Threat of shock and aversive inhibition: Induced anxiety modulates Pavlovian-instrumental interactions.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety can be an adaptive response to potentially threatening situations. However, if experienced in inappropriate contexts, it can also lead to pathological and maladaptive anxiety disorders. Experimentally, anxiety can be induced in healthy individuals using the threat of shock (ToS) paradigm. Accumulating work with this paradigm suggests that anxiety promotes harm-avoidant mechanisms through enhanced inhibitory control. However, the specific cognitive mechanisms underlying anxiety-linked inhibitory control are unclear. Critically, behavioral inhibition can arise from at least 2 interacting valuation systems: instrumental (a goal-directed system) and Pavlovian (a "hardwired" reflexive system). The present study (N = 62) replicated a study showing improved response inhibition under ToS i

SUBMITTER: Mkrtchian A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5733814 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature