Threat expectation does not improve perceptual discrimination despite causing heightened priority processing in the frontoparietal network.

ABSTRACT: Threat cues have been widely shown to elicit increased sensory and attentional neural processing. However, whether this enhanced recruitment leads to measurable behavioral improvements in perception is still in question. Here we adjudicate between two opposing theories: that threat cues do or do not enhance perceptual sensitivity. We created threat stimuli by pairing one direction of motion in a random dot kinematogram with an aversive sound. While in the MRI scanner, 46 subjects (both men and women) completed a cued (threat/safe/neutral) perceptual decision-making task where they indicated the perceived motion direction of each moving dots stimulus. We found strong evidence that threat cues did not increase perceptual sensitivity compared to safe and neutral cues. This lack of improvement

SUBMITTER: Haddara N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10369873 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature