Samanez-Larkin Gregory R, Hollon Nick G, Carstensen Laura L, Knutson Brian
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2130, USA.
Psychol Sci. 2008 Apr;19(4):320-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02087.x.
The anterior insula has been implicated in both the experience and the anticipation of negative outcomes. Although individual differences in insular sensitivity have been associated with self-report measures of chronic anxiety, previous research has not examined whether individual differences in insular sensitivity predict learning to avoid aversive stimuli. In the present study, insular sensitivity was assessed as participants anticipated monetary losses while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that insular responsiveness to anticipated losses predicted participants' ability to learn to avoid losses (but not to approach gains) in a behavioral test several months later. These findings suggest that in addition to correlating with self-reported anxiety, heightened insular sensitivity may promote learning to avoid loss.
前脑岛与负面结果的体验和预期均有关联。尽管脑岛敏感性的个体差异已与慢性焦虑的自我报告测量相关，但先前的研究尚未考察脑岛敏感性的个体差异是否能预测对厌恶刺激的学习回避。在本研究中，当参与者预期金钱损失时，通过功能磁共振成像对其脑岛敏感性进行评估。我们发现，在数月后的一项行为测试中，脑岛对预期损失的反应性能够预测参与者学习避免损失（而非获取收益）的能力。这些发现表明，除了与自我报告的焦虑相关外，增强的脑岛敏感性可能会促进对损失的学习回避。
