Performing under pressure: The impact of realistic, imminent, and uncertain threats on human cognition and the brain

我们的长期目标是确定人类大脑如何管理情感上的突出信息和压力以优化表现。我们发现，并不是人类认知的所有方面都以同样的方式对情绪和压力做出反应。有些技能会因情绪而提高，有些则会受到干扰，还有一些则不会受到影响。虽然我们知道一些认知功能是如何对压力或情绪做出反应的，但还有更多我们没有研究过的。了解大脑和思维在情绪压力下是如何运作的是很重要的，因为情绪环境中的错误（例如，空中交通管制、紧急反应、军事）会产生特别严重的后果。本研究的目的是确定潜在威胁的引入如何影响人类认知和感知的不同方面。我们将采用认知神经科学方法，使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）来测量大脑功能，使用心理生理学技术来测量唤醒，使用行为技术来测量表现和认知功能。我们将追求三个具体目标：目标1：对比现实的二维和三维威胁刺激对情绪反应、感知、习惯化和适应的影响。为了评估威胁对人类大脑的影响，有真实的刺激是很重要的。最近有研究表明，3D刺激对大脑和行为的影响方式与2D刺激截然不同。然而，我们所知道的人类大脑对威胁刺激的反应几乎都是通过二维刺激进行的。我们已经开发了濒危物种的3D图像，并将研究它们对人类表现和大脑的影响。目的2：确定听觉和视觉威胁刺激对认知和知觉的相反影响。最近，我们已经证明，在物体检测任务中呈现威胁性的视觉刺激（例如蛇）会破坏表现，而呈现威胁性的声音实际上可以提高表现，原因尚不清楚。我们将使用功能磁共振成像和行为实验来确定这些和其他鲜为人知的影响背后的神经认知基础。目的3：描述恐惧和焦虑对可分离认知功能的影响。恐惧和焦虑是截然不同的情绪，它们是由略有不同的大脑机制调节的。两者都可以通过使用冲击来激发：不可预测的冲击（焦虑）或可预测的冲击（恐惧）。我们将确定每一种对不同认知功能的影响，我们假设不同的认知功能对压力和情绪的分散影响的敏感性不同。

Our long-term goal is to define how the human brain manages emotionally salient information and stress to optimize performance. We have found that not all aspects of human cognition respond to emotion and stress the same way. Some skills are improved by emotion, others are disrupted, and still others are unaffected. Although we know how some cognitive functions respond to stress or emotion, there are many more that we have not examined. It is important to understand how the brain and mind operates under emotional stress because error in emotional contexts (e.g., air-traffic control, emergency response, military) can have particularly grave consequences. The objective of this study is to determine how the introduction of potential threats influence different aspects of cognition and perception in humans. We will take a cognitive neuroscience approach, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain function, psychophysiological techniques to measure arousal, and behavioural techniques to measure performance and cognitive function. We will pursue 3 specific aims: Aim 1: Contrast the impact of realistic 2- and 3- dimensional threatening stimuli on emotional responding, perception, habituation and adaptation. In order to assess the impact of threats on the human brain it is important to have realistic stimuli. It has recently been shown that 3D stimuli influence brain and behaviour in fundamentally different ways than 2D stimuli. Yet, almost everything we know about how the human brain responds to threatening stimuli has been conducted using 2D stimuli. We have developed 3D images of threatening species and will examine the impact they have on human performance and the brain.Aim 2: Determine the opposing effects of auditory versus visual threatening stimuli on cognition and perception. Recently, we have shown that whereas presenting threatening visual stimuli (e.g., snakes) during an object detection task disrupts performance, presenting threatening sounds can actually improve performance for reasons that are poorly understood. We will use fMRI and behavioural experiments to determine the neurocognitive basis behind these and other poorly understood effects. Aim 3: Delineate the impact of fear and anxiety on dissociable cognitive functions. Fear and anxiety are distinct emotions that are mediated by slightly different brain mechanisms. Both can be provoked through the use of shocks: unpredictable shocks (for anxiety) or predictable shocks (for fear). We will determine the impact of each on different cognitive functions that we hypothesize vary in their susceptibility to the distracting effects of stress and emotion.