Improving Therapeutic Learning for PTSD

Specific Aim 1: Test the degree to which exogeneous manipulations of dopamine neurotransmission affect exposure therapy learning across multiple indices. Hypothesis: L-DOPA will decrease measures of fear responding across indices. Specific Aim 2: Test the degree to which post-exposure functional connectivity within dopaminergic neural networks mediates the effect of dopaminergic manipulation on fear responding after exposure therapy. Hypothesis: L-DOPA will predict enhanced post-exposure dopaminergic functional connectivity, which in turn predicts decrease fear recall.