Genetic influences on the acquisition and inhibition of fear

Wendt, Julia; Neubert, Jörg; Lindner, Katja; Ernst, Florian; Homuth, Georg; Weike, Almut I.; Hamm, Alfons O.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.10.007

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 49 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The habituation phase was followed by (a) a conditioning phase in which 12 AX1 presentations coterminated with the UCS and 12 BX2 presentations 1. The inhibition of the fear response to a threat signal A by introducing a novel stimulus C is considered an attention-related phenomenon (Myers & Davis, 2004;Pavlov, 1927) whose inhibiting strength seems to be generally less pronounced than that of the conditioned inhibitor B (Jovanovic et al, 2005;Wendt et al, 2014).…”

Section: Materials Design and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Resting heart rate variability is associated with inhibition of conditioned fear

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Startle blink as well as skin conductance responses (SCR) are widely used indices of learning processes associated with fear conditioning and extinction. During safety learning, the amygdala is under top-down inhibitory control by the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The capacity of the PFC to exert inhibitory control over subcortical brain structures may be indexed by resting state vagally mediated heart rate variability (HRV). The present study investigated the association of resting HRV with startle blink and SCR during conditioned fear inhibition and extinction. Participants first learned to discriminate a threat cue (A) signaling an aversive unconditioned stimulus from a safety signal (B), which were each presented together with a third stimulus X (AX+/BX-). Then, both the threat and safety signal were presented together (AB) to test whether the presence of the learned safety signal inhibits the fear response to the danger signal. Finally, AX was presented without reinforcement (AX-) to investigate fear extinction. Higher HRV was associated with pronounced fear inhibition and fear extinction. Resting HRV levels were associated with fear extinction as indexed by startle blink potentiation but not SCR, which presumably reflect more cognitive aspects of learning. Resting HRV may reflect the capacity of the prefrontal cortex to inhibit subcortical fear responses in the presence of safety or when former threat cues are presented in the absence of threat.

show abstract

Section: Materials Design and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

“… The inhibition of the fear response to a threat signal A by introducing a novel stimulus C is considered an attention‐related phenomenon (Myers & Davis, 2004; Pavlov, ) whose inhibiting strength seems to be generally less pronounced than that of the conditioned inhibitor B (Jovanovic et al, ; Wendt et al, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Resting heart rate variability is associated with inhibition of conditioned fear

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As an example, van Well and colleagues (2012) found differences in the activations of the dorsal ACC (dACC) and amygdala to be associated with individual differences in startle potentiation. Importantly, other factors such as sex (Lebron-Milad et al, 2012;Milad et al, 2006Milad et al, , 2010Rosenbaum et al, 2015), gonadal hormones (Merz et al, 2012;Milad et al, 2006), education (Rosenbaum et al, 2015), age (Bellebaum & Daum, 2004;Rosenbaum et al, 2015), ethnicity (Martínez, Franco-Chaves, Milad, & Quirk, 2014;Nelson, Bishop, Sarapas, Kittles, & Shankman, 2014), personality traits (Otto et al, 2007), and genetic factors (Åhs, Frick, Furmark, & Fredrikson, 2014;Hettema, Annas, Neale, Kendler, & Fredrikson, 2003;Hindi Attar, Finckh, & Büchel, 2012;Klucken et al, 2014;Lonsdorf et al, 2009;Merrill, Steinmetz, Viken, & Rose, 1999;Wendt et al, 2015) have also been shown to modulate conditionability. Importantly, it is common for fear conditioning studies to exclude participants due to poor evidence of a conditioned SCR (Chauret et al, 2014;Milad, Orr, Pitman, & Rauch, 2005;Oyarzún et al, 2012;Phelps, Delgado, Nearing, & LeDoux, 2004;Spring et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absence of conditioned responding in humans: A bad measure or individual differences?

Marin

Barbey²,

Rosenbaum

et al. 2019

Psychophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Skin conductance response (SCR) is often used as an index of conditioned fear. SCR has been shown to be highly variable, and absence of SC reactivity is sometimes used as criteria for excluding data. It is, however, possible that low or no SC reactivity is the result of a distinct biological signature that underlies individual differences in SCR reactivity. This study examined neural correlates associated with the near absence of SCR conditionability. Archival data from 109 healthy adults aged 18–60 years were pooled. All individuals had participated in a fear conditioning protocol in a fMRI environment, during which two cues were partially reinforced (CS+) with a shock and a third cue was not (CS−). Using SCR to the conditioned stimuli and differential SCR (CS+ minus CS−), we created two groups of 30 individuals: low conditioners (defined as those showing the smallest SCR to the CS+ and smallest differential SCR) and high conditioners (defined as those showing the largest SCR to the CS+ and largest differential SCR). Our analyses showed differences in patterns of brain activations between these two groups during conditioning in the following regions: dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, and insular cortex. Our findings suggest that low or absent SCR conditionability is associated with hypoactivation of brain regions involved in fear learning and expression. This highlights the need to be cautious when excluding SCR nonconditioners and to consider the potential implications of such exclusion when interpreting the findings from studies of conditioned fear.

show abstract

“…Across numerous studies, the S allele has been associated with greater physiological responding to fearful stimuli compared to the L allele. Findings are most robust for startle responses [Armbruster et al, ; Lonsdorf et al, ; Williams et al, ; Klumpers et al, , ; Wendt et al, ; although see Larson et al, ; Pauli et al, ; Heitland et al, ; for exceptions] and less consistent for skin conductance response [Garpenstrand et al, ; Crisan et al, ; Lonsdorf et al, ; Hartley et al, ; Hermann et al, ; Glotzbach‐Schoon et al, ; Klucken et al, ; Klumpers et al, ]. Some evidence also supports greater emotional task‐elicited heart rate among S allele carriers compared to L allele homozygotes Williams et al []; although see Gatt et al [], for an exception.…”

Section: The Research Domain Criteria (Rdoc) Projectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic influences on the neural and physiological bases of acute threat: A research domain criteria (RDoC) perspective

Sumner

Powers

Jovanović

2015

American J of Med Genetics Pt B

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative aims to describe key dimensional constructs underlying mental function across multiple units of analysis—from genes to observable behaviors—in order to better understand psychopathology. The acute threat (“fear”) construct of the RDoC Negative Valence System has been studied extensively from a translational perspective, and is highly pertinent to numerous psychiatric conditions, including anxiety and trauma-related disorders. We examined genetic contributions to the construct of acute threat at two units of analysis within the RDoC framework: 1) neural circuits and 2) physiology. Specifically, we focused on genetic influences on activation patterns of frontolimbic neural circuitry and on startle, skin conductance, and heart rate responses. Research on the heritability of activation in threat-related frontolimbic neural circuitry is lacking, but physiological indicators of acute threat have been found to be moderately heritable (35-50%). Genetic studies of the neural circuitry and physiology of acute threat have almost exclusively relied on the candidate gene method and, as in the broader psychiatric genetics literature, most findings have failed to replicate. The most robust support has been demonstrated for associations between variation in the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4) and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genes with threat-related neural activation and physiological responses. However, unbiased genome-wide approaches using very large samples are needed for gene discovery, and these can be accomplished with collaborative consortium-based research efforts, such as those of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) and Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium.

show abstract

Genetic influences on the acquisition and inhibition of fear

Cited by 24 publications

References 49 publications

Resting heart rate variability is associated with inhibition of conditioned fear

Resting heart rate variability is associated with inhibition of conditioned fear

Absence of conditioned responding in humans: A bad measure or individual differences?

Genetic influences on the neural and physiological bases of acute threat: A research domain criteria (RDoC) perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About