Preclinical and clinical evidence on the approach-avoidance conflict evaluation as an integrative tool for psychopathology

Abstract

The approach-avoidance conflict (AAC), i.e. the competing tendencies to undertake goal-directed actions or to withdraw from everyday life challenges, stands at the basis of humans' existence defining behavioural and personality domains. Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory posits that a stable bias toward approach or avoidance represents a psychopathological trait associated with excessive sensitivity to reward or punishment. Optogenetic studies in rodents and imaging studies in humans associated with cross-species AAC paradigms granted new emphasis to the hippocampus as a hub of behavioural inhibition. For instance, recent functional neuroimaging studies show that functional brain activity in the human hippocampus correlates with threat perception and seems to underlie passive avoidance. Therefore, our commentary aims to (i) discuss the inhibitory role of the hippocampus in approach-related behaviours and (ii) promote the integration of functional neuroimaging with cross-species AAC paradigms as a means of diagnostic, therapeutic, follow up and prognosis refinement in psychiatric populations.

Estimating foraging behavior in rodents using a modified paradigm measuring threat imminence dynamics

“…Analysis was performed using R (Version 4.1.2) using the lme4 (lme4_1.1-27.1), multicomp (multcomp_1. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18], effect size (effectsize_0.6.0.1), and performance (performance_0.8.0) packages. A linear mixed model was built with sex, trials, sex:trials interaction effect, and, if relevant age or food restriction, as fixed effects, and interaction effect with sex or trials, individual intercepts as random effects using the following model: lmer(measured.variable~ age or food restriction + sex + trials + sex:trials + age or food restriction:sex + age or food restriction:trials + (1|ratID).…”

“…Maladaptive approach-avoid conflicts have been implicated in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (7), and are being used for the measurement of anxiety-related behaviors (8,9). Proper measurement of the approachavoidance conflict as it occurs in real life is important for a fundamental understanding of survival behaviors, ecology, as well as human psychopathologies such as anxiety and depression (10,11).…”