Balderston Nicholas L, Hsiung Abigail, Liu Jeffrey, Ernst Monique, Grillon Christian
Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH);
Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health (NIH).
J Vis Exp. 2017 Jul 19(125):55727. doi: 10.3791/55727.
The purpose of this protocol is to explain how to examine the relationship between working memory processes and anxiety by combining the Sternberg Working Memory (WM) and the threat of shock paradigms. In the Sternberg WM paradigm, subjects are required to maintain a series of letters in the WM for a brief interval and respond by identifying whether the position of a given letter in the series matches a numerical prompt. In the threat of shock paradigm, subjects are exposed to alternating blocks where they are either at risk of receiving unpredictable presentations of a mild electric shock or are safe from the shock. Anxiety is probed throughout the safe and threat blocks using the acoustic startle reflex, which is potentiated under threat (Anxiety-Potentiated Startle (APS)). By conducting the Sternberg WM paradigm during the threat of shock and probing the startle response during either the WM maintenance interval or the intertrial interval, it is possible to determine the effect of WM maintenance on APS.
本实验方案旨在解释如何通过结合斯特恩伯格工作记忆（WM）和电击威胁范式来研究工作记忆过程与焦虑之间的关系。在斯特恩伯格WM范式中，受试者需要在工作记忆中短暂保持一系列字母，并通过识别给定字母在序列中的位置是否与数字提示相匹配来做出反应。在电击威胁范式中，受试者会暴露于交替的组块中，其中他们要么有遭受不可预测的轻度电击的风险，要么处于无电击的安全状态。在安全组块和威胁组块中，使用听觉惊吓反射来探测焦虑，该反射在威胁状态下会增强（焦虑增强惊吓反应（APS））。通过在电击威胁期间进行斯特恩伯格WM范式，并在WM保持间隔或试验间隔期间探测惊吓反应，可以确定WM保持对APS的影响。
