Neural Network Dynamics Over the Course of Aversive Conditioning: The Influence of Visuocortical and Attentional Network Activity in Predicting Extinction Learning

项目总结/摘要 预测厌恶结果的视觉线索促进了低水平的视觉感知-通常被称为 注意力威胁偏见-并提高行为，自主和中央防御参与 神经系统水平。然而，随着时间的推移，厌恶性条件反射，心理物理学和神经成像， 研究发现，威胁偏见伴随着大脑防御活动的减少，而不是增强， 网络其他文献表明，厌恶性条件反射在女性和个体中得到促进， 更大的性格焦虑，暗示生物性别和个性差异的关键作用，如特质 焦虑表型这些差异如何影响注意威胁偏差的获得和消除， 目前未知。这些知识对于确定新的神经病因和干预目标至关重要， 临床工具目前的培训补助金旨在建立视觉威胁偏见获取过程中的神经动力学 和灭绝。具体来说，我们测试的总体假设，时间延长厌恶条件反射 越来越多地依赖于有偏见的感知和注意力，而不是防御性的大脑回路，包括 杏仁核这项工作将有助于NIMH的战略重点，通过定义潜在的神经机制 导致复杂的行为。因此，拟议的项目旨在首先（1）确定 视觉，注意力和边缘神经网络有助于表示威胁与安全相关 通过测量逐个试验的电生理和血液动力学， 活动（2）确定视觉和注意额顶网络的个体差异值 在威胁线索获取过程中的变化，用于预测灭绝和灭绝回忆。第三，（3）检查范围 生物性别和性格焦虑的个体差异影响皮质神经元的变化， 在获取和随后的灭绝过程中威胁线索的表示。与会者将参加为期2天的 厌恶性条件反射疗法，在这种疗法中，他们经历不同的厌恶性条件反射，然后消失 范例，并在第2天返回进行恢复测试。同步脑电图（EEG）和 在这些任务中，功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）将能够识别功能性大脑 修改，实现拟议研究的目标。追求这些目标将有助于目前改善 焦虑症的诊断评估和治疗。该奖学金的培训目标将发展 申请人的知识和研究技能，有关的理论成分，微分厌恶 条件反射、脑电功能磁共振成像采集和先进的神经成像分析技术。这个项目是第一个 为了检查在厌恶性条件反射过程中皮层网络的变化， 以及个体差异如何缓和这些影响。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Visual cues predicting aversive outcomes facilitate low-level visual perception—often referred to as attentional threat biases—and heighten defensive engagement at the behavioral, autonomic, and central nervous system levels. However, as aversive conditioning proceeds over time, psychophysics and neuroimaging work has found threat biases accompanied by reduced, instead of heightened, activity of the brain's defensive network. Additional literature indicates that aversive conditioning is facilitated in females and individuals with greater dispositional anxiety, implicating a critical role of biological sex and individual differences in trait-like anxiety phenotypes. How these differences affect the acquisition and extinction of attentional threat biases is currently unknown. Such knowledge is critical to identifying novel neural etiological and intervention targets for clinical tools. The present training grant aims to establish the neural dynamics during visual threat bias acquisition and extinction. Specifically, we test the overarching hypothesis that temporally extended aversive conditioning increasingly relies on biased perception and attention, and less on defensive brain circuits including the amygdala. This work will contribute to NIMH strategic priorities by defining the underlying neural mechanisms contributing to complex behaviors. Thus, the proposed project aims to first (1) identify progressive changes in visual, attentional, and limbic neural networks contributing to the representation of threat versus safe-related visual cues over the course of acquisition by measuring trial-by-trial electrophysiological and hemodynamic activity. Second, (2) determine the value of individual differences in visual and attentional frontoparietal network changes during threat cue acquisition for predicting extinction and extinction recall. Third, (3) examine the extent to which individual differences in biological sex and dispositional anxiety influence changes in cortical representations of threat cues during acquisition and subsequent extinction. Participants will engage in a 2-day aversive conditioning regimen in which they undergo differential aversive conditioning followed by an extinction paradigm, and return on day 2 for a reinstatement test. Simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) imaging during these tasks will enable the identification of functional brain alterations, fulfilling the aims of the proposed research. Pursuing these aims will aid in current efforts in improving diagnostic assessment and treatment for anxiety disorders. The training goals of this fellowship will develop the applicant's knowledge and research skills regarding theoretical components related to differential aversive conditioning, EEG-fMRI acquisition, and advanced neuroimaging analytical techniques. This project is the first to examine cortical network changes over the course of aversive conditioning, the influence these dynamics have on extinction, and how individual differences moderate these effects.