University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Research Center Military Mental Health Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Research Center Military Mental Health Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging. 2017 Aug 30;266:114-122. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2017.06.012. Epub 2017 Jun 20.
Problems involving anger and aggression are common after military deployment, and may involve abnormal responses to threat. This study therefore investigated effects on neural activation related to threat and escapability among veterans with deployment experience. Twenty-seven male veterans with anger and aggression problems (Anger group) and 30 Control veterans performed a virtual predator-task during fMRI measurement. In this task, threat and proximity were manipulated. The distance of cues determined their possibility for escape. Cues signaled impending attack by zooming in towards the participant. If Threat cues, but not Safe cues, reached the participants without being halted by a button press, an aversive noise (105dB scream) was presented. In both the Threat and the Safe condition, closer proximity of the virtual predator resulted in stronger activation in the cuneus in the Anger versus Control group. The results suggest that anger and aggression problems are related to a generalized sensitivity to proximity rather than preparatory processes related to task-contingent aversive stimuli. Anger and aggression problems in natural, dynamically changing environments may be related to an overall heightened vigilance, which is non-adaptively driven by proximity.
愤怒和攻击问题在军事部署后很常见，可能涉及对威胁的异常反应。因此，本研究调查了有部署经验的退伍军人的神经激活与威胁和逃避能力之间的关系。27 名有愤怒和攻击问题的男性退伍军人（愤怒组）和 30 名对照退伍军人在 fMRI 测量期间进行了虚拟捕食者任务。在这个任务中，威胁和接近度是可以被操纵的。线索的距离决定了它们逃避的可能性。线索通过向参与者拉近来表示即将到来的攻击。如果威胁线索，但不是安全线索，在被按钮阻止之前到达参与者，就会出现一个令人不快的噪音（105dB 的尖叫声）。在威胁和安全条件下，虚拟捕食者的接近度增加会导致愤怒组中楔前叶的激活增强。结果表明，愤怒和攻击问题与对接近度的普遍敏感性有关，而不是与任务相关的厌恶刺激的预备过程有关。在自然、动态变化的环境中，愤怒和攻击问题可能与整体警觉性增强有关，这种警觉性是由接近度驱动的，是非适应性的。
