Abstract
RationalePavlovian conditioned responses to cues that signal threat are rapidly acquired and tend to persist over time. However, recent research suggests that the ability to actively avoid or exert control over an anticipated threat can diminish the subsequent expression of Pavlovian responses. Studies in animal models suggest that active avoidance behavior and its consequences may be mediated by dopaminergic function. In the present study, we sought to replicate the finding that active control over threat can attenuate subsequent Pavlovian responding in humans and conducted exploratory analyses testing whether individual differences in blink rate, a putative index of dopaminergic function, might modulate this effect.MethodsParticipants underwent Pavlovian aversive conditioning, followed immediately by one of two conditions. In the active avoidance condition, participants had the opportunity to actively prevent the occurrence of an anticipated shock, whereas in a yoked extinction condition, participants passively observed the cessation of shocks, but with no ability to influence their occurrence. The following day, the conditioned stimuli were presented without shock, but both groups of participants had no opportunity to employ active instrumental responses. Blink rate was measured throughout the task, and skin conductance responses served as our index of Pavlovian conditioned responding.ResultsConsistent with our previous findings, we observed that the group that could actively avoid the shock on day 1 exhibited attenuated recovery of Pavlovian conditioned responses. Further, we found that individuals in the active avoidance group with higher blink rates exhibited a more robust attenuation of spontaneous recovery.ConclusionThis finding suggests that individual variation in dopaminergic function may modulate the efficacy with which active avoidance strategies can attenuate reactive Pavlovian responses.
Highlights
This article belongs to a Special Issue on Psychopharmacology of Extinction.Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.São Paulo, Brazil 4 Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA 5 Emotional Brain Institute, Nathan Kline Institute for PsychiatricResearch, Orangeburg, USAThrough Pavlovian learning, cues that signal the potential for danger can elicit reactive defensive responses, typically characterized by the inhibition of ongoing behavior and heightened physiological arousal (Bolles 1970; Pavlov 1927)
When a previous predictor of threat is no longer followed by aversive outcomes, expression of conditioned Pavlovian responses to the cue typically decreases—a process referred to as extinction learning
Consistent with our previous findings (Boeke et al 2017; Hartley et al 2014), we found in this independent sample that the ability to exert instrumental control attenuated the spontaneous recovery of Pavlovian conditioned responses for participants in the active avoidance condition the day, relative to those in the yoked extinction condition
Summary
This article belongs to a Special Issue on Psychopharmacology of Extinction. Through Pavlovian learning, cues that signal the potential for danger can elicit reactive defensive responses, typically characterized by the inhibition of ongoing behavior and heightened physiological arousal (Bolles 1970; Pavlov 1927). While Pavlovian learning is persistent, its expression can be altered in accordance with changes in the predictive validity of threat cues. When a previous predictor of threat is no longer followed by aversive outcomes, expression of conditioned Pavlovian responses to the cue typically decreases—a process referred to as extinction learning. The memory for the prior predictive relationship appears to be retained, as conditioned responses to the previously threat-predictive stimulus often reemerge following the passage of time
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