Neural Mechanism and Neurobiological Basis of Harm Avoidance

Abstract

Harm avoidance is a type of trait anxiety which is defined as a tendency to respond intensely to aversive stimuli signals and to learn to passively avoid punishment. The tendency is associated with ruminating about future outcomes and being careful in uncertain situations as well as facing a higher risk for affective disorders. The neural network involving in harm avoidance includes the network including the frontal lobe, the parietal lobe and the anterior cingulate cortex; the junction between cortex and amygdala and the structural connectivity in white matter pathways. Not only one polymorphism but also the interaction of different polymorphisms can have influence on the harm avoidance. The future research should focus on the association of neural mechanism with neurobiological basis of harm avoidance and the interaction of multiple polymorphisms, inspect the moderating effect of other factors and the relation among the subscale of harm avoidance as well as research other receptor subtypes of serotonin and rehabilitation work of it.