Pavlovian Extinction and Recovery Effects in Aversive Pavlovian to Instrumental Transfer

Campese, Vincent D.; Kim, Ian T.; Rojas, Gerardo; LeDoux, Joseph E.

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00179

Cited by 9 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…This result is in accordance with a number of studies demonstrating valence-action interactions in the negative domain, as facilitation of avoidance responses have been reported in the presence of aversive stimuli (Campese et al 2017; Dickinson and Pearce 1977). Moreover, our finding matches reports about aversive Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) effects in humans (Geurts et al 2013a; Lally et al 2017; Nord et al 2018; Rigoli et al 2012), where conditioned aversive stimuli decrease operant responses.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Reward and avoidance learning in the context of aversive environments and possible implications for depressive symptoms

et al. 2019

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Background Aversive stimuli in the environment influence human actions. This includes valence-dependent influences on action selection, e.g., increased avoidance but decreased approach behavior. However, it is yet unclear how aversive stimuli interact with complex learning and decision-making in the reward and avoidance domain. Moreover, the underlying computational mechanisms of these decision-making biases are unknown. Methods To elucidate these mechanisms, 54 healthy young male subjects performed a two-step sequential decision-making task, which allows to computationally model different aspects of learning, e.g., model-free, habitual, and model-based, goal-directed learning. We used a within-subject design, crossing task valence (reward vs. punishment learning) with emotional context (aversive vs. neutral background stimuli). We analyzed choice data, applied a computational model, and performed simulations. Results Whereas model-based learning was not affected, aversive stimuli interacted with model-free learning in a way that depended on task valence. Thus, aversive stimuli increased model-free avoidance learning but decreased model-free reward learning. The computational model confirmed this effect: the parameter lambda that indicates the influence of reward prediction errors on decision values was increased in the punishment condition but decreased in the reward condition when aversive stimuli were present. Further, by using the inferred computational parameters to simulate choice data, our effects were captured. Exploratory analyses revealed that the observed biases were associated with subclinical depressive symptoms. Conclusion Our data show that aversive environmental stimuli affect complex learning and decision-making, which depends on task valence. Further, we provide a model of the underlying computations of this affective modulation. Finally, our finding of increased decision-making biases in subjects reporting subclinical depressive symptoms matches recent reports of amplified Pavlovian influences on action selection in depression and suggests a potential vulnerability factor for mood disorders. We discuss our findings in the light of the involvement of the neuromodulators serotonin and dopamine. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00213-019-05299-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Reward and avoidance learning in the context of aversive environments and possible implications for depressive symptoms

et al. 2019

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“…A shock-paired cue was shown capable of enhancing active avoidance as was a cue paired with a different aversive event, a klaxon horn. While previous studies (Campese et al 2017a) showed that subjects trained to avoid shock demonstrated transfer to a shock paired cue, as well as a klaxon-paired cue, the current findings were observed using a between-subjects design, making it less likely that this result depends on generalization. This is an encouraging step toward using aversive PIT to isolate different forms of aversive motivation (i.e., sensory specific versus general).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 86%

Motivational factors underlying aversive Pavlovian-instrumental transfer

et al. 2020

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While interest in active avoidance has recently been resurgent, many concerns relating to the nature of this form of learning remain unresolved. By separating stimulus and response acquisition, aversive Pavlovian-instrumental transfer can be used to measure the effect of avoidance learning on threat processing with more control than typical avoidance procedures. However, the motivational substrates that contribute to the aversive transfer effect have not been thoroughly examined. In three studies using rodents, the impact of a variety of aversive signals on shock-avoidance responding (i.e., two-way shuttling) was evaluated. Fox urine, as well as a tone paired with the delivery of the predator odor were insufficient modulatory stimuli for the avoidance response. Similarly, a signal for the absence of food did not generate appropriate aversive motivation to enhance shuttling. Only conditioned Pavlovian stimuli that had been paired with unconditioned threats were capable of augmenting shock-avoidance responding. This was true whether the signaled outcome was the same (e.g., shock) or different (e.g., klaxon) from the avoidance outcome (i.e., shock). These findings help to characterize the aversive transfer effect and provide a more thorough analysis of its generalization to warning signals for different kinds of threats. This feature of aversive motivation has not been demonstrated using conventional avoidance procedures and could be potentially useful for applying avoidance in treatment settings.

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“…However, there was a significant main effect of stimulus-type, F (1, 45) = 51.754, p < 0.001. Simple contrasts revealed that, as observed in prior work (Campese et al, 2017 ; Fadok et al, 2017 ), rats in general, shuttled more in response to the white noise ( M = 21.033) than they did to tone ( M = 14.7130). Training day also yielded a significant main effect reflecting acquisition of avoidance over this phase, F (4, 180) = 11.372, p < 0.001. Review of Bonferroni-adjusted pairwise comparisons indicate that the number of shuttle responses significantly increased from acquisition training day 1 to training day 5.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 72%

Conditional Control of Instrumental Avoidance by Context Following Extinction

Campese

Brannigan

LeDoux

2021

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Using rodents, three training arrangements (i.e., ABB vs. ABA, AAA vs. AAB and ABB vs. ABC) explored whether extinction influences the expression of avoidance in a manner controlled by context. Retention testing following extinction showed that more avoidance responding (i.e., renewal) was observed when extinguished cues were tested outside of the context where they had undergone extinction. In contrast, response rates were significantly lower when stimuli were tested within the context where extinction learning had occurred. These findings add to the emerging literature assessing the role of Pavlovian extinction processes in the development of instrumental avoidance responding by demonstrating conditional control over extinguished responding by context. This study was conducted using a within-subjects approach that minimized the potential for context-outcome associations to bias responding, and thus, reflects hierarchical control over behavior based on the specific associative status of each tested cue in each training context.

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Pavlovian Extinction and Recovery Effects in Aversive Pavlovian to Instrumental Transfer

Cited by 9 publications

References 36 publications

Reward and avoidance learning in the context of aversive environments and possible implications for depressive symptoms

Reward and avoidance learning in the context of aversive environments and possible implications for depressive symptoms

Motivational factors underlying aversive Pavlovian-instrumental transfer

Conditional Control of Instrumental Avoidance by Context Following Extinction

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