Neural Mechanisms Underlying Fearful Avoidance Behaviour

Le résumé fourni par la source

Excessive avoidance behaviour is a key symptom of anxiety disorders and might be a better predictor of poor disease outcome than current levels of anxiety. In excessive avoidance, potential rewards are often sacrificed to avoid potential negative outcomes. Even though these costly avoidance decisions play an important role in anxiety, little is known about the underlying neural mechanisms. Previous human research suggests involvement of subcortical regions (e.g. amygdala) and corticostriatal networks, but these studies typically do not investigate how the brain weighs and integrates reward and threat information prior to the decision to approach or avoid. In our fMRI study we used an avoidance task in which subjects make active approach/avoid decisions under varying reward (monetary gains) and threat (electrical stimulation) prospects. Primary research question(s)  RQ1: How are potential reward and threat levels reflected in brain activity, separately and in interaction, in the build-up of approach-avoidance decision making?  RQ2: Does neural activity in the build-up of approach-avoidance decisions predict subsequent choice? Secondary research question(s)  RQ3: Which brain regions are involved in anticipating the outcome of approach-avoidance decisions?  RQ4: Which brain regions are involved in receiving the outcome of approach-avoidance decisions?  RQ5: Which brain regions are commonly and/or differently involved in the distinct phases of approach-avoidance decisions (i.e. build-up of approach-avoidance decision, anticipation of the outcome, receiving the outcome)?  RQ6: How do reward and threat affect autonomic balance and arousal reflected in heart rate and skin conductance during approach-avoidance decision-making?  RQ7 (exploratory): Are psychophysiological responses correlated with neural responses and/or behavioural choices?  RQ8 (exploratory): Can we use multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to predict the decision to approach or avoid?  RQ9 (manipulation check): How do reward and threat affect avoidance behaviour?

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