norrholm SD, Keyes M, Fiallos A, Jovanovic S, Myers KM, Davis M, Duncan EJ (2006) Contingency awareness and fear inhibition in a human fear-potentiated startle paradigm. Behav Neurosci 120: 995-1004
- Myers KM, Ressler KJ, Davis M (2006) Different mechanisms of fear extinction dependent on length of time since fear acquisition. Learn Mem 13: 216-23
- Toufexis DJ, Myers KM, Davis M (2006) The effect of gonadal hormones and gender on anxiety and emotional learning. Horm Behav 50: 539-49
- Davis M, Myers KM, Chhatwal J, Ressler KJ (2006) Pharmacological treatments that facilitate extinction of fear: relevance to psychotherapy. NeuroRx 3: 82-96
- Myers KM, Goulet M, Rusche J, Boismenu R, Davis M (2005) Partial reversal of phencyclidine-induced impairment of prepulse inhibition by secretin. Biol Psychiatry 58: 67-73
- Jovanovic T, Keyes M, Fiallos A, Myers KM, Davis M, Duncan EJ (2005) Fear potentiation and fear inhibition in a human fear-potentiated startle paradigm. Biol Psychiatry 57: 1559-64
- Chhatwal JP, Myers KM, Ressler KJ, Davis M (2005) Regulation of gephyrin and GABAA receptor binding within the amygdala following fear acquisition and extinction. J Neurosci 25: 502-6
- Davis M, Myers KM, Ressler KJ, Rothbaum BO (2005) Facilitation of extinction by D-cycloserine: implications for psychotherapy. Curr Dir Psych Sci 14: 214-9
- Myers KM, Davis M (2004) AX+, BX- discrimination learning in the fear-potentiated startle paradigm: possible relevance to inhibitory fear learning in extinction. Learn Mem 11: 464-75
- Myers KM, Goulet M, Rusche J, Boismenu R, Davis M (2004) Inhibition of fear potentiated startle in rats following peripheral administration of secretin. Psychopharm 172: 94-9
- Davis M, Walker DL, Myers KM (2003) Role of the amygdala in fear extinction measured with potentiated startle. Ann NY Acad Sci 985: 218-32
- Myers KM, Davis M (2002) Behavioral and neural analysis of extinction. Neuron 36: 567-84
- Davis M, Myers KM (2002) The role of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid in fear extinction: clinical implications for exposure therapy. Biol Psychiatry 52: 998-1007
- Myers KM, Davis M (2002) Systems-level reconsolidation: reengagement of the hippocampus with memory reactivation. Neuron, 36: 340-3
- Kim JJ, Myers KM (2001) Fear: psychological and neural aspects. In: Smelser NJ, Baltes PB (eds), Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier, New York, NY, pp 5428-5433
- Myers KM, Vogel EH, Shin J, Wagner AR (2001) A comparison of the Rescorla-Wagner and Pearce models in a negative patterning and a summation problem. Anim Learn Behav 29: 36-45