scholarly journals AX+, BX- Discrimination Learning in the Fear-Potentiated Startle Paradigm: Possible Relevance to Inhibitory Fear Learning in Extinction

2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Myers
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle

Discriminative aversive learning and amygdala responsivity is enhanced in mice with reduced serotonin transporter activity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Lima ◽  
Trevor Sharp ◽  
Amy M. Taylor ◽  
David M. Bannerman ◽  
Stephen B. McHugh
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Plasticity Theory ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Aversive Learning ◽  
Hemodynamic Responses ◽  
Knock Out ◽  
Auditory Cue ◽  
Network Plasticity ◽  
Knock Out Mice

AbstractThe serotonin (5-HT) transporter (5-HTT) regulates 5-HT availability at the synapse. Low or null 5-HTT expression results in increased 5-HT availability and has been reported to produce anxious and depressive phenotypes, although this remains highly controversial despite two decades of investigation. Paradoxically, SSRIs, which also increase 5-HT availability, reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression. An emerging ‘network plasticity’ theory of 5-HT function argues that, rather than influencing mood directly, increasing 5-HT availability enhances learning about emotionally-significant events but evidence supporting this theory is inconclusive. Here, we tested one key prediction of this theory: that increased 5-HT availability enhances aversive learning. In experiment 1, we trained 5-HTT knock-out mice (5-HTTKO), which have increased 5-HT availability, and wild-type mice (WT) on an aversive discrimination learning task in which one auditory cue was paired with an aversive outcome whereas a second auditory cue was not. Simultaneously we recorded neuronal and hemodynamic responses from the amygdala, a brain region necessary for aversive learning. 5-HTTKO mice exhibited superior discrimination learning than WTs, and had stronger theta-frequency neuronal oscillations and larger amygdala hemodynamic responses to the aversive cues, which predicted the extent of learning. In experiment 2, we found that acute SSRI treatment (in naïve non-transgenic mice), given specifically before fear learning sessions, enhanced subsequent fear memory recall. Collectively, our data demonstrate that reducing 5-HTT activity (and thereby increasing 5-HT availability) enhances amygdala responsivity to aversive events and facilitates learning for emotionally-relevant cues. Our findings support the network plasticity theory of 5-HT function.

047 Fear-Potentiated Startle and Sleep in Trauma-Exposed Men and Women with and without PTSD

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A20-A20
Author(s):  
Anne Richards ◽  
Sabra Inslicht ◽  
J Russell Huie ◽  
Leslie Yack ◽  
Laura Straus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Stress Condition ◽  
Sleep Onset ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Safety Signal ◽  
Ptsd Symptoms ◽  
Learning Retention ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle ◽  
Learning And Change ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Introduction Animal and human studies indicate that fear conditioning disrupts subsequent sleep, including REM sleep (REMS). REMS is thought to be central to fear information processing. We utilized an afternoon nap protocol to examine the effects of fear-potentiated startle (FPS), a variant of fear conditioning, on subsequent sleep integrity and REMS in trauma-exposed participants with varying levels of PTSD. We also examined the effects of changes in sleep integrity and REMS on subsequent retention and extinction of pre-sleep learning. Methods Participants (N=47) participated in 3 nap visits. The first was an adaptation nap. The second and third nap visits were counterbalanced: a stress-condition nap, during which participants underwent FPS procedures prior to a nap and assessment of retention of fear and safety signal learning and fear extinction after the nap, and a control visit during which participants had a nap opportunity without stressful procedures. Canonical correlation analysis assessed the relationship between FPS responses and change in subsequent sleep relative to a control nap, as well as the relationship between change in sleep from control to stress condition and both subsequent fear and safety learning retention, and subsequent extinction. Results Results demonstrated a relationship between fear learning and change in sleep and supported a relationship between safety signal learning and subsequent REMS, as well as differential conditioning and wake after sleep onset. Sleep did not predict measures of fear retention or extinction. PTSD symptoms did not predict fear learning or sleep measures. Conclusion These findings replicate prior work showing a relationship between safety learning and REMS, suggesting that this is a core mechanism through which stress impacts fear processing. Further research is critical to further understand this effect, and to examine how different aspects of fear learning impact different components of sleep. This study also demonstrates that nap studies can be a valuable approach for studying the stress-sleep relationship. Support (if any) VA Career Development Award to Dr. Richards (5IK2CX000871-05)

scholarly journals Secure attachment priming protects against relapse of fear in Young adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Metaxia Toumbelekis ◽  
Belinda J. Liddell ◽  
Richard A. Bryant
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Secure Attachment ◽  
Attachment Figure ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle ◽  
Reinstatement Test

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that activating the attachment system attenuates fear learning. This study aimed to explore whether attachment priming can also impact on fear extinction processes, which underpin the management of anxiety disorders. In this study, 81 participants underwent a standard fear conditioning and extinction protocol on day 1 and returned 24 h later for an extinction recall and reinstatement test. Half the participants were primed to imagine their closest attachment figure prior to undergoing extinction training, while the other half were instructed to imagine a positive situation. Fear-potentiated startle and subjective expectancies of shock were measured as the primary indicators of fear. Attachment priming led to less relapse during the reinstatement test at the physiological but not subjective levels. These findings have translational potential to imply that activating awareness of attachment figures might augment long-term safety memories acquired in existing treatments to reduce relapse of fear.

scholarly journals Observed but Never Experienced – Vicarious Learning of Fear Under Ecological Conditions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Szczepanik ◽  
Anna M. Kaźmierowska ◽  
Jarosław M. Michałowski ◽  
Marek Wypych ◽  
Andreas Olsson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electric Stimulation ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Emotional Reaction ◽  
Declarative Knowledge ◽  
Social Cues ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
Stimulus Contingency ◽  
The Us ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle

AbstractLearning to avoid threats often occurs by observing the behavior of others. Most previous research on observational fear learning in humans has used pre-recorded stimuli as social cues. Here, we aimed to enhance the ecological validity of the learning situation: the ‘observer’ watched their friend (‘demonstrator’) performing a differential fear-conditioning task in real time. During the task, one conditioned stimulus (CS+) was repeatedly linked with electric stimulation (US) while another one (CS-) was always safe. Subsequently, the observer was presented with the CS+ and CS- directly but without receiving any shocks. Skin conductance (SCR) and fear-potentiated startle (FPS) responses were measured in observers throughout the whole experiment. While the US applied to the demonstrator elicited strong SCR in the observers, subsequent differential SCR to CSs (CS+ vs. CS-) presented directly were dependent on declarative knowledge of the CS+/US contingency. Contingency-aware observers also showed elevated FPS during both CS+ and CS- compared to intertrial intervals. We conclude that observational fear learning involves two components: an automatic emotional reaction to the response of the demonstrator and learning to predict stimulus contingency (CS+/US pairing). Ecological modifications proposed offer new perspectives on studying social learning of emotions.

scholarly journals Aversive Imagery Causes De Novo Fear Conditioning

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1001-1015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik M. Mueller ◽  
Matthias F. J. Sperl ◽  
Christian Panitz
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Aversive Stimulation ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Conditioned Stimuli ◽  
Conditioning Paradigm ◽  
The Face ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle ◽  
External Stimuli

In classical fear conditioning, neutral conditioned stimuli that have been paired with aversive physical unconditioned stimuli eventually trigger fear responses. Here, we tested whether aversive mental images systematically paired with a conditioned stimulus also cause de novo fear learning in the absence of any external aversive stimulation. In two experiments ( N = 45 and N = 41), participants were first trained to produce aversive, neutral, or no imagery in response to three different visual-imagery cues. In a subsequent imagery-based differential-conditioning paradigm, each of the three cues systematically coterminated with one of three different neutral faces. Although the face that was paired with the aversive-imagery cue was never paired with aversive external stimuli or threat-related instructions, participants rated it as more arousing, unpleasant, and threatening and displayed relative fear bradycardia and fear-potentiated startle. These results could be relevant for the development of fear and related disorders without trauma.

Salient Safety Conditioning Improves Novel Discrimination Learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Nahmoud ◽  
J. Ganay Vasquez ◽  
H. Cho ◽  
T. Dennis-Tiwary ◽  
E. Likhtik
Keyword(s):  
Open Field ◽  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Safety Training ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Light Signaling ◽  
List Type ◽  
House Light ◽  
High Anxiety ◽  
Safety Period

AbstractGeneralized fear is one purported mechanism of anxiety that is a target of clinical and basic research. Impaired fear discrimination has been primarily examined from the perspective of increased fear learning, rather than how learning about non-threatening stimuli affects fear discrimination. To address this question, we tested how three Safety Conditioning protocols with varied levels of salience allocated to the safety cue compared to classic Fear Conditioning in their impact on subsequent innate anxiety, and differential fear learning of new aversive and neutral cues. Using a high anxiety strain of mice (129SvEv, Taconic), we show that Fear Conditioned animals show little exploration of the anxiogenic center of an open field 24 hours later, and poor discrimination during new differential conditioning 7 days later. Three groups of mice underwent Safety Conditioning, (i) the safety tone was unpaired with a shock, (ii) the safety tone was unpaired with the shock and co-terminated with a house light signaling the end of the safety period, and (iii) the safety tone was unpaired with the shock and its beginning co-occurred with a house light, signaling the start of a safety period. Mice from all Safety Conditioning groups showed higher levels of open field exploration than the Fear Conditioned mice 24 hours after training. Furthermore, Safety Conditioned animals showed improved discrimination learning of a novel non-threat, with the Salient Beginning safety conditioned group performing best. These findings indicate that high anxiety animals benefit from salient safety training to improve exploration and discrimination of new non-threating stimuli.HighlightsSafety training using salient cues improves safety learning in high anxiety miceSalient Safety training improves novel fear discrimination learningSafety training improves exploration in a novel anxiogenic environment

scholarly journals AX+/BX- discrimination learning in the fear-potentiated startle paradigm in monkeys

2008 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Winslow ◽  
P. L. Noble ◽  
M. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle

scholarly journals Attention bias toward threat is associated with exaggerated fear expression and impaired extinction in PTSD

2011 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Fani ◽  
E. B. Tone ◽  
J. Phifer ◽  
S. D. Norrholm ◽  
B. Bradley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Network Models ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Neural Network Models ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Fear Potentiated Startle ◽  
The Relationship

BackgroundPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops in a minority of traumatized individuals. Attention biases to threat and abnormalities in fear learning and extinction are processes likely to play a critical role in the creation and/or maintenance of PTSD symptomatology. However, the relationship between these processes has not been established, particularly in highly traumatized populations; understanding their interaction can help inform neural network models and treatments for PTSD.MethodAttention biases were measured using a dot probe task modified for use with our population; task stimuli included photographs of angry facial expressions, which are emotionally salient threat signals. A fear-potentiated startle paradigm was employed to measure atypical physiological response during acquisition and extinction phases of fear learning. These measures were administered to a sample of 64 minority (largely African American), highly traumatized individuals with and without PTSD.ResultsParticipants with PTSD demonstrated attention biases toward threat; this attentional style was associated with exaggerated startle response during fear learning and early and middle phases of extinction, even after accounting for the effects of trauma exposure.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that an attentional bias toward threat is associated with abnormalities in ‘fear load’ in PTSD, providing seminal evidence for an interaction between these two processes. Future research combining these behavioral and psychophysiological techniques with neuroimaging will be useful toward addressing how one process may modulate the other and understanding whether these phenomena are manifestations of dysfunction within a shared neural network. Ultimately, this may serve to inform PTSD treatments specifically designed to correct these atypical processes.

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