Slow escape decisions are swayed by trait anxiety

Fung, Bowen J.; Qi, Song; Hassabis, Demis; Daw, Nathaniel D.; Mobbs, Dean

doi:10.1038/s41562-019-0595-5

Cited by 71 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 42 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…On the neural level individuals with high trait anxiety exhibit increased amygdala activity in response to (Calder et al, 2011;Etkin et al, 2004) as well as during the anticipation of threat stimuli (Calder et al, 2011) and faster escape decisions during threat anticipation in the context of stronger amygdala and insula activation (Fung et al, 2019). This may represent one of the reasons why high anxiety individuals adaptively perform better than low anxiety individuals to identify threat stimuli under anxious conditions (Robinson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Oxytocin Differentially Modulated Amygdala Responses In Highmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accumulating evidence indicates that effects of OXT may be moderated by individual difference in baseline trait anxiety levels such that OXT may produce more anxiolytic effect in high trait anxiety individuals (Alvares et al, 2012;Schumacher et al, 2018). In addition, individuals with high trait anxiety show enhanced perceptual sensitivity to threat-related stimuli as well as associated brain activity in amygdala-frontal circuits (Fung et al, 2019). Based on these previous findings we additionally hypothesized that the susceptibility to threatening information and the effects of OXT are modulated by individual variations in trait anxiety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation

Xin

Zhou

Dong

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The ability to successfully regulate negative emotions such as fear and anxiety is vital for mental health.The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) acts as important modulator of emotion regulation, as reflected by reduced amygdala responses but increased amygdala-prefrontal cortex (PFC) functional connectivity in response to threatening stimuli. The present randomized, between-subject, placebo (PLC)controlled pharmacological study combined intranasal administration of OXT with functional MRI during an explicit (cognitive) emotion regulation (i.e. distancing reappraisal) paradigm in 65 healthy male participants to investigate the modulatory effects of OXT on both bottom-up and top-down emotion regulation. OXT attenuated the activation in posterior insular cortex and amygdala during anticipation of top-down regulation of predictable threat stimuli in participants with high trait anxiety, providing evidence to support the anxiolytic action of OXT. In contrast, OXT enhanced amygdala activity during bottom-up anticipation of an unpredictable threat stimulus in participants with low trait anxiety. OXT may thus facilitate top-down goal-directed attention by attenuating amygdala activity in high anxiety individuals, while promote bottom-up attention/vigilance to unexpected threat by enhancing anticipatory amygdala activity in low anxiety individuals. The opposite effects of OXT on anticipatory amygdala activation in high versus low anxiety individuals may suggest a baseline anxiety level dependent mechanism via which OXT promotes optimal levels of amygdala activation during the anticipation of an imminent threat. OXT may thus have the potential to promote an adaptive balance between bottom-up and top-down attention systems depending on individual levels of pre-treatment trait anxiety levels. 2017; Zilverstand et al., 2017). Behavioral interventions (Campbell-Sills and Barlow, 2007; Gross et al., 2006; Jazaieri et al., 2015), neurofeedback targeting the amygdala-prefrontal circuits (Cohen Kadosh et al., 2016; Zhao et al., 2019) and pharmacological agents primarily targeting serotonergic and GABAergic neurotransmission (Farach et al., 2012; Singewald et al., 2015) can facilitate the regulation of negative emotions, including anxiety and fear. However, not all patients respond adequately to the currently available treatment strategies and the pharmacological interventions may induce negative side-effects which often limit compliance with the treatment protocols, thus novel strategies to improve emotion regulation are urgently needed.Emotion generation and regulation involves the interaction of intrinsic/automatic bottom-up processes and controlled/deliberately top-down processes (Ochsner and Gross, 2005;Ochsner and Gross, 2007;Suri et al., 2013). Bottom-up processes are stimulus-driven and initiated by salient stimuli in the environment. In contrast, top-down processes are goal-driven and context-dependent (Beck and Kastner, 2009;Desimone and Duncan, 1995;Sussman et al., 2016a). During both the (pre-stimulus) anticipation and adven...

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Section: Oxytocin Differentially Modulated Amygdala Responses In Highmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation

Xin

Zhou

Dong

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…[53] Individuals with high trait anxiety additionally exhibit enhanced perceptual sensitivity to threat-related stimuli as well as associated activation in amygdala-frontal circuits. [54] Based on these findings we additionally hypothesized that the effects of OXT and the susceptibility to threatening information are modulated by individual variations in pre-treatment trait anxiety and emotion regulation ability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin Differentially Modulates Amygdala Responses during Top‐Down and Bottom‐Up Aversive Anticipation

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The ability to successfully regulate negative emotions such as fear and anxiety is vital for mental health. Intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been shown to reduce amygdala activity but to increase amygdala-prefrontal cortex connectivity during exposure to threatening stimuli suggesting that it may act as an important modulator of emotion regulation. The present randomized, between-subject, placebo-controlled pharmacological study combines the intranasal administration of OXT with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an explicit emotion regulation paradigm in 65 healthy male participants to investigate the modulatory effects of OXT on both bottom-up and top-down emotion regulation. OXT attenuates the activation in the posterior insular cortex and amygdala during anticipation of top-down regulation of predictable threat stimuli in participants with high trait anxiety. In contrast, OXT enhances amygdala activity during the bottom-up anticipation of unpredictable threat stimuli in participants with low trait anxiety. OXT may facilitate top-down goal-directed attention by attenuating amygdala activity in high anxiety individuals, while promoting bottom-up attention/vigilance to unexpected threats by enhancing amygdala activity in low anxiety individuals. OXT may thus have the potential to promote an adaptive balance between bottom-up and top-down attention systems depending on an individual's trait anxiety level.

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“…3b; F (1)=9.207, P =0.003, η p 2 =0.030, MD=0.059, CI=[0.021, 0.097]; version trend: F (3)=2.263 P =0.081, η p 2 =0.022; low paranoia: m= 0.06 [0.01], high paranoia: m= 0.12 [0.02]). To elucidate whether this behaviour was stochastic or predictable (e.g., switching back to a previously rewarding option), we calculated U-values 39 , a metric of behavioural variability employed by behavioural ecologists (increasingly an inspiration for human behavioural analysis 40 ), particularly with regards to predator-prey relationships 41 . When a predator is approaching a prey animal, the prey’s best course of action is to behave randomly, or in a protean fashion, in order to evade capture 41 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Expecting the unexpected: the paranoid style of belief updating across species

Reed

Uddenberg

Mathys

et al. 2020

Preprint

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55Paranoia is the belief that harm is intended by others. It may arise from selective pressures to infer and avoid 56 social threats, particularly in ambiguous or changing circumstances. We propose that uncertainty may be 57 sufficient to elicit learning differences in paranoid individuals, without social threat. We used reversal learning 58 behaviour and computational modelling to estimate belief updating across individuals with and without mental 59 illness, online participants, and rats exposed to chronic methamphetamine, an elicitor of paranoia in humans. 60Paranoia is associated with a strong but immutable prior on volatility, accompanied by elevated sensitivity to 61 perceived changes in the task environment. Methamphetamine exposure in rats recapitulates this impaired 62 uncertainty-driven belief updating and rigid anticipation of a volatile environment. Our work provides evidence 63 of fundamental, domain-general learning differences in paranoid individuals. This paradigm enables further 64 assessment of the interplay between uncertainty and belief-updating across individuals and species. 66 67Paranoia & Belief Updating 3 Paranoia is excessive concern that harm will occur due to deliberate actions of others 1 . It manifests along a 68 continuum of increasing severity 2-5 . Fleeting paranoid thoughts prevail in the general population 6 . A survey of 69 over 7,000 individuals found that nearly 20% believed people were against them at times in the past year; 70 approximately 8% felt people had intentionally acted to harm them 4 . At a national level, paranoia may fuel 71 divisive ideological intolerance. Historian Richard Hofstadter famously described catastrophizing, context 72 insensitive political discourse as the 'paranoid style': 73 "The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms-he traffics in the birth 74 and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always 75 manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point." 7 76 77 At its most severe, paranoia manifests as rigid beliefs known as delusions of persecution. These delusions 78 occur frequently in psychotic illness, including nearly 90% of first episode patients 8 . However, paranoid beliefs 79 are common across psychiatric and neurologic disorders, such as anxiety 9 , depression 10 , epilepsy 11 , and 80 Alzheimer's disease 12 . Psychostimulants elicit severe paranoid states. Methamphetamine evoked new 81paranoid ideation in nearly half of 274 respondents, particularly after repeated exposure (86%) or escalating 82 dose (68%) 13 . Of those who became paranoid, the majority engaged in evasive defence strategies (hiding or 83 fleeing), but 37% obtained weapons, and 15% attacked others. There is a clear need to better manage 84 paranoia, and to understand and address its broader societal impact. 86Paranoia has thus far defied explanation in mechanistic terms, either at the levels of behaviour or brain 87 function. Obvious links with fear processing and social ...

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Slow escape decisions are swayed by trait anxiety

Cited by 71 publications

References 42 publications

Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation

Oxytocin differentially modulates amygdala responses during top-down and bottom-up aversive anticipation

Oxytocin Differentially Modulates Amygdala Responses during Top‐Down and Bottom‐Up Aversive Anticipation

Expecting the unexpected: the paranoid style of belief updating across species

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