The Human Neurocircuitry of Occasion Setting in Pavlovian Fear Conditioning

巴甫洛夫恐惧调节中情境设置的人类神经回路

• 批准号: 1911441
• 负责人: Tomislav Zbozinek
• 金额: $ 13.8万
• 依托单位: Zbozinek Tomislav D
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Fellowship Award
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-09-01 至 2022-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1911441&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Human; Neurocircuitry; Occasion; Setting; Pavlovian

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program and SBE's Cognitive Neuroscience program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dean Mobbs, PhD at California Institute of Technology, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the effects of anxiety on learning about ambiguous relationships between objects/situations, as well as the underlying neurocircuitry. Much of what people need to learn about in everyday life contains at least some degree of ambiguity. For example, meeting someone new is an ambiguous situation since it is unknown to what degree positive outcomes (e.g., enjoying the conversation, making a new friend or romantic partner) or negative outcomes (e.g., boredom, rejection) will occur. Ambiguity can potentially negatively affect people's learning and decision making in multiple situations, including financial, social, professional, or medical decision making. However, researchers know far less about how people learn to reduce ambiguity than how they learn about consistent relationships. Clinically, highly anxious individuals tend to have difficulty disambiguating whether objects/situations are dangerous or safe based on context, but it is less clear how anxiety affects our ability to learn how one discrete stimulus disambiguates the meaning of another discrete stimulus. For example, a person may feel anxious that giving a speech may lead to rejection only some of the time, such as when they give their speech after a particularly eloquent and engaging speaker. By understanding how people learn about ambiguity, the results of this project may ultimately contribute to research aiming to improve people's quality of life and the treatment of anxiety disorders.Pavlovian occasion setting is a learning phenomenon in which specific stimuli (i.e., occasion setters) help resolve ambiguity. Occasion setting occurs when a stimulus (X) modulates the relationship between two other stimuli: usually a conditional stimulus (CS) and a biologically relevant stimulus (i.e., unconditional stimulus; US). For example, positive occasion setting occurs when the CS predicts the US only if the occasion setter, X, is presented. Occasion setters can be contextual cues (e.g., time, place) or discrete cues (e.g., tone, light). For example, whether giving public speeches leads to rejection from the audience may be ambiguous/uncertain. For a person who is sometimes afraid of this happening, giving a speech after a particularly eloquent speaker (discrete cue occasion setter) or in a particular location where the audience is known to be critical (contextual occasion setter) may disambiguate the situation, leading to increased fear of rejection. In this research proposal, the goal is to better understand occasion setting, its neural mechanism, and its relation to anxiety. This project consists of two Pavlovian fear conditioning studies: the first study will assess the effects of anxiety on disambiguating safety/danger with discrete stimulus occasion setting, and the second will be conducted using fMRI to investigate the neural mechanisms of discrete stimulus occasion setting. The researchers will also measure self-report and physiological responses of fear in both studies. By understanding occasion setting, this project may be able to contribute to research aimed at improving people's quality of life and improve the treatment of anxiety disorders.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项是NSF的社会，行为和经济科学（SBE）博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划和SBE的认知神经科学计划的一部分。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界，工业或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF的奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。NSF致力于促进来自科学界各部门的科学家，包括来自代表性不足的群体的科学家参与其研究计划和活动;博士后期间被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的重要水平。每个博士后研究员必须解决推进各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在加州理工学院Dean Mobbs博士的赞助下，该博士后奖学金支持一位早期职业科学家，研究焦虑对学习物体/情境之间模糊关系的影响，以及潜在的神经回路。人们在日常生活中需要学习的许多东西至少包含一定程度的模糊性。例如，遇到一个新的人是一种模糊的情况，因为它是未知的积极结果（例如，享受谈话，结交新朋友或浪漫伴侣）或负面结果（例如，无聊，拒绝）会发生。模糊性可能会对人们在多种情况下的学习和决策产生负面影响，包括财务，社会，专业或医疗决策。然而，研究人员对人们如何学会减少歧义的了解远远少于他们如何学习一致的关系。在临床上，高度焦虑的个体往往难以根据上下文来区分物体/情况是危险还是安全，但不太清楚焦虑如何影响我们学习一个离散刺激如何区分另一个离散刺激的意义的能力。例如，一个人可能会感到焦虑，因为演讲可能只会在某些时候导致拒绝，例如当他们在一个特别雄辩和迷人的演讲者之后发表演讲时。通过了解人们如何学习模糊性，该项目的结果可能最终有助于旨在提高人们生活质量和治疗焦虑症的研究。巴甫洛夫场合设置是一种学习现象，其中特定的刺激（即，场合设置者）帮助解决歧义。当刺激（X）调节两个其他刺激之间的关系时，发生时机设置：通常是条件刺激（CS）和生物相关刺激（即，无条件刺激;美国）。例如，当CS仅在出现时机设置器X时预测US时，发生积极时机设置。场合设置器可以是上下文线索（例如，时间、地点）或离散线索（例如，音调、光）。例如，公开演讲是否会导致观众的拒绝可能是模糊/不确定的。对于一个有时害怕这种情况发生的人来说，在一个特别雄辩的演讲者（离散线索场合设置者）之后发表演讲，或者在一个特定的位置，在那里观众被认为是关键的（上下文场合设置者）可能会消除这种情况的歧义，导致增加对拒绝的恐惧。在这项研究中，我们的目标是更好地了解场合设置，其神经机制，以及它与焦虑的关系。该项目包括两个巴甫洛夫恐惧条件反射研究：第一个研究将评估焦虑对离散刺激场合设置的安全/危险消歧的影响，第二个研究将使用fMRI来研究离散刺激场合设置的神经机制。研究人员还将在两项研究中测量恐惧的自我报告和生理反应。通过了解场合设置，该项目可能有助于旨在改善人们的生活质量和改善焦虑症治疗的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的，通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

项目成果

Pavlovian occasion setting in human fear and appetitive conditioning: Effects of trait anxiety and trait depression

人类恐惧和食欲调节中的巴甫洛夫情境设置：特质焦虑和特质抑郁的影响

• DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103986
• 发表时间: 2021
• 期刊: Behaviour research and therapy
• 影响因子: 4.1
• 作者: Zbozinek, Tomislav D;Wise, Toby;Perez, Omar D;Fanselow, Michael S;Mobbs, Dean
• 通讯作者: Mobbs, Dean