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Reviews in the Neurosciences 2011This review provides an overview of the assays that are used for measuring escape and avoidance behavior in zebrafish, with a specific focus on zebrafish larvae during...
This review provides an overview of the assays that are used for measuring escape and avoidance behavior in zebrafish, with a specific focus on zebrafish larvae during the first week of development. Zebrafish larvae display a startle response when exposed to tactile, acoustic, or visual stimuli and will avoid dark areas, moving objects, conspecifics, and open spaces. Emotional states such as fear and anxiety might be induced when larvae are exposed to stimuli that they would normally escape from or avoid. Although these emotional states probably differ between species and change during development, much can be learned about human fear and anxiety using zebrafish as a model system. The molecular mechanisms of fear and anxiety are highly conserved in vertebrates and are present during early zebrafish development. Larvae during the first week of development display elevated cortisol levels in response to stress and are sensitive to the same anxiolytics that are used for the management of anxiety in humans. Zebrafish larvae are well suited for high-throughput analyses of behavior, and automated systems have been developed for imaging and analyzing the behavior of zebrafish larvae in multiwell plates. These high-throughput analyses will not only provide a wealth of information on the genes and environmental factors that influence escape and avoidance behaviors and the emotional states that might accompany them but will also facilitate the discovery of novel pharmaceuticals that could be used in the management of anxiety disorders in humans.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Anxiety; Avoidance Learning; Behavior, Animal; Disease Models, Animal; Environment; Escape Reaction; Heart Rate; Humans; Larva; Zebrafish
PubMed: 21572576
DOI: 10.1515/RNS.2011.008 -
Neuropsychopharmacology : Official... Jul 2018Punishment involves learning about the relationship between behavior and its adverse consequences. Punishment is fundamental to reinforcement learning, decision-making... (Review)
Review
Punishment involves learning about the relationship between behavior and its adverse consequences. Punishment is fundamental to reinforcement learning, decision-making and choice, and is disrupted in psychiatric disorders such as addiction, depression, and psychopathy. However, little is known about the brain mechanisms of punishment and much of what is known is derived from study of superficially similar, but fundamentally distinct, forms of aversive learning such as fear conditioning and avoidance learning. Here we outline the unique conditions that support punishment, the contents of its learning, and its behavioral consequences. We consider evidence implicating GABA and monoamine neurotransmitter systems, as well as corticostriatal, amygdala, and dopamine circuits in punishment. We show how maladaptive punishment processes are implicated in addictions, impulse control disorders, psychopathy, anxiety, and depression and argue that a better understanding of the cellular, circuit, and cognitive mechanisms of punishment will make important contributions to next generation therapeutic approaches.
Topics: Animals; Avoidance Learning; Brain; Humans; Mental Disorders; Punishment
PubMed: 29703994
DOI: 10.1038/s41386-018-0047-3 -
Cell Reports Apr 2024Pathogenic infection elicits behaviors that promote recovery and survival of the host. After exposure to the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, the...
Pathogenic infection elicits behaviors that promote recovery and survival of the host. After exposure to the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans modifies its sensory preferences to avoid the pathogen. Here, we identify antagonistic neuromodulators that shape this acquired avoidance behavior. Using an unbiased cell-directed neuropeptide screen, we show that AVK neurons upregulate and release RF/RYamide FLP-1 neuropeptides during infection to drive pathogen avoidance. Manipulations that increase or decrease AVK activity accelerate or delay pathogen avoidance, respectively, implicating AVK in the dynamics of avoidance behavior. FLP-1 neuropeptides drive pathogen avoidance through the G protein-coupled receptor DMSR-7, as well as other receptors. DMSR-7 in turn acts in multiple neurons, including tyraminergic/octopaminergic neurons that receive convergent avoidance signals from the cytokine DAF-7/transforming growth factor β. Neuromodulators shape pathogen avoidance through multiple mechanisms and targets, in agreement with the distributed neuromodulatory connectome of C. elegans.
Topics: Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans; Neuropeptides; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; Biogenic Monoamines; Neurons; Avoidance Learning; Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; Signal Transduction
PubMed: 38573858
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114042 -
Behavioural Brain Research Sep 2020Avoidance behavior is a typically adaptive response performed by an organism to avert harmful situations. Individuals differ remarkably in their tendency to acquire and...
Avoidance behavior is a typically adaptive response performed by an organism to avert harmful situations. Individuals differ remarkably in their tendency to acquire and perform new avoidance behaviors, as seen in anxiety disorders where avoidance becomes pervasive and inappropriate. In rodent models of avoidance, the inbred Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rat demonstrates increased learning and expression of avoidance compared to the outbred Sprague Dawley (SD) rat. However, underlying mechanisms that contribute to these differences are unclear. Computational modeling techniques can help identify factors that may not be easily decipherable from behavioral data alone. Here, we utilize a reinforcement learning (RL) model approach to better understand strain differences in avoidance behavior. An actor-critic model, with separate learning rates for action selection (in the actor) and state evaluation (in the critic), was applied to individual data of avoidance acquisition from a large cohort of WKY and SD rats. Latent parameters were extracted, such as learning rate and subjective reinforcement value of foot shock, that were then compared across groups. The RL model was able to accurately represent WKY and SD avoidance behavior, demonstrating that the model could simulate individual performance. The model determined that the perceived negative value of foot shock was significantly higher in WKY than SD rats, whereas learning rate in the actor was lower in WKY than SD rats. These findings demonstrate the utility of computational modeling in identifying underlying processes that could promote strain differences in behavioral performance.
Topics: Animals; Avoidance Learning; Models, Psychological; Rats, Inbred WKY; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reinforcement, Psychology; Species Specificity
PubMed: 32585299
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2020.112784 -
Molecular Psychiatry Jan 2017Research on avoidance conditioning began in the late 1930s as a way to use laboratory experiments to better understand uncontrollable fear and anxiety. Avoidance was... (Review)
Review
Research on avoidance conditioning began in the late 1930s as a way to use laboratory experiments to better understand uncontrollable fear and anxiety. Avoidance was initially conceived of as a two-factor learning process in which fear is first acquired through Pavlovian aversive conditioning (so-called fear conditioning), and then behaviors that reduce the fear aroused by the Pavlovian conditioned stimulus are reinforced through instrumental conditioning. Over the years, criticisms of both the avoidance paradigm and the two-factor fear theory arose. By the mid-1980s, avoidance had fallen out of favor as an experimental model relevant to fear and anxiety. However, recent progress in understanding the neural basis of Pavlovian conditioning has stimulated a new wave of research on avoidance. This new work has fostered new insights into contributions of not only Pavlovian and instrumental learning but also habit learning, to avoidance, and has suggested that the reinforcing event underlying the instrumental phase should be conceived in terms of cellular and molecular events in specific circuits rather than in terms of vague notions of fear reduction. In our approach, defensive reactions (freezing), actions (avoidance) and habits (habitual avoidance) are viewed as being controlled by unique circuits that operate nonconsciously in the control of behavior, and that are distinct from the circuits that give rise to conscious feelings of fear and anxiety. These refinements, we suggest, overcome older criticisms, justifying the value of the new wave of research on avoidance, and offering a fresh perspective on the clinical implications of this work.
Topics: Animals; Anxiety; Avoidance Learning; Conditioning, Classical; Conditioning, Operant; Conditioning, Psychological; Fear; Humans; Reinforcement, Psychology
PubMed: 27752080
DOI: 10.1038/mp.2016.166 -
BMC Psychology Feb 2022Previous studies indicated that about 20% of the individuals undergoing back surgery are unable to return to work 3 months to 1 year after surgery. The specific...
Generalization of fear of movement-related pain and avoidance behavior as predictors of work resumption after back surgery: a study protocol for a prospective study (WABS).
BACKGROUND
Previous studies indicated that about 20% of the individuals undergoing back surgery are unable to return to work 3 months to 1 year after surgery. The specific factors that predict individual trajectories in postoperative pain, recovery, and work resumption are largely unknown. The aim of this study is to identify modifiable predictors of work resumption after back surgery.
METHODS
In this multisite, prospective, longitudinal study, 300 individuals with radicular pain undergoing a lumbar decompression will be followed until 1-year post-surgery. Prior to surgery, participants will perform a computer task to assess fear of movement-related pain, avoidance behavior, and their generalization to novel situations. Before and immediately after surgery, participants will additionally complete questionnaires to assess fear of movement-related pain, avoidance behavior, optimism, expectancies towards recovery and work resumption, and the duration and severity of the pain. Six weeks, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after surgery, they will again complete questionnaires to assess sustainable work resumption, pain severity, disability, and quality of life. The primary hypothesis is that (generalization of) fear of movement-related pain and avoidance behavior will negatively affect sustainable work resumption after back surgery. Second, we hypothesize that (generalization of) fear of movement-related pain and avoidance behavior, negative expectancies towards recovery and work resumption, longer pain duration, and more severe pain before the surgery will negatively affect work resumption, pain severity, disability, and quality of life after back surgery. In contrast, optimism and positive expectancies towards recovery and work resumption are expected to predict more favorable work resumption, better quality of life, and lower levels of pain severity and disability after back surgery.
DISCUSSION
With the results of this research, we hope to contribute to the development of strategies for early identification of risk factors and appropriate guidance and interventions before and after back surgery. Trial registration The study was preregistered on ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04747860 on February 9, 2021.
Topics: Avoidance Learning; Fear; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Low Back Pain; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 35193697
DOI: 10.1186/s40359-022-00736-5 -
Behaviour Research and Therapy Jan 2024Most experimental avoidance paradigms lack either control over the experimental situation or simplify real-life avoidance behavior to a great extent, making it difficult...
Most experimental avoidance paradigms lack either control over the experimental situation or simplify real-life avoidance behavior to a great extent, making it difficult to generalize the results to the complex approach-avoidance situations that anxious individuals face in daily life. The current study aimed to examine the usability of our recently developed free-exploratory avoidance paradigm in Virtual Reality (VR) that allows for the assessment of subjective as well as behavioral avoidance in participants with varying levels of spider fear. In a VR escape room, participants searched for cues to decipher a code-locked door. Opening a wooden box marked with a post-it note (conditioned stimulus, CS) resulted in exposure to a virtual crawling spider (unconditioned stimulus, US). Avoidance of the original CS and other objects marked with the CS (generalization stimuli, GSs; EXPgen condition) or non-marked (CONT condition) objects was measured via questionnaires and relative manipulation times in a novel room. We expected a positive linear relationship between US aversiveness (levels of spider fear) and (generalization of) fear and avoidance behaviors. Avoidance learning and generalization was demonstrated on both a subjective and behavioral level. Higher levels of spider fear were, overall, related to more negative emotions in response to the encounter with the spider, higher US expectancies for the GSs, and more self-reported and behavioral avoidance of the original CS and the GSs. Finally, we explored relationships between trait anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty and fear and avoidance (generalization), but no robust associations were observed. In conclusion, we confirmed the expected positive linear relationship between spider fear and (generalization of) fear and avoidance behaviors. Our results suggest that our free-exploratory VR avoidance paradigm is well-suited to investigate avoidance behaviors and the generalization of avoidance.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Spiders; Fear; Phobic Disorders; Anxiety; Avoidance Learning
PubMed: 38086158
DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104442 -
BMC Biology May 2022Mosquitoes locate a human host by integrating various sensory cues including odor, thermo, and vision. However, their innate light preference and its genetic basis that...
BACKGROUND
Mosquitoes locate a human host by integrating various sensory cues including odor, thermo, and vision. However, their innate light preference and its genetic basis that may predict the spatial distribution of mosquitoes, a prerequisite to encounter a potential host and initiate host-seeking behaviors, remains elusive.
RESULTS
Here, we first studied mosquito visual features and surprisingly uncovered that both diurnal (Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus) and nocturnal (Culex quinquefasciatus) mosquitoes significantly avoided stronger light when given choices. With consistent results from multiple assays, we found that such negative phototaxis maintained throughout development to adult stages. Notably, female mosquitoes significantly preferred to bite hosts in a shaded versus illuminated area. Furthermore, silencing Opsin1, a G protein-coupled receptor that is most enriched in compound eyes, abolished light-evoked avoidance behavior of Aedes albopictus and attenuated photonegative behavior in Aedes aegypti. Finally, we found that field-collected Aedes albopictus also prefers darker area in an Opsin1-dependent manner.
CONCLUSIONS
This study reveals that mosquitoes consistently prefer darker environment and identifies the first example of a visual molecule that modulates mosquito photobehavior.
Topics: Aedes; Animals; Avoidance Learning; Culex; Feeding Behavior; Female; Humans
PubMed: 35549721
DOI: 10.1186/s12915-022-01308-0 -
Nature Jun 2018The ability of the taste system to identify a tastant (what it tastes like) enables animals to recognize and discriminate between the different basic taste qualities....
The ability of the taste system to identify a tastant (what it tastes like) enables animals to recognize and discriminate between the different basic taste qualities. The valence of a tastant (whether it is appetitive or aversive) specifies its hedonic value and elicits the execution of selective behaviours. Here we examine how sweet and bitter are afforded valence versus identity in mice. We show that neurons in the sweet-responsive and bitter-responsive cortex project to topographically distinct areas of the amygdala, with strong segregation of neural projections conveying appetitive versus aversive taste signals. By manipulating selective taste inputs to the amygdala, we show that it is possible to impose positive or negative valence on a neutral water stimulus, and even to reverse the hedonic value of a sweet or bitter tastant. Remarkably, mice with silenced neurons in the amygdala no longer exhibit behaviour that reflects the valence associated with direct stimulation of the taste cortex, or with delivery of sweet and bitter chemicals. Nonetheless, these mice can still identify and discriminate between tastants, just as wild-type controls do. These results help to explain how the taste system generates stereotypic and predetermined attractive and aversive taste behaviours, and support the existence of distinct neural substrates for the discrimination of taste identity and the assignment of valence.
Topics: Amygdala; Animals; Appetitive Behavior; Avoidance Learning; Clozapine; Discrimination, Psychological; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Models, Neurological; Neurons; Taste; Water
PubMed: 29849148
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0165-4 -
Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience 2010Approach-avoidance conflict is an important psychological concept that has been used extensively to better understand cognition and emotion. This review focuses on... (Review)
Review
Approach-avoidance conflict is an important psychological concept that has been used extensively to better understand cognition and emotion. This review focuses on neural systems involved in approach, avoidance, and conflict decision making, and how these systems overlap with implicated neural substrates of anxiety disorders. In particular, the role of amygdala, insula, ventral striatal, and prefrontal regions are discussed with respect to approach and avoidance behaviors. Three specific hypotheses underlying the dysfunction in anxiety disorders are proposed, including: (i) over-representation of avoidance valuation related to limbic overactivation; (ii) under- or over-representation of approach valuation related to attenuated or exaggerated striatal activation respectively; and (iii) insufficient integration and arbitration of approach and avoidance valuations related to attenuated orbitofrontal cortex activation. These dysfunctions can be examined experimentally using versions of existing decision-making paradigms, but may also require new translational and innovative approaches to probe approach-avoidance conflict and related neural systems in anxiety disorders.
Topics: Anxiety Disorders; Avoidance Learning; Brain; Decision Making; Emotions; Humans; Models, Biological; Social Behavior
PubMed: 21319496
DOI: 10.31887/DCNS.2010.12.4/raupperle