Visuocortical changes during a freezing-like state in humans.

ABSTRACT: An adaptive response to threat requires optimized detection of critical sensory cues. This optimization is thought to be aided by freezing - an evolutionarily preserved defensive state of immobility characterized by parasympathetically mediated fear bradycardia and regulated by the amygdala-periaqueductal grey (PAG) circuit. Behavioral observations in humans and animals have suggested that freezing is also a state of enhanced visual sensitivity, particularly for coarse visual information, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. We induced a freezing-like state in healthy volunteers using threat of electrical shock and measured threat-related changes in both stimulus-independent (baseline) and stimulus-evoked visuocortical activity to low-vs. high-spatial frequency gratings, us

SUBMITTER: Lojowska M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6553455 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature