Identifying the causal role of the amygdala in human approach-avoidance conflict behavior test

项目摘要/摘要。 我们日常做出的决定是由我们内在的动力驱动的，那就是接近回报，避免 惩罚，结果。这些驱动在决策中产生冲突，既有奖励的结果，也有惩罚的结果(称为 “接近--避免冲突”(AAC)。每个人的奖惩平衡导致了偏见 接近或避免某一特定的审计咨询委员会的决定。情感性精神障碍的特征是 平衡，导致在瑞声决策中更多地避免。因此，阐明神经是至关重要的。 奖励和惩罚驱动的基础，以及它们的破坏在临床上是如何构成的 不平衡的行为。然而，尽管神经成像工作证实了 杏仁核和前额叶皮质对人类回避行为的影响，还没有研究映射杏仁核的直接 与人类AAC行为相关的电生理信号(即非BOLD)，也没有证实其原因 对电路动态和输出行为的影响。 目前工作的目标是阐明杏仁核在接近和回避驱动中的因果作用 行为，以及前额叶皮质的功能与这种关系的相关性。主要的假设是 杏仁核将通过与前额叶皮质的连接来主动驱动回避。这个 假设将以三个主要目标进行检验：1)绘制与行为相关的杏仁核电生理学图谱 在AAC期间使用有创杏仁核记录(IEEG)2)检查AAC中杏仁核的因果关系 通过直接刺激杏仁核来抑制它，以及3)阐明前额叶皮质的激活， 杏仁核手术，通过记录高密度皮质，作为AAC行为的功能 脑电(HdEEG)与iEEG同步。AAC的行为将使用一种新的、 有效的任务评估方法--避免冲突驱动。所有电生理记录和 刺激将在任务期间提供。杏仁核信号将主要量化为高伽马 用iEEG记录的电力信号。前额叶皮质信号将主要量化为theta-band功率 用hdEEG记录。杏仁核和前额叶皮质之间的连接将通过 Theta-Gamma耦合度量。 这一建议是创新的，因为它利用了尖端认知神经科学方法的整合，以 描述驱动人类回避行为的神经信号。不管结果如何，这项研究 将在该领域产生新的问题，并提供一个严格的基准，根据该基准进行进一步的工作 田野。拟议工作的发现将为该领域提供有关神经的关键信息。 以驾驶回避症状学为特色的情感障碍。

Project Summary/Abstract. The decisions we make day-to-day are motivated by our intrinsic drives to approach rewarding, and avoid punishing, outcomes. These drives conflict in decisions with both rewarding and punishing outcomes (termed “approach-avoidance conflict”, AAC). Each individual’s balance of reward- and punishment- drives bias the approach or avoidance of a given AAC decision. Affective disorders are characterized by a disruption in this balance, causing greater avoidance in AAC decisions. Therefore, it is critically important to elucidate the neural substrates underlying reward- and punishment- drives, and how their disruption constitutes clinically imbalanced behavior. However, while neuroimaging work has corroborated a correlational relationship of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex to avoidant behavior in humans, no study has mapped the amygdala’s direct electrophysiological signals (i.e., non-BOLD) relevant to AAC behavior in humans, nor substantiated its causal influence on circuit dynamics and output behavior. The goal of the current work is to elucidate the amygdala’s causal role in approach- and avoidance-driven behavior, and the functional relevance of the prefrontal cortex to this relationship. The primary hypothesis is that the amygdala will actively drive avoidance through its connectivity with the prefrontal cortex. The hypothesis will be tested with three primary aims: 1) To map amygdala electrophysiology relevant to behavior during AAC using invasive amygdala recordings (iEEG) 2) To examine the causal role of the amygdala in AAC by inhibiting it using direct amygdala stimulation and 3) To elucidate the prefrontal cortical activation, in operation with the amygdala, as a function of AAC behavior by recording high-density cortical electroencephalogram (hdEEG) simultaneous to iEEG. AAC behavior will be quantified using a novel, validated task assessing approach-avoidance conflict drives. All electrophysiological recordings and stimulation will be delivered during the task. Amygdala signal will be primarily quantified as the high gamma power signal recorded with iEEG. Prefrontal cortical signal will be primarily quantified as the theta-band power recorded with hdEEG. Connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex will be quantified through theta-gamma coupling metrics. This proposal is innovative as it leverages the integration of cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience methods to characterize the neural signal driving avoidance behavior in humans. Regardless of the outcomes, the study will generate new questions in the field, and provide a rigorous benchmark against which to hold further work in the field. Findings from the proposed work will provide critical information to the field regarding the neural features driving avoidance symptomatology in affective disorders.