A Multi-Component Approach to Extinction in Pavlovian Learning

描述(由申请者提供)：这项研究将考察消除不想要的习得行为的心理机制。具体地说，将从巴甫洛夫学习的多成分模型的角度来考察灭绝的行为现象。它的长期目标是确定在哪些条件下灭绝处理可能会对反应产生持久的影响，并提供对灭绝过程的更完整的了解。一个基本的前提是，消亡治疗可能会对巴甫洛夫学习的不同组成部分(例如，其更“认知”或“情绪/动机”组成部分)产生不同的影响。本研究将通过使用将学习分解为认知和情绪/动机两个独立组成部分的方法来研究这一点，以便分别检查这些不同组成部分的消退效应。研究方法将是使用一个啮齿动物模型(褐家鼠)在食欲学习范式(杂志方法条件作用)中执行，因为该范式已被成功地用于研究巴甫洛夫学习的多个组成部分，本文将对其进行剖析。研究结果将与心理健康问题相关，因为这项研究将确定消退治疗何时可能导致持久反应丧失，更广泛地说，将指出需要观察消退治疗对学习行为的不同方面(例如，认知和情绪)的影响。这项研究将探索4个具体目标。根据初步发现，《特定目标1》将检验这样一种假设，即给予有限训练或以某种方式受到损害的刺激物特别容易消失。预计基于认知的学习(即，由特定感觉的联想控制)将被应用于这些脆弱刺激的消退所破坏。《特定目标2》将检验这样一种假设，即有限训练后的灭绝是持久的。如果是这样的话，在旨在促进这种恢复的各种情况下(即自发恢复、恢复、更新和反转学习)，特定感觉联系减少的控制应该无法恢复。具体目标3将直接测试消亡是否会比基于认知的学习更快地破坏基于情绪的学习。这一结果将表明，在评估物种灭绝的过程中，监测学习的不同组成部分具有重要意义。具体目标4将开始探索一种解释物种灭绝的基本机制，即负预测误差。这将通过探索这样一种假设来检验：预测误差是以一种普遍的“情绪化”价值货币编码的。这一想法将通过将灭绝期间的食欲和厌恶训练的线索结合起来进行测试，以确定它们的总结性效应是否预测了灭绝的整体影响。总体而言，这些研究的结果将具有重要的理论和治疗意义，因为它强调了评估灭绝中的多种反应系统的必要性，并确定了何时可能或可能不会预期灭绝起作用。 公共卫生相关性：这里提出的研究将使用动物模型系统来检验消除不想要的习得行为所涉及的心理机制。通过确定哪些因素会导致反应丧失及其复发，这一结果最终将有助于发现更有效的策略，用于治疗从恐惧和恐惧症到化学成瘾和饮食失调等各种精神病理。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The research proposed here will examine the psychological mechanisms involved in the elimination of unwanted learned behaviors. Specifically, the behavioral phenomenon of extinction will be examined from the perspective of a multi-component model of Pavlovian learning. Its long-range goal is to identify conditions under which extinction treatments may be expected to have durable effects on responding, and to provide a more complete understanding of extinction processes. One basic premise is that extinction treatments may have distinct effects on different components of Pavlovian learning (e.g., its more "cognitive" or "emotional/motivational" components). The present research will investigate this by using methods that dissect learning into its separate cognitive and emotional/motivational components in order to separately examine extinction effects on these distinct components. The research approach will be to use a rodent model (Rattus norvegicus) performing in an appetitive learning paradigm (magazine approach conditioning) because this paradigm has been used successfully to study the multiple components of Pavlovian learning to be dissected here. The results will be relevant to mental health concerns because this research will establish when extinction treatments may result in durable response loss, and, more generally, will point to the need to look at extinction treatment effects on different (e.g., cogniive and emotional) aspects of learned behavior. The research will explore 4 specific aims. Based on preliminary findings, Specific Aim 1 will test the hypothesis that stimuli given limited training o that have been "compromised" in some fashion will be especially vulnerable to extinction. It is anticipated that cognitively based learning (i.e., control by sensory- specific associations) will e undermined by extinction applied to these vulnerable stimuli. Specific Aim 2 will test the hypothesis that extinction after limited training is durable. If so, reduced control by sensory-specific associations should fail to recover in various situations designed to promote such recovery (i.e., spontaneous recovery, reinstatement, renewal, and reversal learning). Specific Aim 3 will directly test whether extinction undermines emotionally based learning more rapidly than it does cognitively based learning. This result will point to the importance of monitoring separate components of learning in assessing extinction. Specific Aim 4 will begin an exploration of one basic mechanism proposed to explain extinction, negative prediction errors. This will be examined by exploring the hypothesis that prediction errors are coded in a general "emotional" value currency. The idea will be tested by combining appetitive and aversively trained cues during extinction to determine if their summative effects predict the overall impact of extinction. Overall, the results from these studies will have important theoretical and therapeutic implications by emphasizing the need to assess multiple response systems in extinction and by determining when extinction may or may not be expected to work. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The research proposed here will examine the psychological mechanisms involved in the elimination of unwanted learned behaviors by using an animal model system. By determining what factors promote response loss as well as its relapse, the results will ultimately help uncover more effective strategies used in the treatment of various psychopathologies ranging from fears and phobias to chemical addictions and eating disorders.