Anxiety sensitivity and the anticipation of predictable and unpredictable threat: Evidence from the startle response and event-related potentials

Nelson, Brady D.; Hodges, Allie; Hajcak, Greg; Shankman, Stewart A.

doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.05.003

Cited by 43 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 99 publications

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“…It has been posited that heightened reactivity to an uncertain threat may stem from several related abnormalities including increased threat attention, inflated estimates of threat harm, deficient safety learning, and maladaptive cognitive control (Grupe and Nitschke, 2013). It has also been suggested that personality traits such as anxiety sensitivity (AS), or the tendency to interpret anxiety-related sensations as fearful and distressing (Reiss et al, 1986), also contribute to reactivity to an uncertain threat (Lejuez et al, 2000; Melzig et al, 2008; Nelson et al, 2015), and that AS in particular may be an overlapping, yet distinct, factor related to problematic alcohol use (Carleton et al, 2007; DeMartini and Carey, 2011). To date, no study has attempted to disentangle the roles of these potential processes and how they contribute to reactivity to an uncertain threat and problematic drinking behaviors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between problematic alcohol use and reactivity to uncertain threat in two independent samples

Gorka

Lieberman

Phan

et al. 2016

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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Background Recent laboratory studies have shown that acute alcohol intoxication selectively and effectively dampens aversive responding to an uncertain threat. An emerging hypothesis is that individuals who exhibit heightened reactivity to an uncertain threat may be especially motivated to use alcohol to dampen their distress, setting the stage for negative reinforcement processes to drive excessive alcohol use. However, no study to date has directly examined whether current problematic drinkers exhibit heightened reactivity to an uncertain threat as would be expected. Methods The present study was therefore designed to examine the association between current problematic alcohol use and reactivity to an uncertain threat during sobriety in two, independent samples. In Study 1 (n = 221) and Study 2 (n = 74), adult participants completed the same well-validated threat-of-shock task which separately probes responses to temporally predictable and unpredictable threat. Startle potentiation was measured as an index of aversive responding. Problematic alcohol use was defined as number of binge episodes within the past 30 days in Study 1 and total scores on a self-report measure of hazardous drinking in Study 2. Results As hypothesized, across both studies greater levels of problematic drinking were associated with greater startle potentiation to an unpredictable threat. In Study 2, hazardous drinking scores were also positively associated with startle potentiation to predictable threat. Conclusions The findings are notably consistent with the notion that heightened reactivity to an uncertain threat is an important individual difference factor associated with the onset and/or maintenance of problematic drinking behaviors and may therefore be a novel prevention and intervention target.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Association between problematic alcohol use and reactivity to uncertain threat in two independent samples

Gorka

Lieberman

Phan

et al. 2016

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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“…Especially high levels of anxiety sensitivity-a dimensional trait measure of the belief that physiological symptoms might signal severe bodily circumstances-seem to be related to specific bodily threat such as breathlessness (Alius, Pan e-Farr e, von Leupoldt, & Hamm, 2013;Melzig et al, 2008). Moreover, the modulation of neural responses during the anticipation of threat has been shown to correlate with increased trait levels of (anxious) cognitive, as well as physical, concerns (Nelson, Hodges, Hajcak, & Shankman, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Neural responses to affective pictures while anticipating and perceiving respiratory threat

et al. 2016

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Emotional processes have an impact on the anticipation and perception of bodily threat sensations, such as breathlessness. However, little is known about the reverse influence of breathlessness on emotional processes, as well as its modulation by anxiety sensitivity (AS). Here, we investigated by means of visually evoked potentials how the perception versus anticipation of resistive-load-induced breathlessness (RLIB) influences emotional processing. High (HA) and low anxious (LA) participants viewed pictures of positive, neutral, or negative content under conditions of perceived RLIB, anticipated RLIB, or an unloaded baseline. The P2 (230-290 ms) was significantly less positive under perceived RLIB. Furthermore, the early late positive potential (LPP; 300-500 ms) was significantly less positive during both RLIB conditions, as compared to baseline. Overall, the P1 was significantly more positive in HA as compared to LA individuals. Additionally, across conditions, the late LPP (600-1,000 ms) was enhanced for positive and negative pictures as opposed to neutral ones for the LA group. In contrast, for the HA group only, the positive pictures elicited the typical enhanced LPP. Notably, for the HA participants, negative pictures elicited significantly blunted late LPPs during perceived RLIB as compared to anticipated RLIB and baseline. A reversed effect (i.e., more positivity) was observed for LA participants, suggesting motivational priming. Taken together, these results highlight the impact of perceived and anticipated respiratory threat on the neural processing of emotional picture stimuli, as well as its modulation by anxiety sensitivity levels.

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“…As shown in Figure 3(a), after being subjected to the T7 cycle, the C3H/HeJ mice showed a significant enhancement of the magnitude of the startle response, a phenomenon which is known to be associated with anxiety disorder [9]. These mice also showed reduced PPI as evidenced by the average startle responses after three of the four levels of prepulses tested (Figure 3(b)).…”

Section: Enhanced Startle Reflex and Deficits In Ppi In The C3h/hej Micementioning

confidence: 92%

Aberrant Light-Induced Depression is Associated with Impaired Sensorimotor Gating in Mice

Haga¹,

Toei²,

Mitsui³

et al. 2018

WJNS

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Mice subjected to an irregular light-dark cycle are known to lose their capacity to synchronize their behavioral rhythm to environmental light, and to show endophenotypes related to depressive disorders. Here we observed that a susceptible strain of mice (C3H/HeJ) subjected to an irregular 3.5 hr:3.5 hr light-dark cycle showed an enhanced acoustic startle reflex and deficits in prepulse inhibition. As impaired sensorimotor gating is associated with the onset of a variety of mental disorders such as schizophrenia and major depressive disorder, irregular environmental light without circadian photo-entrainment may cause stress that has the potential to be involved in humans' susceptibility to neuropsychiatric abnormalities.

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Anxiety sensitivity and the anticipation of predictable and unpredictable threat: Evidence from the startle response and event-related potentials

Cited by 43 publications

References 99 publications

Association between problematic alcohol use and reactivity to uncertain threat in two independent samples

Association between problematic alcohol use and reactivity to uncertain threat in two independent samples

Neural responses to affective pictures while anticipating and perceiving respiratory threat

Aberrant Light-Induced Depression is Associated with Impaired Sensorimotor Gating in Mice

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