Construct validity of behavioral models of anxiety: Where experimental psychopathology meets ecology and evolution.

Caio Maximino,Thiago Marques De Brito,Amauri Gouveia

doi:10.3922/j.psns.2010.1.015

Caio Maximino, Thiago Marques De Brito + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3922/j.psns.2010.1.015

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Abstract

psychopathology, construct validity is usually enhanced by addressing theories from other fields in its nomological network. In the field of anxiety research, this construct is related to antipredator behavior, conserved across phylogeny in its functions and neural basis, but not necessarily on its topography. Even though the relations between behavioral models of anxiety and statements from behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology are commonly made in anxiety research, these are rarely tested, at least explicitly. However, in order to increase construct validity in experimental anxiety, testing predictions from those theories is highly desirable. This article discusses these questions, suggesting a few ways in which behavioral ecological and evolutionary hypotheses of anxiety-like behavior may be tested. Keywords: construct validity, animal models of anxiety, evolution, psychopathology.

Highlights

In validation research, construct validity can be defined as an ontological statement about a property of some test which defines the test as valid for measuring an attribute if (a) the attribute exists and (b) variations in the attribute causally produce variation in the measurement outcomes (Borsboom, Mellenbergh, & van Heerden, 2004; Willner, 1991)
In psychopharmacology and experimental psychopathology, most studies involve the use of behavioral tests in non-human animals: “Animal models represent experimental preparations developed in one species for the purpose of studying phenomena occurring in another species
The increasing cross-talk between behavioral ecology and experimental psychopathology is progressively enhancing the construct validity of behavioral models of anxiety

Summary

Introduction

Construct validity can be defined as an ontological statement about a property of some test which defines the test as valid for measuring an attribute if (a) the attribute exists and (b) variations in the attribute causally produce variation in the measurement outcomes (Borsboom, Mellenbergh, & van Heerden, 2004; Willner, 1991). Defensive quiescence occurs at the closest defensive distances, risk assessment at intermediate defensive distances, and normal non-defensive behavior at very great defensive distances It is postulated (Deakin & Graeff, 1991; McNaughton & Corr, 2004) that defensive avoidance is mediated by a putative fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS) – composed of anterior cingulate cortex, diverse amygdaloid nuclei, ventromedial hypothalamus, and periaqueductal gray –, while defensive approach is mediated by a putative behavioral approach system (BAS) – composed of pre-frontal cortex, ventral striatum, ventral pallidum, and ventral tegmental area. Serotoninergic and noradrenergic fibers that mediate global threat sensitivity modulate all the structures controlling defense (Deakin & Graeff, 1991) In this model, anxiety is the result of conflict between two motivations – approach and avoidance – and is likely to appear whenever the organism must explore its environment in search of fundamental resources, but is subject to potential predation (McNaughton & Corr, 2004). This model postulates that the neural control of approach and avoidance is determined by the ecological conditions of the environment, as we will briefly review

The ecological context of anxiety

Concluding remarks