Anxiety cues found in the brain despite safe environment

Date:
November 13, 2021
Source:
University of Rochester Medical Center
Summary:
Researchers used a virtual-reality environment to understand the
impact anxiety has on the brain and how brain regions interact
with one another to shape behavior.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Imagine you are in a meadow picking flowers. You know that some flowers
are safe, while others have a bee inside that will sting you. How would
you react to this environment and, more importantly, how would your
brain react? This is the scene in a virtual-reality environment used by researchers to understand the impact anxiety has on the brain and how
brain regions interact with one another to shape behavior.


========================================================================== "These findings tell us that anxiety disorders might be more than a
lack of awareness of the environment or ignorance of safety, but rather
that individuals suffering from an anxiety disorder cannot control
their feelings and behavior even if they wanted to," said Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Del Monte Institute
for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester and first author of
the study published in Communications Biology. "The patients with an
anxiety disorder could rationally say -- I'm in a safe space -- but we
found their brain was behaving as if it was not." Watching anxiety in
the brain Using fMRI, the researchers observed the brain activity of
volunteers with general and social anxiety as they navigated a virtual
reality game of picking flowers. Half of the meadow had flowers without
bees, the other half had flowers with bees that would sting them -- as simulated by a mild electrical stimulation to the hand. Researchers found
all study participants could distinguish between the safe and dangerous
areas, however, brain scans revealed volunteers with anxiety had increased insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex activation -- indicating their
brain was associating a known safe area to danger or threat.

"This is the first time we've looked at discrimination learning in this
way. We know what brain areas to look at, but this is the first time
we show this concert of activity in such a complex 'real-world-like' environment," said Suarez-Jimenez. "These findings point towards the
need for treatments that focus on helping patients take back control
of their body." The brain differences were the only differences seen
in these patients. For example, sweat responses, a proxy for anxiety,
which was also measured, failed to reveal any clear differences.

Suarez-Jimenez's research Understanding the neural mechanisms by which
the brain learns about the environment is the focus of Suarez-Jimenez's research, particularly how the brain predicts what is threatening and
what is safe. He uses virtual reality environments to investigate neural signatures of anxiety disorders and post- traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD). His goal is to understand how people build maps in the brain that
are based on experience, and the role of those maps in psychopathologies
of stress and anxiety.

Expanding research to other disorders "For next steps in this
recent research, we still need to clarify if what we found in the
brain of these patients is also the case in other disorders, such as
PTSD. Understanding the differences and similarities across disorders characterized by deficits in behavioral regulation and feelings in safe environments, can help us create better personalized treatment options." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_Rochester_Medical_Center. Original written by Kelsie Smith Hayduk. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Nicholas L. Balderston, James A. Bisby,
Joseph
Leshin, Abigail Hsiung, John A. King, Daniel S. Pine, Neil Burgess,
Christian Grillon, Monique Ernst. Location-dependent threat and
associated neural abnormalities in clinical anxiety. Communications
Biology, 2021; 4 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-02775-x ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211113072510.htm

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