Panic Behavior Research Articles

FEATURES OF PANIC MANIFESTATIONS UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF QUARANTINE SELF-ISOLATION AND COVID-19 SPREADING

The article examines the peculiarities of people’s panic because of a prolonged extreme situation of uncertainty on the example of 2020 spring quarantine self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Excessive emotional reactions of the anxiety-phobic spectrum are a reflection, first of all, of a person’s internal state. And, most often, such reactions are associated with the compensation of other reasons causing the person’s overreactions to external triggers. In this case, panic arises because there is a combination of emotional factors and objective evidence that coronavirus (COVID-19) is a disease spread rapidly, so the infection can occur during short contact with the carrier. A large number of countries involved in the pandemic create the basis for panic reactions through the catastrophic idea that death is inevitable, because any person today is in the focus of infection. The study determined the intensity of positive and negative emotional states, characterized the peculiarities of experienced danger and helplessness during self-isolation, and analyzed the levels of trust in rumors and fake news regarding the likelihood of repeated quarantine in the future. The main manifestations of panic at the initial stage of its occurrence included deep changes in people’s emotional states, which contributed to excessive excitement of the psyche, the emergence of feelings of danger and helplessness, as well as uncritical perception by people of intensively circulated rumors. These manifestations preceded changes in people's behavior, which, obviously, was the embodiment of panic. The analyzed emotional reactions showed that 25% of the respondents had few positive emotions during quarantine self-isolation. During the quarantine period, from 75 to 99% of people believed that they were in a danger or retrospectively described it. The analysis also showed low levels of manifestations of such emotions as joy or relief. At the same time, the number of individuals who demonstrated highly negative emotions increased by the factor of 2–3. The number of respondents with the high degree of experiencing danger in a quarantine situation exceeds 65% of the sample, and the proportion of the respondents showing deep helplessness was more than 50%. The results also showed significant increase in the number of people who highly trusted in rumors and fake news and decreased number of people with low confidence in rumors about the threat of repeated self-isolation. The data obtained can become benchmarks for assessing the situation in settlements that are more prone to panic. In a prolonged extreme situation, in contrast to short-term panic, emotional stress increases gradually, which makes it possible to predict panic moods and apply timely measures preventing panic behavior among the population.  

Real-time frequency-based detection of a panic behavior in human crowds

The real-time detection of a panic behavior in a human crowd is of a high interest as it helps alleviating crowd disasters and ensures that timely appropriate action will be taken. However, the fast analysis of video sequences to detect abnormal behaviours is one of the most challenging tasks for computer vision experts. While many research works propose off-line solutions, few studies investigate the real-time analysis of crowded scenes. This may be due to the fact that detecting a panic behaviour is closely related to the analysis of the crowd dynamics, which commonly necessitates heavy computations. In order to alleviate this problem, we propose a real-time panic detection technique that analyzes the crowd movements based on a simple and efficient solution. The key idea of the proposed approach consists of analyzing the interactions between moving edges along the video in the frequency domain. Our contribution is threefold. First, moving edges are considered for analysis along the video. Second, when a panic situation occurs within a human crowd, it leads to interactions between people that are different from those that occur during a normal situation. Therefore, to reveal such a behavior, a new frequency based-feature is proposed. To select the most appropriate frequency domain, the fast fourier transform, the discrete cosine transform and the discrete wavelet transform are investigated. Third, two different formulations of the problem of detecting a panic are explored. The experimental evaluation of the proposed technique shows its outperforming compared to the state-of-the-art approaches in terms of detection rates and execution time.

P.732 Anxiety level, panic and addiction behavior, reference and working memory in female and male monosodium glutamate (MSG)-treated rats

P.732 Anxiety level, panic and addiction behavior, reference and working memory in female and male monosodium glutamate (MSG)-treated rats

Product substitution with customer segmentation under panic buying behavior

Under conditions of consumer panic buying, satisfying demand with the available products is a complex problem. In reality, most retailers accept alternative products during panic situations. This study considers the case of firm-driven substitution of products (differing in weight) based on retailer preferences over two periods. In the proposed model, panic behavior emerged in the first period and supply disruption occurred in the second period. Under this model, retail stores were segmented into high index (valuable) and low index (less valuable) customers. Before meeting the demand of low-index customers, wholesalers attempt to satiate high-index customer’s panic buying behavior. We determined the optimal number of units to be substituted, order quantities, and leftover units that generated maximum total profits for the wholesaler. The performance of the model was analyzed both with and without customer-segmented substitution. To gain managerial insights, we also examined the influence of both the degree of supply disruption and substitution costs on decisions and profits. The results can assist business managers to improve the decision-making process.

Simulation on Collective Panic Behavior Based on PI

The collective panic behavior, which is caused by PI (Propagation Intensity), influences the welfare of citizens and the stability of the society (business). A well-known challenge is to understand the spreading mechanism of the panic behavior. In this work, the PI is classified as and , defined in the coefficient (Promotion Intensity) and (Inhibition Intensity) in the probability. MAS (multi-agent-simulation) model/tool is used to construct the systematic structure composed of four types of the participants (the individuals, the mass media, the social leaders, and the supervisors).This tool stimulates the collective panic behavior from the initial coefficient and , showing the different results in the condition of the population size and the conformity. Through setting up the rules and the strategies in an emergency, the framework stimulates the interaction between the agents (e.g. between the individuals, between the individuals and the mass media, between the individuals and the social leaders, between the individuals and the supervisors). The results advocate that the current simulator might be an appropriate first step towards the simulation and analysis of the combination of rules and strategies in panic behavior.

Panic features strongly predict the subjective but not the objective benefit of pulmonary vein isolation.

Clinically observed discrepancies between electrocardiogram findings and subjective report of symptoms related to atrial fibrillation (AF) often remain unexplained. One could hypothesize that after a technically successful ablation, preoperative panic behavior might affect the report of AF-related symptoms. However, research on comorbid panic behavior in patients with AF is limited. In this observational prospective cohort study, we investigated psychological characteristics, in particular the prevalence of panic features, among 112 patients with AF and its possible influence on experienced outcome of subsequent ablation treatment. Twelve percent of the AF patients (n = 12) were pre-operatively characterized by panic features. This group experienced higher levels of distress and more limitations in daily life compared to AF patients without panic features, but was not characterized by higher levels of neuroticism. However, AF-ablation resulted in a similar reduction of experienced limitations in daily functioning and levels of distress in both groups. Patients with panic features experience more distress and more limitations in daily life from AF, but these complaints are reduced by AF ablation in a similar rate as in patients without panic features. Additional psychological therapy is suggested as a method to further reduce subjective AF disease burden in these patients.

Statistical detection of a panic behavior in crowded scenes

Crowd scenes analysis is becoming one of the most active researches in computer vision. Panic behavior is a key indication of the occurrence of an abnormal event within the human crowd, and its detection helps preventing disastrous situations. The detection techniques reported in the literature analyze the temporal variation of either the motion magnitudes, the motion orientations, the crowd density or people interactions. However, all these features contribute to the characterization of a crowd behavior and ignoring one of them may lead to the degradation of the detection performances. In the present work, our contribution is threefold. First, a novel feature is proposed. It allows to simultaneously take into consideration all the aforementioned characteristics in order to analyze the human crowd. Second, a sparse representation is proposed and aims to facilitate the distinction between non-panic and panic situations. Third, data related to a panic behavior are considered as outliers with respect to non-panic related data and are statistically detected. The approach proposed in the present study has four major advantages. First, it does not depend on the crowd density level. Second, its detection performances outperform the state-of-the-art techniques for most of the videos. Third, it is not restricted to specific panic behaviors like escaping, gathering, dispersion and so on; it is applicable to any of the panic behaviors. Fourth, it is simple and easy to implement.

Expression of acid-sensing ion channel 1a in the central nervous system of mice with panic-like behavior

Objective To explore the expression of acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC1a) in central nervous system of mice with panic like behavior. Methods 20 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into two groups according to their weight(10 mice in each group): the group experienced rat exposure test of panic-like behavior model (RET group) and the control group (Ctr group). A panic-like behavior model was established by rat exposure stimuli.Ten minutes defensive and avoidance behaviors of mice were recorded with a horizontal video camera.The anxiety level of mice was evaluated by elevated plus maze (EPM) test.Western blot was used to detect the ASIC 1a expression in different brain areas of prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and periaqueductal gray (PAG). Results Compared with Ctr group, mice in RET group spent significantly more time in freezing ((5.83±1.92)s) than that of Ctr group ((1.00±0.45)s) (P<0.01), had significantly higher frequency of risk assessment behavior (5.33±0.49) than that of Ctr group(0.60±0.40) (P<0.01), spent significantly less time to contact the wire mesh ((17.83±4.38)s) than that of Ctr group((50.00±6.90)s) (P<0.01), and significantly more time of staying in the protected area((431.00±33.13)s) than that of Ctr group((264.40±40.43)s) (P <0.01). At the same time, RET group showed significantly lower time percent ((8.28±1.12)%) than Ctr group ((16.81±2.13)%) in opened arm (P <0.05) and significantly higher time percent ((80.08±4.26)%) than Ctr group ((60.91±5.27)%) in the closed arm (P<0.05). Western blot suggested that the expression level of ASIC 1a in the prefrontal cortex (1.32±0.05) and hippocampus (2.56±0.30) significantly increased than that of Ctr group((0.98±0.07), (1.56±0.16)( P<0.05), while significantly decreased in the PAG (0.83± 0.02) than that of Ctr group(1.26±0.05)( P<0.05). Conclusion Rat exposure stimuli can induce panic-like behavior among mice, which increases the expression of ASIC 1a in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, but decreases the level of ASIC 1a in the PAG. Key words: Panic; Elevated plus maze; Acid-sensing ion channel 1a (ASIC 1a); Panic like behavior; Mice

Cannabinoids induce apathetic and impulsive patterns of choice through CB1 receptors and TRPV1 channels

Despite evidence from psychiatry and psychology clinics pointing to altered cognition and decision making following the consumption of cannabis, the effects of cannabis derivatives are still under dispute and the mechanisms of cannabinoid effects on cognition are not known. In this study, we used effort-based and delay-based decision tasks and showed that ACEA, a potent cannabinoid agonist induced apathetic and impulsive patterns of choice in rats in a dose-dependent manner when locally injected into the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), respectively. Pre-treatment with AM251, a selective cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptor antagonist, reversed ACEA-induced impulsive and apathetic patterns of choice in doses higher than a minimally effective dose. Unlike CB1 receptor antagonist, pretreatment with capsazepine, a transient receptor potential vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) channel antagonist, was effective only at an intermediary dose. Furthermore, capsazepine per se induced impulsivity and apathy at a high dose suggesting a basal tonic activation of TRPV1 channels that exist in the ACC and OFC to support cost-benefit decision making and to help avoid apathetic and impulsive patterns of decision making. Taken together, unlike previous reports supporting opposing roles for the CB1 receptors and TRPV1 channels in anxiety and panic behavior, our findings demonstrate a different sort of interaction between endocannabinoid and endovanilloid systems and suggest that both systems contribute to the cognitive disrupting effects of cannabinoids. Given prevalent occurrence of apathy and particularly impulsivity in psychiatric disorders, these results have significant implications for pharmacotherapy research targeting these receptors.

Agent-Based Modeling of Emergency Evacuations Considering Human Panic Behavior

During mass evacuations, many psychological and physical factors are responsible for stampedes and other life threatening situations. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of these factors are of high importance while devising optimal strategies for evacuations. In this paper, we present an agent-based model that considers psychological and physical factors that cause panic in such situations. We have also simulated some simple evacuation scenarios and presented a method to identify possible bottlenecks and shortcomings in the environments during emergency evacuations. Our method also helps in evaluation and analysis of different evacuation strategies. To enable this analysis, we have used a rule-based roadmap approach, where critical nodes in the environment are identified by the evacuation planner and each node has a special rule according to the strategy of the planner. We evaluate different strategies on parameters, such as evacuation time and physical discomfort caused to the agents.

Panic bank runs

We provide experimental evidence that panic bank runs occur in the absence of problems with fundamentals and coordination failures among depositors, the two main culprits identified in the literature. Depositors withdraw when they observe that others do so, even when theoretically they should not. Our findings suggest that panic also manifests itself in the beliefs of depositors, who overestimate the probability that a bank run is underway. Loss-aversion has a predictive power on panic behavior, while risk or ambiguity aversion do not.

Panic Bank Runs

We provide experimental evidence that panic bank runs occur in the absence of problems with fundamentals and coordination failures among depositors, the two main culprits identified in the literature. Depositors withdraw when they observe that others do so, even when theoretically they should not. Our findings suggest that panic also manifests itself in the beliefs of depositors, who overestimate the probability that a bank run is underway. Loss-aversion has a predictive power on panic behavior, while risk or ambiguity aversion do not.

A utility threshold model of herding–panic behavior in evacuation under emergencies based on complex network theory

Casualties during crowd evacuation in many unexpected events are closely related to panic behaviors. In this paper the evacuation crowd system is abstracted into a dynamic complex network composed of three types of people, namely calm people, panic people, and herding people, as well as their interactions. The mathematical model of these interactions is established based on complex network theory. Further, the evolution of herding people to panic people is interpreted by a specific concept of “herding–panic threshold,” as well as its utility threshold model, in which the own characteristics of herding people and the external pressure from the surrounding crowd are comprehensively considered. To verify the rationality of some assumption in the utility threshold model, a questionnaire survey about the evacuation psychological behaviors is carried out. Through theoretical analysis and simulation, the influence of some key parameters on the herding–panic behavior is discussed in detail, via analyzing the change of panic rate. Some safety measures to control herding–panic in evacuation are also suggested.

Hajj Stampede in Mina, 2015: Need for Intervention.

Mass gatherings (MGs) occur for many different reasons including religious, social, cultural, political and sporting events. There are two types of spontaneous and organized MGs. The first one takes place when a population displaces due to natural disasters or conflicts, whereas the second one is seen in a preplanned program. Mass gatherings are associated with health risks of infectious disease outbreaks, noncommunicable diseases, injuries, terrorist attacks, stampedes, etc. It has been estimated that 70% of human stampedes occur due to religious assemblages. Sports, entertainments, political demonstrations and celebrations are other causes. There are two types of stampede. The first type is a panic behavior of people who afraid of a detected threat, while the second type takes place when the rush is toward something seen as gratifying, such as when spectators poured into a stadium that was already full to over capacity. Stampedes mainly occur in developing countries and its mortality is eight-fold higher in developing compared to developed countries. A terrible stampede took place a few months ago in Mina, Saudi Arabia during Hajj 2015 and caused more than two thousand deaths among pilgrims. The victims came from about 30 different countries and the highest frequency rates were from Iranian nationality. Stampede is a mass casualty incident repeating every few years during Hajj and many pilgrims have lost their lives in this ritual during the past 25 years. Some of the death rates are as follows: 1,426 in 1990, 270 in 1994, 118 in 1998, 35 in 2001, 14 in 2003, 251 in 2004, 3 in 2005 and 360 in 2006. Therefore, this event is the deadliest stampede happened in the recent decades in Hajj. Detailed data are required to analyze stampedes accurately; however, the sources of most information regarding such events are news which is not scientifically valid and scientific papers have also received little attention in definition of preventive strategies. It seems that Hajj authorities should implement new reforms based on Haddon matrix, which categorizes injuries to three phases of precrash, crash and postcrash and classifies underlying causes to four factors of host, agent, physical and social environments. More investigations along with original researches are needed to evaluate Hajj stampedes. In addition, new reforms for prevention of injuries and deaths are mandatory... Language: en

Gene Expression Changes in Glutamate and GABA-A Receptors, Neuropeptides, Ion Channels, and Cholesterol Synthesis in the Periaqueductal Gray Following Binge-Like Alcohol Drinking by Adolescent Alcohol-Preferring (P) Rats.

Binge drinking of alcohol during adolescence is a serious public health concern with long-term consequences, including increased pain, fear, and anxiety. The periaqueductal gray (PAG) is involved in processing pain, fear, and anxiety. The effects of adolescent binge drinking on gene expression in this region have yet to be studied. Male adolescent alcohol-preferring (P) rats were exposed to repeated binge drinking (three 1-hour sessions/d during the dark/cycle, 5days/wk for 3weeks starting at 28days of age; ethanol intakes of 2.5 to 3g/kg/session). We used RNA sequencing to assess the effects of ethanol intake on gene expression. Ethanol significantly altered the expression of 1,670 of the 12,123 detected genes: 877 (53%) decreased. In the glutamate system, 23 genes were found to be altered, including reduction in 7 of 10 genes for metabotropic and NMDA receptors. Subunit changes in the NMDA receptor may make it less sensitive to ethanol. Changes in GABAA genes would most likely increase the ability of the PAG to produce tonic inhibition. Five serotonin receptor genes, 6 acetylcholine receptor genes, and 4 glycine receptor genes showed decreased expression in the alcohol-drinking rats. Opioid genes (e.g., Oprk1, Oprm1) and genes for neuropeptides linked to anxiety and panic behaviors (e.g., Npy1r) had mostly decreased expression. Genes for 27 potassium, 10 sodium, and 5 calcium ion channels were found to be differentially expressed. Nine genes in the cholesterol synthesis pathway had decreased expression, including Hmgcr, encoding the rate-limiting enzyme. Genes involved in the production of myelin also had decreased expression. The results demonstrate that binge alcohol drinking during adolescence produces developmental changes in the expression of key genes within the PAG; many of these changes point to increased susceptibility to pain, fear, and anxiety, which could contribute to excessive drinking to relieve these negative effects.

Evacuation System in a Building Using Cellular Automata for Pedestrian Dynamics

The sense of safety in public facilities for pedestrians can be shown by the availability of good infrastructure, particularly the building. One of the aspects that can make pedestrians feel comfortable and safe is the availability of evacuation facilities in emergency situation. When a disaster strikes, people would start to panic and this will cause problems, especially during an evacuation.During panic in an evacuation process, pedestrians tend to act blindly and walk randomly and mindlessly. They might follow one another when they get panic. This is called as herding behavior. Regarding the evacuation systems, cellular automata is the basic method used to represent human motion. The movement of pedestrian is an important aspect during an evacuation process and this can be analyzed and implemented by using Cellular Automata. It is a simple method yet it can solve complex problems.Total evacuation time becomes the indicators in measuring the efficiency of this system. The result of comparison method shows that the proposed method could work better in certain conditions. In addition, the results of the experiments during panic and normal situation show similar characteristics especially regarding density aspect, yet evacuation time during panic situation takes longer time. The experiment’s results by using the actual data also has similar tendency with the evacuation time.Keywords: evacuation time, cellular automata, panic behavior, pedestrian

Panic and Crowd Disaster in Underground Space

In this paper panic and crowd disaster are discussed. In order to prevent heavy casualties in an underground space, it is crucial to determine whether panic escape behavior as a collective phenomenon would occur at the time of an earthquake, flood, and fire, etc. in such a space.There has yet to be an occurrence of collective panic in an underground space. Panic escape behavior and crowd disaster have the characteristic that despite the low rate of incidence they may cause many casualties, once they happen. Therefore, it is crucial that the measures are taken against panic and crowd surge in the underground in the urban area, although they never occurred in the past.

Effects of Administration of an Agonist and an Antagonist of GABAA Receptors into the Basolateral Nucleus of the Amygdala on the Expression and Extinction of Fear in Rats with Different Freezing Durations

Rats were divided into groups expressing small and large amounts of freezing on the basis of differences in freezing duration after acquisition of conditioned reflex fear. The effects of local bilateral administration into the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala of a GABAA receptor agonist (muscimol, 0.1 μg/0.5 μl), antagonist (bicuculline, 0.07 μg/0.5 μl), and physiological saline (0.5 μl, controls) on the expression and extinction of conditioned reflex fear in these two groups of rats were studied. Administration of muscimol before testing for conditioned reflex fear led to a decrease in freezing duration, with a greater effect on the expression of fear in rats with a low freezing level. Administration of bicuculline increased aggressivity in the rats, decreased freezing duration, and led to the expression of elements of panic behavior, with greater effects in animals with high levels of freezing. Administration of both muscimol and bicuculline into the amygdala before extinction sessions led to acceleration of the extinction of fear in rats with high levels of freezing but had no effect in animals with a low level of freezing. These result provide evidence that the GABAA receptor agonist and antagonist have different effects in animals with different levels of fear, suggesting differences in the receptor apparatus in relation to GABAergic transmission in the amygdala.

A BRIEF NOTE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND PERFORMANCE IN SCUBA DIVING IN ADOLESCENTS: A FIELD STUDY.

This study explored the relationship between anxiety and scuba diving performance of young individuals (N = 44; 16.9 yr., SD = 1.2) participating in an introductory scuba diving activity. The question was whether the well-known negative correlation between anxiety and scuba diving performance found for experienced and middle-aged scuba divers will be observed in young participants in their first dive experience. Diving instructors rated standardized scuba diving skills that were correlated with individual state and trait anxiety. There was no relationship between anxiety and scuba diving performance, neither for state nor for trait anxiety. This non-significant correlation between anxiety and performance was in contrast to recent findings observed for experienced divers or those who participated at a scuba diving training program. Considering the differences in methodological design between this study and recent investigations, further research is needed to reveal possible relations between anxiety, scuba diving performance, and panic behavior in beginner-level youth or adults.

The effect of caregiving on bereavement outcome: study protocol for a longitudinal, prospective study.

BackgroundThe aim of the current study is to determine the effects of caregiving on bereavement outcome. The study will address two important gaps in the research literature: (1) the relationship between pre-death distress and post-death outcomes and (2) family caregivers’ anticipation and preparation of the death of the person for whom they care.Methods/DesignWe will conduct a longitudinal, prospective study of adult family caregivers of adult patients receiving palliative care. All participants will complete a questionnaire administered at four points – approximately 4–8 weeks prior to bereavement, and 3–4, 6–7, and 9–10 months post-bereavement. The questionnaire includes measures of multidimensional caregiving experiences (strain, distress, positive appraisals, and family wellbeing), caregiver prolonged grief, multidimensional grief responses (despair, panic behaviour, blame and anger, detachment, disorganisation, and personal growth), prolonged grief, quality of life, general health (psychological and physical) and demographics. These caregivers’ data will be compared to a comparison group matched for age, sex, and postcode, allowing the caregivers’ general health and quality of life to be compared to a normative group. The caregivers will also be invited to participate in a semi-structured interview about preparing for impending bereavement.DiscussionThis is the first study to address the methodological limitations in the current literature and will likely make a significant contribution to both our understanding of caregiving on bereavement outcome and to bereavement care offered in palliative and hospice settings.