The Role and Mechanisms of Steroid Hormones in Approach–Avoidance Behavior

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl A. Frye ◽  
Madeline E. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Steroid Hormones ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Approach Avoidance

scholarly journals The effects of cortisol administration on approach–avoidance behavior: An event-related potential study

2007 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobien M. van Peer ◽  
Karin Roelofs ◽  
Mark Rotteveel ◽  
J. Gert van Dijk ◽  
Philip Spinhoven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Potential Study ◽  
Approach Avoidance

scholarly journals Fronto-striatal projections regulate approach-avoidance conflict

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrienne C. Loewke ◽  
Adelaide R. Minerva ◽  
Alexandra B. Nelson ◽  
Anatol C. Kreitzer ◽  
Lisa A. Gunaydin
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
D1 Receptor ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Medium Spiny Neurons ◽  
Neural Pathways ◽  
Spiny Neurons ◽  
Striatal Projection Neurons ◽  
Neural Computations ◽  
Approach Avoidance

ABSTRACTThe dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) has been linked to approach-avoidance behavior and decision-making under conflict, key neural computations thought to be altered in anxiety disorders. However, the heterogeneity of efferent prefrontal projections has obscured identification of the specific top-down neural pathways regulating these anxiety-related behaviors. While the dmPFC-amygdala circuit has long been implicated in controlling reflexive fear responses, recent work suggests that this circuit is less important for avoidance behavior. We hypothesized that dmPFC neurons projecting to the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) represent a subset of prefrontal neurons that robustly encode and drive approach-avoidance behavior. Using fiber photometry recording during the elevated zero maze (EZM) task, we show heightened neural activity in prefrontal and fronto-striatal projection neurons, but not fronto-amydalar projection neurons, during exploration of the anxiogenic open arms of the maze. Additionally, through pathway-specific optogenetics we demonstrate that this fronto-striatal projection preferentially excites postsynaptic D1 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons in the DMS and bidirectionally controls avoidance behavior. We conclude that this striatal-projecting subpopulation of prefrontal neurons regulates approach-avoidance conflict, supporting a model for prefrontal control of defensive behavior in which the dmPFC-amygdala projection controls reflexive fear behavior and the dmPFC-striatum projection controls anxious avoidance behavior. Our findings identify this fronto-striatal circuit as a valuable therapeutic target for developing interventions to alleviate excessive avoidance behavior in anxiety disorders.

Does Approach-Avoidance Behavior in Response to Ambiguous Cues Reflect Depressive Interpretation Bias? Related but Distinct

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1091-1105
Author(s):  
Xiao-Xiao Lin ◽  
Shang-Wen Si ◽  
Rui-Rui Gao ◽  
Ya-Bin Sun ◽  
Yu-Zheng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Interpretation Bias ◽  
Approach Avoidance

scholarly journals A Quantitative Relationship between Signal Detection in Attention and Approach/Avoidance Behavior

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijay Viswanathan ◽  
John P. Sheppard ◽  
Byoung W. Kim ◽  
Christopher L. Plantz ◽  
Hao Ying ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Quantitative Relationship ◽  
Approach Avoidance

scholarly journals The Effects of Tears on Approach–Avoidance Tendencies in Observers

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 147470491879105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmir Gračanin ◽  
Emiel Krahmer ◽  
Mike Rinck ◽  
Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
The Other ◽  
Main Function ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Ability To Act ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Willingness To Help

Emotional tears have been proposed to represent a robust affiliative signal whose main function is to promote the willingness to help the crying individual. However, little is known about the psychological mechanisms at the basis of such responses. To investigate whether tears facilitate approach relative to avoidance tendencies, we exposed participants ( N = 77) to pictures of faces with and without visible tears, in two different approach–avoidance tasks. In the first task, participants were instructed to either move toward tearful faces and away from nontearful faces, or the other way around, by using a joystick. In the second task, participants made approaching or avoiding responses to tearful and nontearful faces by pressing buttons. The results suggest that tears facilitate behavior that reduces the distance between the observer and the crying person. However, while tears appear to promote approach relative to avoidance behavior, the current findings do not allow firm conclusions about whether tears specifically facilitate approach or rather block avoidance tendencies in observers, or whether they possibly have both effects. Findings are discussed in the context of tears’ ability to act as a prosocial stimulus that signals non-aggressive intentions, as well as in the context of the functional goals that predispose humans to approach or avoid crying individuals.

scholarly journals Posture as index for approach-avoidance behavior

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Eerland ◽  
Tulio M. Guadalupe ◽  
Ingmar H.A. Franken ◽  
Rolf Antonius Zwaan
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Lateral Movement ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Posterior Direction ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
The Right ◽  
Balance Board ◽  
Anterior Posterior

Approach and avoidance are two behavioral responses that make people tend to approach positive and avoid negative situations. This study examines whether postural behavior is influenced by the affective state of pictures. While standing on the Wii™ Balance Board, participants viewed pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures (passively viewing phase). Then they had to move their body to the left or the right (lateral movement phase) to make the next picture appear. We recorded movements in the anterior-posterior direction to examine approach and avoidant behavior. During passively viewing, people approached pleasant pictures. They avoided unpleasant ones while they made a lateral movement. These findings provide support for the idea that we tend to approach positive and avoid negative situations.

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