Functional Neuroimaging in Anxiety and Fear

应聘者有研究焦虑、恐惧和抑郁的电生理和神经心理学方法的背景，现在正在积极地进入这些情感现象的功能神经成像领域。因此，训练计划的重点是功能神经解剖学和功能磁共振成像方法学。在这项建议中提出的神经生物学区分焦虑的预期和反应过程的直接目标是直接服务于他的长期目标，即使用神经科学研究来告知焦虑、恐惧和抑郁病理的概念化，并有助于减轻与此类精神病理学相关的痛苦和社会责任。 该领域的一个持续困境是对焦虑和恐惧等概念的模棱两可的使用。焦虑通常被用作包含各种情感现象的单一概念，包括担忧、恐惧、恐惧症、强迫症和创伤后应激。这项提议并不是在逻辑基础上为特定的定义辩护，而是试图将预期和反应过程作为焦虑的组成部分分离出来，这些焦虑深深植根于 试验性运营。FMRT实验包括4个靶区：腹侧前扣带回(ACC)、眼眶前额叶(OFC)、内侧前额叶(PFC)和脑岛。腹侧的ACC被假设为 相对具体到对未来负面结果的预期，因为它参与了应对冲突。根据它们各自在情绪调节、评估和自主神经控制中的作用，假设内侧PFC、OFC和OFC的不同区域在对厌恶/恐怖刺激的预期和反应中被激活。杏仁核激活的复制也是预期的，但这里的重点是这个回路的4个较少研究的结构。具体地说，拟议的研究将试图填补现有知识中的两个空白：1)支配厌恶图片预期的回路；2)厌恶图片的影响 大脑结构上的焦虑症，调节对厌恶和恐惧刺激的预期。 该实验室现有的研究设施以及教职员工、科学家、博士后研究员、学生和工作人员的激励非常适合拟议中的研究和候选人S的发展。

DESCRIPTION: (provided by applicant) With a background in electrophysiological and neuropsychological measures for the study of anxiety, fear, and depression, the candidate is now actively moving into functional neuroimaging of these affective phenomena. Thus, the training plan focuses on functional neuroanatomy and fMRI methodology. The immediate objective of neurobiologically distinguishing anticipatory and reactivity processes in anxiety put forward in this proposal is in direct service of his long-term goals of using neuroscience research to inform the conceptualization of anxiety, fear, and depression pathology and to contribute to the mitigation of the suffering and social liability associated with such psychopathology. A continuing dilemma in the field is the ambiguous use of constructs such as anxiety and fear. Anxiety is often employed as a unitary construct encompassing a variety of affective phenomena, including worry, fear, phobias, obsessions, and post-traumatic stress. Rather than to defend a particular definition on logical grounds, this proposal attempts to isolate anticipatory and reactivity processes as constituent subcomponents of anxiety that are firmly rooted in experimental operationalization. The 4 proposed fMRT Experiments are designed to interrogate the neural circuitry governing the anticipation of and reactivity to aversive and phobic pictures, including 4 target structures: ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), orbital frontal cortex (OFC), medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), and insula. The ventral ACC is hypothesized to be relatively specific to anticipation of negative future outcomes, due to its involvement in response conflict. Based on their respective roles in the regulation, evaluation, and autonomic control of emotion, different areas of the medial PFC, OFC, and insula are hypothesized to be activated during anticipation of and reactivity to aversive/phobic stimuli. Replication of amygdala activation to the pictures is also expected, but the focus here is on the 4 less studied structures of this circuitry. In particular, the proposed research will attempt to fill in two gaps in existing knowledge: 1) the circuitry governing anticipation of aversive pictures and 2) the impact of anxiety disorders on brain structures mediating the anticipation of aversive and phobic stimuli. The research facilities available in this laboratory and the stimulation provided by faculty, scientists, postdoctoral fellows, students, and staff are ideally suited for the proposed studies and the candidate?s development.