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Shi P, Chen W, Li J, Weng Y, Zhang M, Zheng X. Novelty-retrieval-extinction paradigm to decrease high-intensity fear memory recurrence. J Affect Disord 2024; 354:26-35. [PMID: 38452938 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.02.088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/26/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The retrieval-extinction paradigm based on memory reconsolidation can prevent fear memory recurrence more effectively than the extinction paradigm. High-intensity fear memories tend to resist reconsolidation. Novelty-retrieval-extinction can promote the reconsolidation of fear memory lacking neuroplasticity in rodents; however, whether it could effectively promote high-intensity fear memory reconsolidation in humans remains unclear. METHODS Using 120 human participants, we implemented the use of the environment (novel vs. familiar) with the help of virtual reality technology. Novelty environment exploration was combined with retrieval-extinction in fear memory of two intensity levels (normal vs. high) to examine whether novelty facilitates the reconsolidation of high-intensity fear memory and prevents recurrence. Skin conductance responses were used to clarify novelty-retrieval-extinction effects at the behavioral level across three experiments. RESULTS Retrieval-extinction could prevent the reinstatement of normal-intensity fear memory; however, for high-intensity fear memory, only the novelty-retrieval-extinction could prevent recurrence; we further validated that novelty-retrieval-extinction may be effective only when the environment is novel. LIMITATIONS Although the high-intensity fear memory is higher than normal-intensity in this study, it may be insufficient relative to fear experienced in real-world contexts or by individuals with mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS To some extent, these findings indicate that the novelty-retrieval-extinction paradigm could prevent the recurrence of high-intensity fear memory, and we infer that novelty of environment may play an important role in novelty-retrieval-extinction paradigm. The results of this study have positive implications for the existing retrieval extinction paradigm and the clinical treatment of phobia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pei Shi
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Wei Chen
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Junjiao Li
- College of Teacher Education, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yuhan Weng
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Mingyue Zhang
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Xifu Zheng
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Center for Studies of Psychological Application, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China; Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China.
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2
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Wang Y, Olsson S, Lipp OV, Ney LJ. Renewal in human fear conditioning: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 159:105606. [PMID: 38431150 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105606] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
Renewal is a 'return of fear' manipulation in human fear conditioning to investigate learning processes underlying anxiety and trauma. Even though renewal paradigms are widely used, no study has compared the strength of different renewal paradigms. We conduct a systematic review (N = 80) and meta-analysis (N = 23) of human fear conditioning studies assessing renewal. Our analysis shows that the classic ABA design is the most effective paradigm, compared to ABC and ABBA designs. We present evidence that conducting extinction in multiple contexts and increasing the similarity between acquisition and extinction contexts reduce renewal. Furthermore, we show that additional cues can be used as safety and 'protection from extinction' cues. The review shows that alcohol weakens the extinction process and that older adults appear less sensitive to context changes and thus show less renewal. The large variability in approaches to study renewal in humans suggests that standardisation of fear conditioning procedures across laboratories would be of great benefit to the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Wang
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
| | - Sarah Olsson
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
| | - Ottmar V Lipp
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
| | - Luke J Ney
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
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3
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Schmidt K, Schlitt F, Wiech K, Merz CJ, Kleine-Borgmann J, Wolf OT, Engler H, Forkmann K, Elsenbruch S, Bingel U. Hydrocortisone Differentially Affects Reinstatement of Pain-related Responses in Patients With Chronic Back Pain and Healthy Volunteers. THE JOURNAL OF PAIN 2024; 25:1082-1093. [PMID: 37956744 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2023.10.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Despite the crucial role of effective and sustained extinction of conditioned pain-related fear in cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches for chronic pain, experimental research on extinction memory retrieval in chronic pain remains scarce. In healthy populations, extinction efficacy of fear memory is affected by stress. Therefore, we investigated the effects of oral hydrocortisone administration on the reinstatement of pain-related associations in 57 patients with non-specific chronic back pain (CBP) and 59 healthy control (HC) participants in a differential pain-related conditioning paradigm within a placebo-controlled, randomized, and double-blind design. Participants' skin conductance responses indicate hydrocortisone-induced reinstatement effects in HCs but no observable reinstatement in HCs receiving placebo treatment. Interestingly, these effects were reversed in patients with CBP, that is, reinstatement responses were only observed in the placebo and not in the hydrocortisone group. Our findings corroborate previous evidence of stress-induced effects on extinction efficacy and reinstatement of fear memory in HCs, extending them into the pain context, and call for more research to clarify the role of stress in fear extinction and return of fear phenomena possibly contributing to treatment failure in chronic pain treatment. PERSPECTIVE: Opposing effects in HCs and patients with non-specific CBP may be associated with changes in the patients' stress systems. These findings could be of relevance to optimizing psychological, extinction-based treatment approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katharina Schmidt
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Frederik Schlitt
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Katja Wiech
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN), Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Christian J Merz
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Julian Kleine-Borgmann
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Oliver T Wolf
- Department of Cognitive Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Harald Engler
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Katarina Forkmann
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Sigrid Elsenbruch
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Ulrike Bingel
- Department of Neurology, Center for Translational Neuro- and Behavioral Sciences, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
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Dos Santos MB, de Oliveira Guarnieri L, Lunardi P, Schenatto Pereira G. On the effect of social cue valence in contextual memory persistence. Behav Brain Res 2023; 447:114398. [PMID: 36966939 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 04/15/2023]
Abstract
Social cues are valuable sensorial stimuli to the acquisition and retrieval of contextual memories. Here, we asked whether the valence of social cues would impact the formation of contextual memories. Adult male C57/BL6 mice were exposed to either conditioned place preference (CPP) or avoidance (CPA). As positive stimuli we used social interaction with a female (IF), while interaction with a male CD1 mice (IM) was used as negative stimulus. Contextual memory was tested 24 h and 7 days after conditioning. Aggressive behavior of CD1, as well as interaction with the female were quantified along the conditioning sessions. IM, but not IF, was salient enough to induce contextual memory estimated by the difference between the time in the conditioned context during test and habituation. Next, we chose two odors with innate behavioral responses and opposite valence to narrow down the sociability to one of its sensorial sources of information - the olfaction. We used urine from females in proestrus (U) and 2,4,5-trimethyl thiazoline (TMT), a predator odor. TMT decreased and U increased the time in the conditioned context during the test performed 24 h and 7 days after conditioning. Taken together, our results suggest that contextual memories conditioned to social encounters are difficult to stablish in mice, specially the one with positive valence. On the other hand, using odors with ecological relevance is a promising strategy to study long-term contextual memories with opposite valences. Ultimately, the behavioral protocol proposed here offers the advantage of studying contextual memories with opposite valences using unconditioned stimulus from the same sensorial category such as olfaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matheus Barbosa Dos Santos
- Núcleo de Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Leonardo de Oliveira Guarnieri
- Núcleo de Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil; Centro de Tecnologia e Pesquisa em Magneto Ressonância, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
| | - Paula Lunardi
- Núcleo de Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil; Departamento de Bioquímica e Biologia Molecular, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
| | - Grace Schenatto Pereira
- Núcleo de Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
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5
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Qiu Y, Dou H, Dai Y, Li H, Lei Y. The influence of being left behind on fear acquisition and academic performance—a study of left-behind children. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03914-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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6
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Klein Z, Berger S, Vervliet B, Shechner T. Fear learning, avoidance, and generalization are more context-dependent for adults than adolescents. Behav Res Ther 2021; 147:103993. [PMID: 34740098 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103993] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2021] [Revised: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 10/26/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
This study examined developmental differences in contextual and perceptual generalization of fear and avoidance learning. Adults (N = 39) and adolescents (N = 44) completed differential fear acquisition wherein each conditional stimulus (CS) appeared in a background context. In the dangerous context, one stimulus (CS+) predicted an aversive sound, and the other stimulus (CS-) did not. In the safe context, the aversive sound was never administered with either CS. During fear generalization, participants were presented with three generalization stimuli (GSs), ranging on a perceptual continuum from threat to safety stimuli, in both contexts. Participants then completed avoidance conditioning and avoidance generalization phases, allowing them to actively avoid the upcoming aversive sound by pressing an avoidance button. Developmental differences emerged in threat perception, physiological arousal, avoidance behavior, and eye movements during contextual fear learning and generalization. Adolescents showed less discrimination between stimuli and contexts than adults, resulting primarily from their elevated fear responses to safety and generalized stimuli. Developmental differences in fear learning should be further explored in future research, as they could explain why adolescence is a sensitive developmental period for anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zohar Klein
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Smadar Berger
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel
| | - Bram Vervliet
- Laboratory for Biological Psychology, KU Leuven, Belgium; Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tomer Shechner
- School of Psychological Sciences and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Israel.
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7
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Influence of Perceptual and Conceptual Information on Fear Generalization: A Behavioral and Event-Related Potential Study. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 21:1054-1065. [PMID: 34021495 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-021-00912-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Learned fear can be generalized through both perceptual and conceptual information. This study investigated how perceptual and conceptual similarities influence this generalization process. Twenty-three healthy volunteers completed a fear-generalization test as brain activity was recorded in the form of event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants were exposed to a de novo fear acquisition paradigm with four categories of conditioned stimuli (CS): two conceptual cues (animals and furniture); and two perceptual cues (blue and purple shapes). Animals (C+) and purple shapes (P+) were paired with the unconditioned stimulus (US), whereas furniture (C-) and blue shapes (P-) never were. The generalized stimuli were thus blue animals (C+P+, determined danger), blue furniture (C-P+, perceptual danger), purple animals (C+P-, conceptual danger), and purple furniture (C-P-, determined safe). We found that perceptual cues elicited larger fear responses and shorter reaction times than did conceptual cues during fear acquisition. This suggests that a perceptually related pathway might evoke greater fear than a conceptually based route. During generalization, participants were more afraid of C+ exemplars than of C- exemplars. Furthermore, C+ trials elicited greater N400 amplitudes. Thus, participants appear able to use conceptually based cues to infer the value of the current stimuli. Additionally, compared with C+ exemplars, we found an enhanced late positive potential effect in response to C- exemplars, which seems to reflect a late inhibitory process and might index safety learning. These findings may offer new insights into the pathological mechanism of anxiety disorders.
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8
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Andreatta M, Genheimer H, Wieser MJ, Pauli P. Context-dependent generalization of conditioned responses to threat and safety signals. Int J Psychophysiol 2020; 155:140-151. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2019] [Revised: 06/09/2020] [Accepted: 06/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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9
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Neural indices of orienting, discrimination, and conflict monitoring after contextual fear and safety learning. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2020; 20:917-927. [PMID: 32720204 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-020-00810-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Investigations of fear conditioning have recently begun to evaluate contextual factors that affect attention-related processes. However, much of the extant literature does not evaluate how contextual fear learning influences neural indicators of attentional processes during goal-directed activity. The current study evaluated how early attention for task-relevant stimuli and conflict monitoring were affected when presented within task-irrelevant safety and threat contexts after fear learning. Participants (N = 72) completed a Flanker task with modified context before and after context-dependent fear learning. Flanker stimuli were presented in the same threat and safety contexts utilized in the fear learning task while EEG was collected. Results indicated increased early attention (N1) to flankers appearing in threat contexts and later increased neural indicators (P2) of attention to flankers appearing in safety contexts. Results of this study indicate that contextual fear learning modulates early attentional processes for task-relevant stimuli that appear in the context of safety and threat. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
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10
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Dou H, Lei Y, Cheng X, Wang J, Leppänen P. Social exclusion influences conditioned fear acquisition and generalization: A mediating effect from the medial prefrontal cortex. Neuroimage 2020; 218:116735. [PMID: 32251834 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2019] [Revised: 03/03/2020] [Accepted: 03/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Fear acquisition and generalization play key roles in promoting the survival of mammals and contribute to anxiety disorders. While previous research has provided much evidence for the repercussions of social exclusion on mental health, how social exclusion affects fear acquisition and generalization has received scant attention. In our study, participants were divided into two groups according to two Cyberball paradigm conditions (exclusion/inclusion). Both groups underwent a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and skin conductance response (SCR) assessments. We aimed to determine the effects of social exclusion on fear acquisition and generalization and whether modulation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) mediates this relationship. Our results showed that socially excluded participants featured significantly higher and lower shock risk scores to safety stimuli (conditioned stimulus, CS-) and threatening stimuli (CS+), respectively, than did socially included subjects during fear acquisition. The exclusion group had increased skin conductance responses (SCRs) to CS and exhibited heightened shock risk and increased SCRs to generalized stimuli compared with the inclusion group. The fNIRS results demonstrated that the CS + evoked larger oxy-Hb changes in the mPFC in the inclusion group than in the exclusion group during fear acquisition. Furthermore, the oxy-Hb of left mPFC of CS + mediated the effect on the association between social exclusion and perceived risk of CS+ in the fear acquisition. Our results indicate that social exclusion impairs fear acquisition and generalization via the mediation of the mPFC and that social exclusion increases susceptibility to anxiety disorders through bias processing of fear discrimination in fear acquisition and generalization. By studying the role of social relationship in fear acquisition and generalization, our research provides new insights into the pathological mechanisms of anxiety disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- H Dou
- Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, 610068, China; College of Psychology and Society, University of Shenzhen, 518067, China; Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, FI-40014, Finland
| | - Y Lei
- Institute for Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, 610068, China; College of Psychology and Society, University of Shenzhen, 518067, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen, 518060, China; Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen, 518057, China.
| | - X Cheng
- College of Psychology and Society, University of Shenzhen, 518067, China
| | - J Wang
- College of Psychology and Society, University of Shenzhen, 518067, China; Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, FI-40014, Finland
| | - Pht Leppänen
- Department of Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, FI-40014, Finland
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11
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Acute stress reduces out-group related safety signaling during fear reinstatement in women. Sci Rep 2020; 10:2092. [PMID: 32034214 PMCID: PMC7005737 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58977-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
When using in-group and out-group faces as conditional stimuli (CS) in fear conditioning designs, extinction learning is selectively impaired for out-group faces. Additionally, stress seems to inhibit extinction retrieval leading to a higher return of fear, which might be especially the case for out-group faces. To test this hypothesis, 51 healthy women underwent fear acquisition training, consisting of repeated presentations of two in-group and two out-group faces. One of each (CS+) was paired with an electrical stimulation (unconditional stimulus, UCS), whereas the other was not coupled with the UCS (CS-). During immediate extinction training, all CS were presented again. On the next day, a retrieval and reinstatement test took place after a stress or a control procedure. Confirming previous research, impaired extinction learning occurred for out-group relative to in-group faces. During the reinstatement test, stress specifically increased responding towards the out-group CS-, thus reducing its safety signaling properties. So, stress seems to reduce the ability to adequately distinguish threat and safety cues after aversive experiences mimicked by reinstatement shocks.
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12
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Ebrahimi C, Gechter J, Lueken U, Schlagenhauf F, Wittchen HU, Hamm AO, Ströhle A. Augmenting extinction learning with D-cycloserine reduces return of fear: a randomized, placebo-controlled fMRI study. Neuropsychopharmacology 2020; 45:499-506. [PMID: 31634897 PMCID: PMC6969173 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-019-0552-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2019] [Revised: 09/22/2019] [Accepted: 10/14/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial NMDA-receptor agonist, seems to be a promising enhancer for exposure therapy in anxiety disorders. It has been tested successfully in animal models of fear extinction, where DCS enhanced extinction learning. Applied in clinical studies, results of DCS-augmented exposure therapy remain ambiguous, calling for a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms of DCS and its exact effect on extinction learning and return of fear (ROF) in humans. In the present study, we investigated the effect of DCS-augmented extinction learning on behavioral, psychophysiological, and neural indices of ROF during a 24-h delayed recall test. Thirty-seven participants entered a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, 3-day fear conditioning and delayed extinction fMRI design. One hour before extinction training, participants received an oral dose of 50 mg of DCS or a placebo. Behavioral arousal ratings revealed a generalized ROF during extinction recall in the placebo but not DCS group. Furthermore, participants receiving DCS compared to placebo showed attenuated differential BOLD responses in left posterior hippocampus and amygdala from extinction learning to extinction recall, due to increased hippocampal recruitment in placebo and trendwise decreased amygdala responding in DCS subjects. Our finding that DCS reduces ROF in arousal ratings and neural structures subserving defensive reactions support a role for NMDA receptors in extinction memory consolidation and encourage further translational research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Ebrahimi
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Johanna Gechter
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ulrike Lueken
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Florian Schlagenhauf
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Hans-Ulrich Wittchen
- Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Alfons O Hamm
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Andreas Ströhle
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
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13
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Haaker J, Maren S, Andreatta M, Merz CJ, Richter J, Richter SH, Meir Drexler S, Lange MD, Jüngling K, Nees F, Seidenbecher T, Fullana MA, Wotjak CT, Lonsdorf TB. Making translation work: Harmonizing cross-species methodology in the behavioural neuroscience of Pavlovian fear conditioning. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 107:329-345. [PMID: 31521698 PMCID: PMC7822629 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2019] [Revised: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Translational neuroscience bridges insights from specific mechanisms in rodents to complex functions in humans and is key to advance our general understanding of central nervous function. A prime example of translational research is the study of cross-species mechanisms that underlie responding to learned threats, by employing Pavlovian fear conditioning protocols in rodents and humans. Hitherto, evidence for (and critique of) these cross-species comparisons in fear conditioning research was based on theoretical viewpoints. Here, we provide a perspective to substantiate these theoretical concepts with empirical considerations of cross-species methodology. This meta-research perspective is expected to foster cross-species comparability and reproducibility to ultimately facilitate successful transfer of results from basic science into clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Haaker
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Stephen Maren
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Institute for Neuroscience, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Marta Andreatta
- Department of Psychology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands
| | - Christian J Merz
- Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Germany
| | - Jan Richter
- Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Shira Meir Drexler
- Ruhr University Bochum, Faculty of Psychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Germany
| | - Maren D Lange
- Institute of Physiology I, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Kay Jüngling
- Institute of Physiology I, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Frauke Nees
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
| | | | - Miquel A Fullana
- Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Carsten T Wotjak
- Neuronal Plasticity Research Group, Department of Stress Neurobiology and Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, 80804, Munich, Germany
| | - Tina B Lonsdorf
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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Abstract
Animal studies have demonstrated that catecholamines regulate several aspects of fear conditioning. In humans, however, pharmacological manipulations of the catecholaminergic system have been scarce, and their primary focus has been to interfering with catecholaminergic activity after fear acquisition or expression had taken place, using L-Dopa, primarily, as catecholaminergic precursor. Here, we sought to determine if putative increases in presynaptic dopamine and norepinephrine by tyrosine administered before conditioning could affect fear expression. Electrodermal activity (EDA) of 46 healthy participants (24 placebo, 22 tyrosine) was measured in an instructed fear task. Results showed that tyrosine abolished fear expression compared to placebo. Importantly, tyrosine did not affect EDA responses to the aversive stimulus (UCS) or alter participants’ mood. Therefore, the effect of tyrosine on fear expression cannot be attributed to these factors. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that the catecholaminergic system influences fear expression in humans.
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15
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The effect of trait anxiety on attentional mechanisms in combined context and cue conditioning and extinction learning. Sci Rep 2019; 9:8855. [PMID: 31222028 PMCID: PMC6586658 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-45239-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Sensory processing and attention allocation are shaped by threat, but the role of trait-anxiety in sensory processing as a function of threat predictability remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we measured steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) as an index of sensory processing of predictable and unpredictable threat cues in 29 low (LA) and 29 high (HA) trait-anxious participants during a modified NPU-paradigm followed by an extinction phase. Three different contextual cues indicated safety (N), predictable (P) or unpredictable threat (U), while foreground cues signalled shocks in the P-condition only. All participants allocated increased attentional resources to the central P-threat cue, replicating previous findings. Importantly, LA individuals exhibited larger ssVEP amplitudes to contextual threat (U and P) than to contextual safety cues, while HA individuals did not differentiate among contextual cues in general. Further, HA exhibited higher aversive ratings of all contexts compared to LA. These results suggest that high trait-anxious individuals might be worse at discriminating contextual threat stimuli and accordingly overestimate the probability and aversiveness of unpredictable threat. These findings support the notion of aberrant sensory processing of unpredictable threat in anxiety disorders, as this processing pattern is already evident in individuals at risk of these disorders.
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16
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Opposing roles for amygdala and vmPFC in the return of appetitive conditioned responses in humans. Transl Psychiatry 2019; 9:148. [PMID: 31113931 PMCID: PMC6529434 DOI: 10.1038/s41398-019-0482-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2018] [Revised: 04/04/2019] [Accepted: 04/17/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Learning accounts of addiction and obesity emphasize the persistent power of Pavlovian reward cues to trigger craving and increase relapse risk. While extinction can reduce conditioned responding, Pavlovian relapse phenomena-the return of conditioned responding following successful extinction-challenge the long-term success of extinction-based treatments. Translational laboratory models of Pavlovian relapse could therefore represent a valuable tool to investigate the mechanisms mediating relapse, although so far human research has mostly focused on return of fear phenomena. To this end we developed an appetitive conditioning paradigm with liquid food rewards in combination with a 3-day design to investigate the return of appetitive Pavlovian responses and the involved neural structures in healthy subjects. Pavlovian conditioning (day 1) was assessed in 62 participants, and a subsample (n = 33) further completed extinction (day 2) and a reinstatement test (day 3). Conditioned responding was assessed on explicit (pleasantness ratings) and implicit measures (reaction time, skin conductance, heart rate, startle response) and reinstatement effects were further evaluated using fMRI. We observed a return of conditioned responding during the reinstatement test, evident by enhanced skin conductance responses, accompanied by enhanced BOLD responses in the amygdala. On an individual level, psychophysiological reinstatement intensity was significantly anticorrelated with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activation, and marginally anticorrelated with enhanced amygdala-vmPFC connectivity during late reinstatement. Our results extend evidence from return of fear phenomena to the appetitive domain, and highlight the role of the vmPFC and its functional connection with the amygdala in regulating appetitive Pavlovian relapse.
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17
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Lei Y, Wang J, Dou H, Qiu Y, Li H. Influence of typicality in category-based fear generalization: Diverging evidence from the P2 and N400 effect. Int J Psychophysiol 2019; 135:12-20. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2018] [Revised: 11/05/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
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18
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Kastner-Dorn AK, Andreatta M, Pauli P, Wieser MJ. Hypervigilance during anxiety and selective attention during fear: Using steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) to disentangle attention mechanisms during predictable and unpredictable threat. Cortex 2018; 106:120-131. [PMID: 29929061 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2018] [Revised: 04/25/2018] [Accepted: 05/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Anxiety is induced by unpredictable threat, and presumably characterized by enhanced vigilance. In contrast, fear is elicited by imminent threat, and leads to phasic responses with selective attention. In order to investigate attention mechanisms and defensive responding during fear and anxiety, we employed an adaptation of the NPU-threat test and measured cortical (steady-state visual evoked potentials, ssVEPs), physiological (heart rate, HR), and subjective responses (ratings) to predictable (fear-related) and unpredictable (anxiety-related) threat in 42 healthy participants. An aversive unconditioned stimulus (US, loud noise) was 100% predicted by a cue (predictable P-cue) in one context (predictable P-context), but appeared unpredictably within a different context (unpredictable U-context, U-cue), while it was never delivered in a neutral safe context (N-cue, N- context). In response to predictable threat (P-cue), increased ssVEP amplitudes and accelerated HR were found. Both predictable and unpredictable contexts yielded increased ssVEP amplitudes compared to the safe context. Interestingly, in the unpredictable context participants showed longer-lasting visuocortical activation than in the predictable context, supporting the notion of heightened vigilance during anxiety. In parallel, HR decelerated to both threat contexts indicating fear bradycardia to these threatening contexts as compared to the safe context. These results support the idea of hypervigilance in anxiety-like situations reflected in a long-lasting facilitated processing of sensory information, in contrast to increased selective attention to specific imminent threat during fear. Thus, this study further supports the defense-cascade model with vigilance and orienting in the post-encounter phase of threat (anxiety), while selective attention and defensive mobilization in the circa-strike phase of threat (fear).
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna K Kastner-Dorn
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Marta Andreatta
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Paul Pauli
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Matthias J Wieser
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
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19
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Bauch EM, Andreou C, Rausch VH, Bunzeck N. Neural Habituation to Painful Stimuli Is Modulated by Dopamine: Evidence from a Pharmacological fMRI Study. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:630. [PMID: 29311880 PMCID: PMC5742644 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 12/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In constantly changing environments, it is crucial to adaptively respond to threatening events. In particular, painful stimuli are not only processed in terms of their absolute intensity, but also with respect to their context. While contextual pain processing can simply entail the repeated processing of information (i.e., habituation), it can, in a more complex form, be expressed through predictions of magnitude before the delivery of nociceptive information (i.e., adaptive coding). Here, we investigated the brain regions involved in the adaptation to nociceptive electrical stimulation as well as their link to dopaminergic neurotransmission (placebo/haloperidol). The main finding is that haloperidol changed the habituation to the absolute pain intensity over time. More precisely, in the placebo condition, activity in left postcentral gyrus and midcingulate cortex increased linearly with pain intensity only in the beginning of the experiment and subsequently habituated. In contrast, when the dopaminergic system was blocked by haloperidol, a linear increase with pain intensity was present throughout the entire experiment. Finally, there were no adaptive coding effects in any brain regions. Together, our findings provide novel insights into the nature of pain processing by suggesting that dopaminergic neurotransmission plays a specific role for the habituation to painful stimuli over time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva M Bauch
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.,Medical School Hamburg (MSH), University of Applied Science and Medical University, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Christina Andreou
- Center for Gender Research and Early Detection, University Psychiatric Clinics Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Vanessa H Rausch
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.,Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Nico Bunzeck
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.,Institute of Psychology I, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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20
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Reinstatement of contextual conditioned anxiety in virtual reality and the effects of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation in humans. Sci Rep 2017; 7:17886. [PMID: 29263408 PMCID: PMC5738426 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-18183-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2017] [Accepted: 12/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Since exposure therapy for anxiety disorders incorporates extinction of contextual anxiety, relapses may be due to reinstatement processes. Animal research demonstrated more stable extinction memory and less anxiety relapse due to vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). We report a valid human three-day context conditioning, extinction and return of anxiety protocol, which we used to examine effects of transcutaneous VNS (tVNS). Seventy-five healthy participants received electric stimuli (unconditioned stimuli, US) during acquisition (Day1) when guided through one virtual office (anxiety context, CTX+) but never in another (safety context, CTX-). During extinction (Day2), participants received tVNS, sham, or no stimulation and revisited both contexts without US delivery. On Day3, participants received three USs for reinstatement followed by a test phase. Successful acquisition, i.e. startle potentiation, lower valence, higher arousal, anxiety and contingency ratings in CTX+ versus CTX-, the disappearance of these effects during extinction, and successful reinstatement indicate validity of this paradigm. Interestingly, we found generalized reinstatement in startle responses and differential reinstatement in valence ratings. Altogether, our protocol serves as valid conditioning paradigm. Reinstatement effects indicate different anxiety networks underlying physiological versus verbal responses. However, tVNS did neither affect extinction nor reinstatement, which asks for validation and improvement of the stimulation protocol.
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21
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Lueken U, Kuhn M, Yang Y, Straube B, Kircher T, Wittchen HU, Pfleiderer B, Arolt V, Wittmann A, Ströhle A, Weber H, Reif A, Domschke K, Deckert J, Lonsdorf TB. Modulation of defensive reactivity by GLRB allelic variation: converging evidence from an intermediate phenotype approach. Transl Psychiatry 2017; 7:e1227. [PMID: 28872638 PMCID: PMC5639239 DOI: 10.1038/tp.2017.186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2017] [Revised: 06/07/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2017] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Representing a phylogenetically old and very basic mechanism of inhibitory neurotransmission, glycine receptors have been implicated in the modulation of behavioral components underlying defensive responding toward threat. As one of the first findings being confirmed by genome-wide association studies for the phenotype of panic disorder and agoraphobia, allelic variation in a gene coding for the glycine receptor beta subunit (GLRB) has recently been associated with increased neural fear network activation and enhanced acoustic startle reflexes. On the basis of two independent healthy control samples, we here aimed to further explore the functional significance of the GLRB genotype (rs7688285) by employing an intermediate phenotype approach. We focused on the phenotype of defensive system reactivity across the levels of brain function, structure, and physiology. Converging evidence across both samples was found for increased neurofunctional activation in the (anterior) insular cortex in GLRB risk allele carriers and altered fear conditioning as a function of genotype. The robustness of GLRB effects is demonstrated by consistent findings across different experimental fear conditioning paradigms and recording sites. Altogether, findings provide translational evidence for glycine neurotransmission as a modulator of the brain's evolutionary old dynamic defensive system and provide further support for a strong, biologically plausible candidate intermediate phenotype of defensive reactivity. As such, glycine-dependent neurotransmission may open up new avenues for mechanistic research on the etiopathogenesis of fear and anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- U Lueken
- Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - M Kuhn
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Y Yang
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Phillips-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - B Straube
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Phillips-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - T Kircher
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Phillips-University Marburg, Marburg, Germany
| | - H-U Wittchen
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - B Pfleiderer
- Department of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - V Arolt
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - A Wittmann
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - A Ströhle
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - H Weber
- Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - A Reif
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - K Domschke
- Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - J Deckert
- Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - T B Lonsdorf
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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22
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Lonsdorf TB, Menz MM, Andreatta M, Fullana MA, Golkar A, Haaker J, Heitland I, Hermann A, Kuhn M, Kruse O, Meir Drexler S, Meulders A, Nees F, Pittig A, Richter J, Römer S, Shiban Y, Schmitz A, Straube B, Vervliet B, Wendt J, Baas JMP, Merz CJ. Don't fear 'fear conditioning': Methodological considerations for the design and analysis of studies on human fear acquisition, extinction, and return of fear. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2017; 77:247-285. [PMID: 28263758 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 471] [Impact Index Per Article: 67.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2016] [Revised: 02/23/2017] [Accepted: 02/28/2017] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The so-called 'replicability crisis' has sparked methodological discussions in many areas of science in general, and in psychology in particular. This has led to recent endeavours to promote the transparency, rigour, and ultimately, replicability of research. Originating from this zeitgeist, the challenge to discuss critical issues on terminology, design, methods, and analysis considerations in fear conditioning research is taken up by this work, which involved representatives from fourteen of the major human fear conditioning laboratories in Europe. This compendium is intended to provide a basis for the development of a common procedural and terminology framework for the field of human fear conditioning. Whenever possible, we give general recommendations. When this is not feasible, we provide evidence-based guidance for methodological decisions on study design, outcome measures, and analyses. Importantly, this work is also intended to raise awareness and initiate discussions on crucial questions with respect to data collection, processing, statistical analyses, the impact of subtle procedural changes, and data reporting specifically tailored to the research on fear conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina B Lonsdorf
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Mareike M Menz
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Marta Andreatta
- University of Würzburg, Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Miguel A Fullana
- Anxiety Unit, Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Addictions, Hospital del Mar, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Spain; IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Armita Golkar
- Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychology Section, Stockholm, Sweden; University of Amsterdam, Department of Clinical Psychology, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Jan Haaker
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg, Germany; Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychology Section, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ivo Heitland
- Utrecht University, Department of Experimental Psychology and Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Andrea Hermann
- Justus Liebig University Giessen, Department of Psychology, Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Giessen, Germany
| | - Manuel Kuhn
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Onno Kruse
- Justus Liebig University Giessen, Department of Psychology, Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Giessen, Germany
| | - Shira Meir Drexler
- Ruhr-University Bochum, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Bochum, Germany
| | - Ann Meulders
- KU Leuven, Health Psychology, Leuven, Belgium; Maastricht University, Research Group Behavioral Medicine, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Frauke Nees
- Heidelberg University, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Andre Pittig
- Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Dresden, Germany
| | - Jan Richter
- University of Greifswald, Department of Physiological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Sonja Römer
- Saarland University, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Youssef Shiban
- University of Regensburg, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Anja Schmitz
- University of Regensburg, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Benjamin Straube
- Philipps-University Marburg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Marburg, Germany
| | - Bram Vervliet
- KU Leuven, Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Leuven, Belgium; Center for Excellence on Generalization, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Julia Wendt
- University of Greifswald, Department of Physiological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Johanna M P Baas
- Utrecht University, Department of Experimental Psychology and Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Christian J Merz
- Ruhr-University Bochum, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Bochum, Germany
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23
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Haaker J, Molapour T, Olsson A. Conditioned social dominance threat: observation of others' social dominance biases threat learning. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2016; 11:1627-37. [PMID: 27217107 PMCID: PMC5040915 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2016] [Revised: 05/10/2016] [Accepted: 05/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social groups are organized along dominance hierarchies, which determine how we respond to threats posed by dominant and subordinate others. The persuasive impact of these dominance threats on mental and physical well-being has been well described but it is unknown how dominance rank of others bias our experience and learning in the first place. We introduce a model of conditioned social dominance threat in humans, where the presence of a dominant other is paired with an aversive event. Participants first learned about the dominance rank of others by observing their dyadic confrontations. During subsequent fear learning, the dominant and subordinate others were equally predictive of an aversive consequence (mild electric shock) to the participant. In three separate experiments, we show that participants' eye-blink startle responses and amygdala reactivity adaptively tracked dominance of others during observation of confrontation. Importantly, during fear learning dominant vs subordinate others elicited stronger and more persistent learned threat responses as measured by physiological arousal and amygdala activity. Our results characterize the neural basis of learning through observing conflicts between others, and how this affects subsequent learning through direct, personal experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Haaker
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobelsväg 11 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Tanaz Molapour
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobelsväg 11 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Andreas Olsson
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobelsväg 11 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
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24
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Wicking M, Steiger F, Nees F, Diener SJ, Grimm O, Ruttorf M, Schad LR, Winkelmann T, Wirtz G, Flor H. Deficient fear extinction memory in posttraumatic stress disorder. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2016; 136:116-126. [PMID: 27686278 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2016.09.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2016] [Accepted: 09/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) might be maintained by deficient extinction memory. We used a cued fear conditioning design with extinction and a post-extinction phase to provoke the return of fear and examined the role of the interplay of amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal regions. METHODS We compared 18 PTSD patients with two healthy control groups: 18 trauma-exposed subjects without PTSD (nonPTSD) and 18 healthy controls (HC) without trauma experience. They underwent a three-day ABC-conditioning procedure in a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. Two geometric shapes that served as conditioned stimuli (CS) were presented in the context of virtual reality scenes. Electric painful stimuli were delivered after one of the two shapes (CS+) during acquisition (in context A), while the other (CS-) was never paired with pain. Extinction was performed in context B and extinction memory was tested in a novel context C. RESULTS The PTSD patients showed significantly higher differential skin conductance responses than the non-PTSD and HC and higher differential amygdala and hippocampus activity than the HC in context C. In addition, elevated arousal to the CS+ during extinction and to the CS- throughout the experiment was present in the PTSD patients but self-reported differential valence or contingency were not different. During extinction recall, differential amygdala activity correlated positively with the intensity of numbing and ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity correlated positively with behavioral avoidance. CONCLUSIONS PTSD patients show heightened return of fear in neural and peripheral measures. In addition, self-reported arousal was high to both danger (CS+) and safety (CS-) cues. These results suggest that a deficient maintenance of extinction and a failure to identify safety signals might contribute to PTSD symptoms, whereas non-PTSD subjects seem to show normal responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manon Wicking
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
| | - Frauke Steiger
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
| | - Frauke Nees
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
| | - Slawomira J Diener
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
| | - Oliver Grimm
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany; Klinik für Psychiatrie, Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie, Klinikum der J.W. Goethe-Universität, Heinrich-Hoffmann-Str. 10, 60528 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
| | - Michaela Ruttorf
- Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany.
| | - Lothar R Schad
- Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167 Mannheim, Germany.
| | - Tobias Winkelmann
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
| | - Gustav Wirtz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, SRH Klinikum Karlsbad-Langensteinbach GmbH, Guttmannstr. 1, 76307 Karlsbad, Germany.
| | - Herta Flor
- Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, J5, 68159 Mannheim, Germany.
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25
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Sjouwerman R, Niehaus J, Kuhn M, Lonsdorf TB. Don't startle me-Interference of startle probe presentations and intermittent ratings with fear acquisition. Psychophysiology 2016; 53:1889-1899. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12761] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2016] [Accepted: 08/16/2016] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Sjouwerman
- Department of Systems Neuroscience; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf; Hamburg Germany
| | - Johanna Niehaus
- Department of Systems Neuroscience; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf; Hamburg Germany
| | - Manuel Kuhn
- Department of Systems Neuroscience; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf; Hamburg Germany
| | - Tina B. Lonsdorf
- Department of Systems Neuroscience; University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf; Hamburg Germany
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26
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Kuhn M, Haaker J, Glotzbach-Schoon E, Schümann D, Andreatta M, Mechias ML, Raczka K, Gartmann N, Büchel C, Mühlberger A, Pauli P, Reif A, Kalisch R, Lonsdorf TB. Converging evidence for an impact of a functional NOS gene variation on anxiety-related processes. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2016; 11:803-12. [PMID: 26746182 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsv151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2015] [Accepted: 12/11/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Being a complex phenotype with substantial heritability, anxiety and related phenotypes are characterized by a complex polygenic basis. Thereby, one candidate pathway is neuronal nitric oxide (NO) signaling, and accordingly, rodent studies have identified NO synthase (NOS-I), encoded by NOS1, as a strong molecular candidate for modulating anxiety and hippocampus-dependent learning processes. Using a multi-dimensional and -methodological replication approach, we investigated the impact of a functional promoter polymorphism (NOS1-ex1f-VNTR) on human anxiety-related phenotypes in a total of 1019 healthy controls in five different studies. Homozygous carriers of the NOS1-ex1f short-allele displayed enhanced trait anxiety, worrying and depression scores. Furthermore, short-allele carriers were characterized by increased anxious apprehension during contextual fear conditioning. While autonomous measures (fear-potentiated startle) provided only suggestive evidence for a modulatory role of NOS1-ex1f-VNTR on (contextual) fear conditioning processes, neural activation at the amygdala/anterior hippocampus junction was significantly increased in short-allele carriers during context conditioning. Notably, this could not be attributed to morphological differences. In accordance with data from a plethora of rodent studies, we here provide converging evidence from behavioral, subjective, psychophysiological and neuroimaging studies in large human cohorts that NOS-I plays an important role in anxious apprehension but provide only limited evidence for a role in (contextual) fear conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Kuhn
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany,
| | - Jan Haaker
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Evelyn Glotzbach-Schoon
- Department of Psychology I, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg
| | - Dirk Schümann
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Marta Andreatta
- Department of Psychology I, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg
| | - Marie-Luise Mechias
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Karolina Raczka
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Nina Gartmann
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Christian Büchel
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Andreas Mühlberger
- Department of Psychology I, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, Regensburg
| | - Paul Pauli
- Department of Psychology I, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg
| | - Andreas Reif
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt, and
| | - Raffael Kalisch
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany, Neuroimaging Center (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center Mainz, Germany
| | - Tina B Lonsdorf
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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Glotzbach-Schoon E, Andreatta M, Mühlberger A, Pauli P. Reinstatement of contextual anxiety in humans: Effects of state anxiety. Int J Psychophysiol 2015; 98:557-66. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2015.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2014] [Revised: 07/17/2015] [Accepted: 07/27/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Haaker J, Lonsdorf TB, Kalisch R. Effects of post-extinction l-DOPA administration on the spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of fear in a human fMRI study. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 2015; 25:1544-55. [PMID: 26238968 DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2015.07.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2015] [Revised: 04/29/2015] [Accepted: 07/14/2015] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Relapse is a pertinent problem in the treatment of anxiety disorders. In the laboratory, relapse is modeled as return of conditioned fear responses after successful fear extinction and is explained by insufficient retrieval and/or expression of the fear-inhibitory extinction memory that is generated during extinction learning. We have shown in mice and humans that return of fear can be prevented by administration of a single dose of the dopamine precursor l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) immediately after extinction. In mice, this effect could be attributed to an enhancement of extinction memory consolidation. In our human study, we could not exclude that l-DOPA might have acted by interfering with the consolidation of the original fear memory. In the present study, we therefore used a combined differential cue and context conditioning paradigm where initial fear conditioning and extinction were conducted one day apart, in analogy to previous mouse studies. l-DOPA (N=21) or placebo (N=19) were administered after extinction, precluding any action on fear memory consolidation. In the return-of-fear test conducted one week later, drug effects on conditioned skin conductance responses were absent. However, we found evidence indicative of reduced neural activity, measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in the l-DOPA group in areas related to conditioned fear and return of fear (amygdala, posterior hippocampus) and enhanced activity in a key area of extinction retrieval/expression (ventromedial prefrontal cortex), relative to placebo controls. These findings require further corroboration in additional experiments. Implications for further investigations on the role of the dopamine system in extinction and on the neuropharmacological augmentation of extinction-based therapies are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Haaker
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
| | - Tina B Lonsdorf
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Raffael Kalisch
- Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; Neuroimaging Center (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience, Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center Mainz, Germany
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Brain morphology correlates of interindividual differences in conditioned fear acquisition and extinction learning. Brain Struct Funct 2015; 221:1927-37. [PMID: 25716297 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-015-1013-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2014] [Accepted: 02/15/2015] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The neural circuits underlying fear learning have been intensively investigated in pavlovian fear conditioning paradigms across species. These studies established a predominant role for the amygdala in fear acquisition, while the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been shown to be important in the extinction of conditioned fear. However, studies on morphological correlates of fear learning could not consistently confirm an association with these structures. The objective of the present study was to investigate if interindividual differences in morphology of the amygdala and the vmPFC are related to differences in fear acquisition and extinction learning in humans. We performed structural magnetic resonance imaging in 68 healthy participants who underwent a differential cued fear conditioning paradigm. Volumes of subcortical structures as well as cortical thickness were computed by the semi-automated segmentation software Freesurfer. Stronger acquisition of fear as indexed by skin conductance responses was associated with larger right amygdala volume, while the degree of extinction learning was positively correlated with cortical thickness of the right vmPFC. Both findings could be conceptually replicated in an independent sample of 53 subjects. The data complement our understanding of the role of human brain morphology in the mechanisms of the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear.
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Chen HT, Chen JC. Role of the ventral tegmental area in methamphetamine extinction: AMPA receptor-mediated neuroplasticity. Learn Mem 2015; 22:149-58. [PMID: 25691515 PMCID: PMC4340131 DOI: 10.1101/lm.037721.114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
The molecular mechanisms underlying drug extinction remain largely unknown, although a role for medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) glutamate neurons has been suggested. Considering that the mPFC sends glutamate efferents to the ventral tegmental area (VTA), we tested whether the VTA is involved in methamphetamine (METH) extinction via conditioned place preference (CPP). Among various METH-CPP stages, we found that the amount of phospho-GluR1/Ser845 increased in the VTA at behavioral extinction, but not the acquisition or withdrawal stage. Via surface biotinylation, we found that levels of membrane GluR1 were significantly increased during METH-CPP extinction, while no change was observed at the acquisition stage. Specifically, the number of dendritic spines in the VTA was increased at behavioral extinction, but not during acquisition. To validate the role of the mPFC in METH-CPP extinction, we lesioned the mPFC. Ibotenic acid lesioning of the mPFC did not affect METH-CPP acquisition, however, it abolished the extinction stage and reversed the enhanced phospho-GluR1/Ser845 levels as well as increases in VTA dendritic spines during METH-CPP extinction. Overall, this study demonstrates that the mPFC plays a critical role in METH-CPP extinction and identifies the VTA as an alternative target in mediating the extinction of drug conditioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han-Ting Chen
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Chang-Gung University, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan
| | - Jin-Chung Chen
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Chang-Gung University, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan Healthy Ageing Research Center, Chang-Gung University, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan Neuroscience Research Center, Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, Tao-Yuan 333, Taiwan
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Hamacher-Dang TC, Merz CJ, Wolf OT. Stress following extinction learning leads to a context-dependent return of fear. Psychophysiology 2014; 52:489-98. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.12384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/19/2014] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Tanja C. Hamacher-Dang
- Department of Cognitive Psychology; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience; Ruhr-University Bochum; Bochum Germany
| | - Christian J. Merz
- Department of Cognitive Psychology; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience; Ruhr-University Bochum; Bochum Germany
| | - Oliver T. Wolf
- Department of Cognitive Psychology; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience; Ruhr-University Bochum; Bochum Germany
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Haaker J, Golkar A, Hermans D, Lonsdorf TB. A review on human reinstatement studies: an overview and methodological challenges. Learn Mem 2014; 21:424-40. [PMID: 25128533 PMCID: PMC4138360 DOI: 10.1101/lm.036053.114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 127] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2014] [Accepted: 06/17/2014] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
In human research, studies of return of fear (ROF) phenomena, and reinstatement in particular, began only a decade ago and recently are more widely used, e.g., as outcome measures for fear/extinction memory manipulations (e.g., reconsolidation). As reinstatement research in humans is still in its infancy, providing an overview of its stability and boundary conditions and summarizing methodological challenges is timely to foster fruitful future research. As a translational endeavor, clarifying the circumstances under which (experimental) reinstatement occurs may offer a first step toward understanding relapse as a clinical phenomenon and pave the way for the development of new pharmacological or behavioral ways to prevent ROF. The current state of research does not yet allow pinpointing these circumstances in detail and we hope this review will aid the research field to advance in this direction. As an introduction, we begin with a synopsis of rodent work on reinstatement and theories that have been proposed to explain the findings. The review however mainly focuses on reinstatement in humans. We first describe details and variations of the experimental setup in reinstatement studies in humans and give a general overview of results. We continue with a compilation of possible experimental boundary conditions and end with the role of individual differences and behavioral and/or pharmacological manipulations. Furthermore, we compile important methodological and design details on the published studies in humans and end with open research questions and some important methodological and design recommendations as a guide for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Haaker
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Armita Golkar
- Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Dirk Hermans
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Tina B Lonsdorf
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany
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Lonsdorf TB, Haaker J, Fadai T, Kalisch R. No evidence for enhanced extinction memory consolidation through noradrenergic reuptake inhibition-delayed memory test and reinstatement in human fMRI. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2014; 231:1949-62. [PMID: 24193372 DOI: 10.1007/s00213-013-3338-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2013] [Accepted: 10/14/2013] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE One promising approach in the current ambition to maximise treatment benefit for anxiety disorders is the pharmacological enhancement of cognitive-behavioural treatment efficacy, which can be experimentally modelled by pharmacological enhancement of extinction learning/consolidation. Noradrenaline (NA) is involved in memory consolidation, and NAergic innervations are found in brain areas implicated in fear conditioning and extinction. OBJECTIVES Thus, to enhance extinction memory consolidation through boosted NAergic signalling, we administered 4 mg reboxetine (RBX) immediately after extinction learning (day 2, 24 h after conditioning on day 1) in a randomised, placebo (PLC)-controlled design. At a delayed memory test (day 8), we probed cued and contextual fear and extinction memories before and after a reinstatement manipulation. RESULTS After reinstatement, we find significantly enhanced amygdala and posterior hippocampus activation in the RBX group, areas implicated in fear memory expression, while the PLC group exhibited enhanced activation in areas associated with extinction memory expression (vmPFC, anterior hippocampus). No group differences were found in skin conductance responses. CONCLUSIONS Thus, our data do not support our hypothesis that enhancement of NA signalling may facilitate extinction memory consolidation and provide preliminary evidence that this might rather enhance fear memories on a neural but not physiological (skin conductance responses) level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina B Lonsdorf
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistrasse 52, 20246, Hamburg, Germany,
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Lonsdorf TB, Haaker J, Kalisch R. Long-term expression of human contextual fear and extinction memories involves amygdala, hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex: a reinstatement study in two independent samples. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 9:1973-83. [PMID: 24493848 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Human context conditioning studies have focused on acquisition and extinction. Subsequent long-term changes in fear behaviors not only depend on associative learning processes during those phases but also on memory consolidation processes and the later ability to retrieve and express fear and extinction memories. Clinical theories explain relapse after successful exposure-based treatment with return of fear memories and remission with stable extinction memory expression. We probed contextual fear and extinction memories 1 week (Day8) after conditioning (Day1) and subsequent extinction (Day2) by presenting conditioned contexts before (Test1) and after (Test2) a reinstatement manipulation. We find consistent activation patterns in two independent samples: activation of a subgenual part of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex before reinstatement (Test1) and (albeit with different temporal profiles between samples) of the amygdala after reinstatement (Test2) as well as up-regulation of anterior hippocampus activity after reinstatement (Test2 > Test1). These areas have earlier been implicated in the expression of cued extinction and fear memories. The present results suggest a general role for these structures in defining the balance between fear and extinction memories, independent of the conditioning mode. The results are discussed in the light of hypotheses implicating the anterior hippocampus in the processing of situational ambiguity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina B Lonsdorf
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany and Neuroimaging Center Mainz (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany t.lonsdorf@uke
| | - Jan Haaker
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany and Neuroimaging Center Mainz (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Raffael Kalisch
- Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany and Neuroimaging Center Mainz (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Martinistrasse 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany and Neuroimaging Center Mainz (NIC), Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN), Johannes Gutenberg University Medical Center, Langenbeckstr. 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany
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