THE ROLE OF THE BED NUCLEUS OF THE STRIA TERMINALIS IN GENERALIZED ANXIETY

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 焦虑是一组复杂的反应，包括唤醒、肌肉和自主神经反应的增强，以及注意力、学习和认知处理对暗示潜在危险的线索的转移。焦虑反应因威胁的严重程度、持续时间和复杂性而异。这项研究的目的是利用功能磁共振成像技术，在没有焦虑症的正常人和广泛性焦虑症(GAD)患者中检测不确定性引起的焦虑的神经生物学。尽管功能磁共振成像研究是使用经典的条件反射范式进行的，但在涉及行为后果不确定性的任务期间，关于焦虑的数据有限。这项初步调查将使用行为绩效测量、自我报告的焦虑和功能磁共振成像来检查偶发不确定性的影响。特别是，不确定性将通过改变惩罚相对于增援的概率以及使用歧视性刺激来发出意外情况变化的信号来操纵。我们将考察焦虑和非焦虑受试者之间的差异，以及低不确定性和高不确定性条件之间的差异。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Anxiety is complex set of reactions that include heightened arousal, muscular and autonomic responses, and shifts in attention, learning, and cognitive processing to cues indicating potential danger. Anxiety responses differ depending on the severity of the threat, its duration, and complexity. The aim of the study is to examine the neurobiology of anxiety induced by uncertainty in normal individuals without anxiety disorders and in patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) using fMRI. Although fMRI studies have been conducted using classical conditioning paradigms, there is limited data on anxiety during tasks that involve uncertainty about the consequences for behavior. This pilot investigation will examine the effects of contingency uncertainty using behavioral performance measures, self-reported anxiety, and fMRI. In particular, uncertainty will be manipulated by altering both the probability of punishment relative to reinforcement, as well as the use of discriminative stimuli to signal changes in contingencies. Differences between anxious and non-anxious subjects as well as differences between conditions with low versus high uncertainty will be examined.