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绪上的显著信息和压力，以优化表现。我们发现，并非人类认知的所有方面对情绪和压力的反应都是一样的。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，但还有很多我们还没有研究过。重要的是要了解大脑和心灵如何在情绪压力下运作，因为情绪环境中的错误（例如，空中交通管制、应急反应、军事）可能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。我们将采取认知神经科学的方法，使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）来测量大脑功能，心理生理学技术来测量唤醒，行为技术来测量性能和认知功能。我们将追求三个具体目标： 目的1：比较现实二维和三维威胁性刺激对情绪反应、知觉、习惯化和适应的影响。为了评估威胁对人类大脑的影响，重要的是要有现实的刺激。最近已经表明，3D刺激以与2D刺激根本不同的方式影响大脑和行为。然而，我们所知道的关于人类大脑如何对威胁刺激做出反应的几乎所有事情都是使用2D刺激进行的。我们已经开发了威胁物种的3D图像，并将研究它们对人类表现和大脑的影响。 目的2：确定听觉与视觉威胁刺激对认知和感知的相反影响。最近，我们已经表明，虽然呈现威胁性视觉刺激（例如，蛇）在物体检测任务中破坏性能，呈现威胁性的声音实际上可以提高性能，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：描述恐惧和焦虑对分离认知功能的影响。恐惧和焦虑是由稍微不同的大脑机制介导的不同情绪。两者都可以通过使用电击来激发：不可预测的电击（焦虑）或可预测的电击（恐惧）。我们将确定每一种对不同认知功能的影响，我们假设这些认知功能对压力和情绪的分散注意力的敏感性不同。

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.